Stories have been told of decent girls who leave villages, for town, but develop some bad attitude right after joining urban life. These stories are also told of models and beauty queens that are spotted in their humble neighbourhoods, by promoters, and when they are raised to fame, they start making headlines due to promiscuous behaviour and substance abuse.Internationally, former Miss USA, Rima Fakih, was once busted on drunken driving charges, Miss Trinidad & Tobago’s sex tapes are some of the most infamous, former Miss Russia, Anna Maloya, was charged with forgery and criminal drug possession; a look into their biographies tells that they were innocent decent girls from humble backgrounds, before the taste of fame. Marleze Gasaro, an upcoming design entrepreneur in Nyanza District, and student at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) says that beauty queens, like any other celebrities, develop an ego because of their earnings and fame. Those with humble backgrounds become even worse because of being overwhelmed. “Models are like any other celebrities; when they get the money, they feel untouchable, and want to explore anything wild out of the ego- the next day, they are on headlines for some sick behaviour. Those with humble backgrounds even become worse, because of a new environment,” Gasaro says.She also notes that beauty queens are also some of the most hunted by paparazzi, a fact that gets them exposed whenever they do something unusual.It should be noted that some girls are always willing to do anything for fame. They don’t find it a problem to be on record for loose behaviour, like going topless if it is going to generate more public attention, irrespective of whether it is positive or negative. Rwanda’s models and beauty queens have fortunately not been on record for scandalous behaviour, perhaps because of a relatively low media and paparazzi interest- the fashion industry in itself is too underdeveloped. In their new walk of fame, with plenty of money to spend and sometimes odd company of people like rock stars who hardly do anything without sniffing something, beauty queens are gullible to bad influence.
