A contestant in this year’s Miss Italy Pageant has received hate and even death threats for competing with her baby in her arms.
Alessia Spagnulo, 24, told reporters that she was unable to find childcare for the day of the big pageant, so she decided to bring her 6-month-old daughter, Chloe, along with her. Other contestants offered to hold the infant for Spagnulo while she went out on stage, but according to The Times, she declined.
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Miraculously, the first contestant ever to compete with a baby strapped to her moved on to the next round of finalists. However, the reaction online was a bit different. Spagnulo posted some pictures from behind the scenes, and the comments filled with hate and vitriol at once.
Spagnulo told The Sun that one commenter wrote “you deserve to die for this,” while another told her it was “unnatural.” A third follower advised Spagnulo to “stick to being a housewife.”
The pageant star said she was “really upset” by all the negativity.
“I have never felt this kind of violence before but I am refusing to respond,” she said. “I have put on 2kg since I was pregnant, but they are the most beautiful 2kg I have ever put on.”
Spagnulo said that she never intended to make a statement or cause an uproar by bringing her daughter to the pageant. It was nothing more than a logistical issue — her partner couldn’t get out of work in a paper factory, and her mother is a full-time nurse. Spagnulo herself was let go from her part-time position as a shop assistant when her employer learned that she was pregnant.
“I thought, ‘why should I hide her?’ ” Spagnulo said.
The contest itself has faced accusations of sexism in the past, and organizer Patrizia Mirigliani said that they could see no problem in a contestant displaying her role as a working mother.
“We are happy to give everyone this opportunity and we reward beauty and talent,” Mirigliani said.
“My message to other mothers is that your dreams can come true, even if you have a child and the 1,000 tasks that come with it,” Spagnulo said.
