Former Miss Universe Australia Erin McNaught has branded US President Donald Trump as a “crazy person” and “very calculated”, after previously referring to his interactions with her as “sexist and misogynistic”.
The 38-year-old, who represented Australia in the 2006 Miss Universe pageant, said she met former Miss Universe organisation owner Trump about three or four times.
“He seems like a crazy person to me,” Erin told B105′s Stav, Abby and Matt radio show.
“I didn’t know him well when I did the Miss Universe competition. I met him maybe three or four times. And he is this enigma because the stuff that comes out of his mouth … Is he saying that because of media gain, or for personal gain? He’s just, he’s very calculated,” she said.
“I mean he was always so lovely to us. But of course he’s going to be lovely to a bunch of beautiful girls.”
Erin said she was hand-picked by Trump to appear on the David Letterman show which at the time felt like a big honour.
“At the time, your ego, you’re like, ‘Oh my god. He picked me.’ But in retrospect the whole thing, it’s just a bit wrong nowadays,” she said.
In an interview earlier this month with ‘The Project’, the ‘SAS’ contestant said she had a “weird” experience with Trump when she walked onto stage alongside Miss Puerto Rico, Miss Colombia and Miss Finland.
“I actually went on the David Letterman show with Donald Trump and three others. That was crazy, he flew us to New York, chose me and three other girls to fly to New York and go on the show and then flew us back. It was pretty weird,” she said.
“He just walked on with his arms around us, it was all quite sexist and misogynistic by today’s standards I think.”
The mother-of-two said during her B105 interview she wouldn’t compete in the Miss Universe pageant now if it were the same format as it was in 2006. These days there are charity, personality and talent components.
“It’s not just a swimsuit competition,” she said. “Having kids has changed my perspective as well because I don’t want my boys to aspire to be with a girl that’s a model or whatever. It’s a bit weird.”
Last year’s Miss Universe Australia winner Priya Serrao has previously said she wouldn’t have competed in the pageant had it been like it was when Trump was involved. She said the calibre of contestants has also changed over the years.
“The women that are participating in this are markedly different to the women who participated in the Trump era,” she told The Daily Telegraph in December.
“The women are more adventurous and different and not as stereotypical.
“I don’t think I would have done it at all if Donald Trump still owned it.”
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