First openly gay Miss England CROWNED

A woman who was bullied at school for being gay has said she has “achieved her dream” after being crowned Miss England

Grace Richardson said she suffered constant teasing due to her sexuality while at school in Leicestershire.

The musical theatre student, from Leicester, said she was proud to have ignored the negativity, going on to win the prize after entering the competition for only the second time.

She is now the first openly gay Miss England, after being crowned at an event in Wolverhampton on Friday.

Miss Richardson, who will now represent England at Miss World 2026, said she was bullied “horrendously” while at school.

She said: “So I was 15 when I came out. It was just after Covid and my peers at school just really weren’t very nice to me, which definitely took a bit of a toll on my mental health.

“I used to get picked on for countless things, being too skinny, being really short and then becoming really tall.

“It’s almost like everything I did was wrong.

“So it’s nice being able to stand up now and say, ‘look at what I’ve done’.

“I’ve ignored everything negative that they said to me and actually I’ve gone on to achieve my dreams.”

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