Mary Sickler is not just walking for the Miss USA crown; she’s walking for every woman who’s ever questioned her beauty. During Wednesday night’s preliminary round in Reno, Nevada, the 22-year-old Miss Nevada USA made a bold and emotional statement.
As the lights hit the stage, Sickler stepped forward, not in a glittering wig or elaborate hairstyle, but wearing a dazzling silver bejeweled head covering that caught every bit of light in the room.
© Miss Nevada USANext to her stood Miss New Hampshire, Mona Lesa Brackett, wearing a hijab, two women redefining what it means to stand in beauty and strength on one of America’s biggest stages.
Sickler’s gown, a silver showstopper with ornate beading and a trailing train, mirrored the sparkle in her confidence. And with that moment, she made history as the first woman with a public alopecia diagnosis to compete for Miss USA.
The final competition takes place on Friday, Oct. 24, and all eyes are now on the woman who turned vulnerability into victory.
The Battle Beneath the Crown
Sickler’s journey hasn’t been easy. Diagnosed with alopecia universalis in December 2024, she lost all her hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes, within months. “I remember coming home, and I looked in the mirror and had never felt uglier,” she told PEOPLE in September. “My hair was all in patches, my eyelashes were completely gone, I had no eyebrows, and I honestly couldn’t recognize myself anymore.”
For someone whose identity was deeply tied to modeling and pageantry, she’d been competing since age 10 and had modeled for Louis Vuitton, the diagnosis shattered her sense of self.
Her career hit pause. Contracts were revoked. And in silence, she retreated. She didn’t tell friends, family, or colleagues what was happening, afraid that beauty without hair wouldn’t be seen as beauty at all.
Rising Again
After months away from the spotlight, Sickler decided to take her power back. Against her coach’s advice to wait, she re-entered the world of pageants, first competing at Miss Texas USA 2025, where she placed as first runner-up.
Still, she wasn’t ready to talk about her alopecia publicly. “I knew if I talked about it in the interview room, I would cry, and that wasn’t the message I wanted to send,” she said. “I wanted to send that I was strong.”
© Miss Nevada USAThat decision didn’t stop her momentum. In July, she competed in Miss Nevada USA 2025 and won.
It wasn’t until a month before the Miss USA pageant that she finally decided to share her truth, posting a series of videos on social media revealing her alopecia. The response was overwhelming, and messages of support poured in from around the world. And with each post, Sickler’s confidence grew louder than her fear.
© Miss Nevada USAStanding bare-headed under the stage lights wasn’t just a fashion choice. It was a declaration. “I lost all my hair, and I definitely didn’t think that I would be walking on the Miss USA stage without any hair, but I am,” she said. “It took me a long time to finally be able to see myself as beautiful, and I think that’s the first step. If you see yourself as beautiful and you own it, then other people will too.”
In a competition that’s historically been about glamour and perfection, Sickler’s message hits differently. With her head held high. Mary Sickler isn’t just competing for a title. She’s rewriting what beauty queens represent in 2025.
Whether she takes home the crown on Friday or not, Sickler’s legacy is already sealed. She’s shown millions of viewers that beauty doesn’t have to fit a single mold and that vulnerability can be the most powerful accessory of all.
