I want to encourage women not to feel weak. Don't be afraid to speak out.
— Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters
I've heard many women say that they were afraid to come out or they were too ashamed to talk about it because they thought it was something they had done to promote the man to sexually harass them - and that is not the case.
A woman should be allowed to be whoever and whatever she wants to be and she should be respected for that.
And when I won Miss Universe, I got a global platform, which gave me a louder voice to be able to reach more women from every corner of the world. No matter where we live, our circumstances or how we grew up, we want to feel love, we want to feel cared for, and we want to feel powerful.
You don't need a title or a crown or a sash to be able to stand together with other women.
I managed to escape a violent carjacking. It was a very traumatizing point in my life and it made me realized that many women in South Africa are affected by crimes like this.
I realized that women that stand together and take hands can be unbreakable.
