Do you remember Miss Venezuela who committed suicide? Maye Brandt suffered from psychological problems due to the harassment from the media and the machismo of the time

The lives of beauty queens are often filled with luxury, media praise and guaranteed success from the moment they represent their country in pageants like Miss Universe.

Although that was not the case with Maye Brandt, the Venezuelan who won her country’s highest title in 1980 and then took her own life, leaving her dreams behind.

According to La República, the country-born Lara turned to modeling to fulfill her duties as Miss Venezuela, a pageant where she won the hearts of the judges and the public.

Despite this, the press never recognized her as a worthy winner and devoted herself to calling her “ugly”, a criticism that intensified when the 19-year-old girl was unsuccessful in the universal competition.

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Maye Brand was a victim of machismo

In addition to bullying, Maye also experienced firsthand the oppression of machismo professed by her husband Juan Carlos Simanca.

She met the heartthrob from the soap opera while he was working as a model, and according to relatives, the man forbade her to go out, wear make-up and friends, which also affected the development of her depression.

Then on October 2, 1982, the former Miss Venezuela used a weapon she acquired as an honorary member of the Caracas Metropolitan Police to commit suicide with a shot to the temple.

His soul did not have peace even after his death, because in 2018 his tomb, located in the General Cemetery of Eastern Venezuela, was desecrated.

According to Notimérica, it was Maye’s older sister who discovered the condition of the tomb from which the bronze headstone containing her information was removed.

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After an investigation, Jennifer Brandt learned that the cemetery management made an arbitrary decision to remove the headstones from all the graves and replace them with plastic ones.

(AND)