Former Miss Universe on Trump: 'This Is a Man Who Doesn't Realize the Damage He Causes'
27 September 2016
Who was the beauty contest winner Hillary Clinton mentioned to Donald Trump in the first presidential debate? Her name is Alicia Machado, and acording to a new Clinton campaign spot, her treatment by the self-proclaimed billionaire is a story deserving of a mini-biopic.
In 1996, Alicia Machado, then Miss Venezuela, was crowned Miss Universe.
"I was the first Miss Universe contestant after Trump bought the pageant," Machado begins the spot. She says Trump would soon take it upon himself to repeatedly humiliate her.
"[Trump] was overwhelming. I was very scared of him. He'd yell at me all the time. He'd tell me, 'You look ugly' or 'You look fat,'" Machado remembers.
She also confirms Clinton's claims made at the debate Monday night.
"Sometimes he'd 'play' with me and say, 'Hello, Miss Piggy'... 'Hello, Miss Housekeeping,'" Machado says.
But it was no laughing matter for the rising star.
"As Miss Universe, I participated in more ad campaigns than most," Machado recalls. "In a year, I earned the company a lot of money."
Machado also reveals that while she should have earned 10 percent on all the work she did, according to her contract, like many other Trump employees, she got stiffed.
"I was never paid," says Machado.
When Machado gained weight, Trump not only threatened to take her crown away, but he also invited reporters to watch her work out.
"She weighed 117 or 118 pounds and she went up to 160 or 170," Trump said at the time.
"I felt really bad, like a lab rat," Machado says. "[It was] a joke that caused me a lot of pain. Long after, I was sick with eating disorders. I wouldn't eat, and I would still see myself as fat, because a powerful man said so. This is a man who doesn't realize the damage he causes."
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