Transgender contestant shares Jordon Hudson backstage chat at beauty pageant

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Neither Isabelle St. Cyr nor Jordon Hudson won this past weekend’s Miss Maine USA pageant, but they certainly were the most talked about contestants.

St. Cyr became the first transgender woman to compete in the annual beauty pageant while Hudson has been caught in a media firestorm alongside boyfriend Bill Belichick, the 73-year-old NFL coaching legend.

With both competitors under the microscope, St. Cyr and Hudson apparently found some common ground and shared a chat backstage.

In an interview with People earlier this week, St. Cyr revealed Hudson’s advice during their conversation at the contest about preparing for and handling the press.

“We had a conversation backstage and we were like, ‘You know, the media hasn’t necessarily been kind to us.’ We just kind of talked about how we’ve dealt with it, how to move forward, how to remain positive and when to comment and not to comment,” St. Cyr, 24, said. “I really appreciate her willingness to talk to me about the media coverage.”

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Hudson, a 24-year-old former cheerleader, also advised St. Cyr to know “who’s doing these articles and when you should be commenting.”

St. Cyr, who represented the town of Monson at the competition, said that the pair spoke before the pageant to ensure “there was no bad blood” after some media outlets attempted to pit the two against each other

“First trans woman versus Jordon Hudson, all those articles,” St. Cyr said.

“It definitely made us both a lot more comfortable going into the pageant that night,” St. Cyr added of their chat. “I think we both wanted to make it clear that we had nothing to do with it and that we were just happy to be competing. So I was very thankful for that.”

St. Cyr, who has faced hateful comments about her transition, added that both she and Hudson expected to face backlash at the pageant.

“I think overall she just helped me to know that I wasn’t the only one that was dealing with it, obviously,” St. Cyr said. “And she admits that a lot of backlash still showed up to the pageant that night to compete, and I as well, with a lot of backlash and a lot of people saying that I shouldn’t be there.”

Hudson has come under intense scrutiny after an interview on CBS Sunday Morning last month featuring Belichick went viral. During the current University of North Carolina coach’s sit-down with Tony Dokoupil, Hudson reportedly interrupted several times and caused a half-hour delay after storming off set, according to TMZ.

During the interview, Hudson interrupted Dokoupil when he asked the coaching legend to talk about how he had met his much-younger flame.

“We’re not talking about this,” Hudson said from her seat off-camera.

“No?” Dokoupil replied as he looked over at Hudson, who responded, “No.”

Dokoupil also described Hudson as a “constant presence” during his interview with the eight-time Super Bowl champion and said neither of them were “comfortable” with the topic.

Since then, several concerning reports about the relationship between Belichick and Hudson have surfaced, including claims that the NFL icon may never coach an actual game at UNC.

In the Miss Maine USA competition, Hudson finished in third place, behind runner-up Mara Carpenter and winner Shelby Howell, while St. Cyr was eliminated in the semifinal round.

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