PARIS (AFP) – A 19-year-old business school student became the first winner of the Miss France beauty pageant to have dual citizenship , French and American, organisers said Sunday.
Chloe Mortaud, who hails from southern France , was crowned late Saturday during a prime-time televised pageant in Paris watched by more than eight million people.
Mortaud received US citizenship through her mother, an African-American who emigrated from Mississippi to France 25 years ago, and has a grandmother who lives in Los Angeles.
Breaking with tradition, last year's pageant winner Valery Begue was not present to hand over her crown after she fell out with organisers for posing in a series of provocative photos.
People already call her election the "Obama effect". I am tempted to think that, but the majority of voters come from rural areas & have little or no knowledge of what's going on outside of their town. If ever it's true, I think it makes the whole point of voting for someone to represent french beauty void.
absatou
