Cuban-American model Lina Luaces, daughter of presenter Lili Estefan and current Miss Universe Cuba 2025, said that she experienced a “betrayal” within the Miss Universe pageant itself, when a colleague whom she considered a friend began to spread a rumor that could cost her dearly.
In a conversation on her friend Clarissa Molina’s Claríssima podcast, Lili Estefan’s daughter told that during the weeks leading up to the finals in Thailand, a contestant started telling other girls that she had makeup artists working in her hotel room. “That was not true,” stressed the Cuban representative, without revealing the name of the model who pointed her out.
Lina Luaces reveals betrayal at Miss Universe
The comment was not just gossip: at Miss Universe it is forbidden for contestants to have private stylists or makeup artists during the competition, so such an accusation can lead to serious sanctions within the organization.
Lili Estefan’s daughter explained that, precisely because of this rule, many of her classmates asked her to let her hair down and she refused because she didn’t know how to do her own hair that way and didn’t want to risk it looking bad.
That’s why he almost always chose to pick people up: “I couldn’t get anyone in my room,” he said.
Didn’t she support Fatima Bosch?
Lina also said that it hurt her that in social networks some people questioned her about her position in the great controversy of the year: the public confrontation between Miss Mexico, Fatima Bosch, and the executive Nawat Itsaragrisil, who scolded her and called her “dummy” in an event broadcast live, causing several contestants to stand up and leave in solidarity.
The Cuban clarified that she did support Fatima Bosch and that she is even heard in the video, but she recalled that many girls were afraid to speak out in front of the cameras and that all those nuances are lost when people judge from the outside.
Her testimony comes after a historic participation: Lina, born in Miami on August 2, 2002, was crowned Miss Universe Cuba 2025 at Milander Park in Hialeah, representing Santiago de Cuba.
She later managed to place the island in the Top 12 of Miss Universe 2025, held at the Impact Challenger Hall, near Bangkok, in an edition that ended up being won by Mexico with Fátima Bosch.
A Cuban woman making history
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She is only the second Cuban to compete in Miss Universe since the country’s return to the pageant in 2024, after 57 years of absence.
For many Hispanics living in the United States, one of the big questions was how a young woman born in Miami ended up representing Cuba and not the United States.
Lina herself has explained: although she was eligible to compete for Miss USA, she felt it was her mission to represent her roots.
“I am Cuban and I am very proud of that,” she said, recalling that she grew up surrounded by Cuban relatives, customs and traditions that marked her.
Behind his choice there is also a change of rules
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After criticism from those who questioned its “Cubanness”, Miss Universe Cuba published an official guideline that recognizes, for the first time, the diaspora as a legitimate part of the universe of candidates.
Any woman of Cuban descent, born inside or outside the island, may compete if she can prove nationality or direct descent, or more than six months of legal residence in the country or entity she represents.
Globally, the Miss Universe organization allows each delegate to have citizenship, permanent residency or legal ties – such as parents or lineage – to the country she represents.
This opens the door to many daughters of immigrants who live in the U.S. and feel a strong bond with the land of their parents.
In the midst of a Miss Universe marked by walkouts, judges who resigned and even legal investigations against the pageant’s leadership, Lina’s experience combines lights and shadows.
From the pride of making history for Cuba to the shock of discovering that betrayal sometimes comes from where you least expect it.
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