More than $685,000 in prize value, per People magazine, went to Justus Kelley at the 75th Miss USA pageant in Miami on Aug. 27. The 31-year-old, competing as Miss Virginia USA 2026, became the first married mother to win and retain the title in the competition's history, succeeding last year's titleholder, Audrey Eckert, 24.
The prize package
The award comprises a $150,000 salary, a Range Rover, a one-year lease at a luxury Miami apartment, a Westgate Vacation Home Club membership, and a $30,000 Miss Universe wardrobe. Of those, only the salary and wardrobe carry disclosed figures, totaling $180,000; the vehicle, the apartment lease, and the membership account for the balance. Her first question about the Range Rover, Kelley said, was whether it fits car seats.
A crown nearly 70 years in the making
The historical record goes back to 1957. That year, Mary Leona Gage won Miss USA and was stripped of the title the following day after organizers learned she was married and a mother of two sons. The organization did not open competition to married women and mothers until 2023. Kelley, a foster mom of two, is the first to hold and keep the crown under those rules.
Her preparation looked different from past cycles, she told Fox News Digital. Children's nap times were training sessions. She worked abductor and adductor exercises on the living room floor, did squats holding her two-year-old, and practiced walking classes with her baby in a carrier. Core work ran alongside evening movies. Social media went dark for the duration.
Her husband, a consultant and her college sweetheart, has been with her for 13 going on 14 years, married for nine of them. He was at her first pageant over a decade ago. She has competed for more than 10 years. He has taken to calling himself her pageant consultant and, she said, keeps claiming the title of "Mr. USA," though she suspects the phrase is trademarked.
"You don't have to choose one part of who you are," Kelley told Fox News Digital, describing what she wants her year as Miss USA to represent for mothers and wives still pursuing their own ambitions.
The Miss USA pageant dates to 1952 in Long Beach, California. Its first winner was New York's Jackie Loughery. Miss America, a separate competition, traces its origins to a 1921 event in Atlantic City, New Jersey.