Former Miss USA pageant contestant Samantha Holvey lives in Mount Pleasant today but 10 years ago she remembers Donald Trump treating the girls like “pieces of meat.”
And after Holvey finished representing North Carolina in 2006, she swore off pageants for good, saying none of her childhood dreams “involved a creepy old man checking me out backstage.”
Holvey is one of the multiple women in recent days to tell their Trump stories, saying that before the billionaire ran for the White House, they were uncomfortable in his presence.
Holvey, 30, came forward last week, confirming to CNN that Trump walked freely into the areas where pageant contestants were getting ready ahead of appearing in the Miss USA pageant. He owned the event until 2015.
For her, Trump crossed the line the first time they met when all the 2006 pageant participants were called in for a book-launch. During a line up, she said Trump stared at the girls up and down. She was 20 at the time.
“He wasn’t talking to us,” she said. “He was just looking at us, kind of like when you got to the zoo and you look at the animals in their natural habitat,” she said.
Trump’s manners were worse during the final, she said. Holvey recalled sitting in a chair getting her makeup done and wearing only a robe. Trump moved into areas where she and other contestants were getting ready.
“I’ve never been around men that were like that,” said Holvey, who grew up in West Virginia and graduated from Campbell University, a private Southern Baptist school in Buies Creek, N.C.
Today she works for a national health care information technology association. She moved to Mount Pleasant last year.
Other outlets Holvey has told her story to include MSNBC and “Inside Edition.” Several other Miss USA contestants have reported similar stories, according to media reports.
Trump and his supporters contend the concentration on negative stories involving women from his past are being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign, the media and other opponents.
“We have zero comment on any of the bimbo eruptions contrived by the Hillary Clinton campaign,” said Ed McMullen, a Trump advisor in South Carolina.
Holvey, who said she entered pageants because contestants are strong female role models, said she normally votes for a mix of Republicans and Democrats.
This year she is voting for Clinton for president.
http://www.postandcourier.com/20161017/161019516/mount-pleasant-woman-recalls-trump-making-her-uncomfortable-in-miss-usa-contest