Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez may have won the Miss USA pageant, but everyone is talking about Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl and her "normal" bikini body. Social media went crazy after Diehl flaunted her curvy, "healthy" physique during the swimsuit portion of the competition.
The 25-year-old recently talked about her body and the reactions she received to Fox & Friends saying that it was completely unexpected.
"It's quite overwhelming, in a positive way," Diehl said.
"I wanted to just continue a healthy lifestyle and inspire others to go after their dreams," she added. "I never imagined that it would be in a swimsuit."
Diehl wasn't only praised by fans on social media. Supermodel Petra Nemcova appeared on the show and said that she was glad to see people were focusing on a healthy physique and not a particular body type.
"I think it's fantastic," she said. "Each person has a different body type. Some people are naturally skinny, some curvy. We have to celebrate all different shapes of the body. The main thing is to be healthy," Nemcova said.
Diehl also tweeted about the outpouring of support, posting, "So cool I worked hard on my body without obsessing over being too skinny and I couldn't be more proud."
According to E! News, Diehl also recently opened up about a dark past most people didn't know about. Speaking to a local Indiana outlet, the brunette beauty revealed that she was sexually assaulted as a child.
"I was 8 years old when I was sexually abused," Diehl told WNDU. "Very quickly after that we moved in with my grandmother and eventually was adopted."
"At first I was sad. And then I found my outlets," she continued. "My grandmother was very encouraging. Anything that I wanted to try to do, she tried to find the best way. I had horses. We tried 4-H, I tried saddle club. Dancing was my emotional outlet. I loved to dance, and that became my emotional release."
She said the man who abused her was a friend of the family but her parents did not press charges. Diehl's father has since expressed guilt about not taking action.
"We all knew right from wrong," Bill Diehl said. "Sometimes you just don't listen... when you should've."
The 25-year-old said she does not know where the man is at and "could care less if I ever see him again. However, I have learned to forgive him so that I can move on."
"Forgiveness and moving on are two things that are a must in our family," Diehl added.
