Reigning Miss USA Announced She Was Skipping 2025 Pageant Hours Before Crowning New Winner

Alma Cooper, Miss USA 2024, did not attend this year’s pageant to crown her successor, breaking a longstanding tradition for the ceremony. Hours before Miss USA’s final round on Friday, Oct. 24, Cooper announced her decision in an Instagram post, noting that she would not be in attendance in Reno, Nevada.

“After much consideration, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision not to attend this year’s Miss USA pageant and crowning ceremony,” she captioned her post. “As I close this chapter, I do so with the knowledge that I finished what I started with integrity and my self-worth held high, just like the crown I was honored to wear.”

PEOPLE reached out to Miss USA for comment. Cooper spoke exclusively with the publication about her title and breaking barriers. She also penned an essay about her year as the reigning queen and having to balance her many titles.

Cooper noted that becoming the first Afro-Latina woman to win Miss USA “was one of my life’s greatest joys and accomplishments.” She explained: “For the past year, I have done my absolute best to honor the prestigious title while also serving as [First Lieutenant] Cooper in the U.S. Army.” She continued dual roles with the U.S. military and the pageant world, which proved to be challenging over the past year.

“Despite the mental, physical and emotional load I was set to carry, like any other full-time job, I was confident that I could push myself to deliver the excellence, wit, poise and intelligence that the title required. I was ready and willing to wear the crown with pride,” she continued in an extended statement. “I worked up until the very last second to give my all because I believe that one’s character is not only built by challenges, but revealed.”

Ahead of the pageant preliminaries, Miss USA CEO and President Thom Brodeur addressed “Cooper’s participation in the 2025 pageant” on his Instagram Stories, noting at the time, her attendance was not confirmed.

This year’s Miss USA and Miss Teen USA competitions were the first held under Brodeur’s leadership. Prior to his takeover, the sister pageants suffered some shakeups, most notably after the 2023 adult and junior winners, Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastav, relinquished their titles, marking the first time any queen had given up her crown in the pageant’s 72-year history. At the time, it was reported that Voigt’s resignation letter included allegations that the pageant’s CEO, Laylah Rose, created a toxic workplace after Voigt told her she was sexually harassed at a Christmas event, which Rose denied.