Moms of Resigned Miss USA and Miss Teen USA Speak Out: They Were ‘Abused, Bullied and Cornered’

"The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare," the mom of former Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava shared

The mothers of former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and former Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava are opening up about their daughters’ surprise resignation announcements earlier this month.

Noelia’s mother Jackeline Voigt and UmaSofia’s mother Barbara Srivastava sat down with Good Morning America to discuss the reasons behind their daughter’s resignations and to call for changes within the Miss USA pageant system.

“I want to make [it] clear, it’s not about what they can get, the prizes… it’s about how they were ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered,” Barbara alleged. "The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare."

Barbara claimed that UmaSofia — who relinquished her crown on May 8, two days after Noelia — faced bullying by Miss Teen USA management and had missed out on opportunities as a result, though she did not give any other additional details. She also alleged that her daughter’s social media account had been put under surveillance and controlled by management.

Related: What Miss USA Pageant Queens Have Said So Far amid Stepping Down

As for Noelia — who stepped down on Monday, May 6, citing her mental health — her mother Jackeline told GMA that she knew something was wrong after an interaction with her daughter following an incident during a Christmas parade.

“I saw Noelia so stressed out, and I said, ‘What happened?,’ “ Jackeline recalled. “And she said, ‘Mom, get in the car, get in the car.’ When I got in the car, I said, ‘What happened?’ Because I know [a man] said something but I couldn’t get it.”

She continued, “[The man] told Noelia, ‘Are you into old [men] with money?’ And made Noelia very, very uncomfortable.”

The Miss USA organization told ABC News, "We are committed to fostering a healthy, communicative and supportive environment for all contestants, state titleholders, national titleholders and staff."

Laylah Rose did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Miss USA organization for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

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The model and beauty queen had seemingly alluded to the incident in her resignation letter obtained by The New York Times and GMA writing, “I was made to feel unsafe at events without an effective handler, and this culminated in being sexually harassed…”

Jackeline said Miss USA CEO and President Laylah Rose’s response to the incident was that the organization would not be able to prevent people from saying things to the titleholder during public appearances — an answer that the concerned mom criticized on GMA.

“[Not] even, ‘I’m sorry that you went through that?' “ she said. “... [Noelia] was so upset. This is not what she worked so hard for.”

Related: Before Miss USA Resignations, Ex-Employee Spoke Out About Alleged 'Toxicity' and 'Bullying' at the Organization

After Noelia’s resignation, Barbara said her daughter, UmaSofia, knew she had to follow suit.

“When she saw that they were tying [in] Noelia’s mental health [to her resignation], she said, ‘I cannot stand for this. I need to stand up [for] Noelia,’ ” she recalled.

Jackeline and Barbara called for Rose to step down as president and for the Miss USA pageant to “come out and speak to us [and] apologize or clean this mess.”

The pair claimed on GMA that their daughters were tied to a nondisclosure agreement, so the beauty queens are unable to speak on what they experienced, and they also warned prospective Miss USA contestants and their parents that they should rethink whether to participate in future pageants.

“Look at what happened to Noelia and UmaSofia,” Jackeline said. “So, really pay attention. We don’t want them to go through this right now. It’s not the right time to participate.”

“We just don’t want these families and these girls to go through what we went through,” she added.

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