‘I didn’t choose my metabolism’: Miss France winner trolled for being ‘too boyish’ accuses her critics of ‘body shaming’ after they took aim at her 7st frame and elfin haircut

The current Miss France says negative comments about her body have hurt her far more than the outrage over her elfin hairstyle in the wake of winning the country’s national beauty pageant.

Eve Gilles’ short hair caused a storm when she was won – with 7.5 million people watching – in December 2023, with trolls saying her hair was ‘too boyish’ – one viewer was so outraged that a woman could be considered attractive are considered with short hair they asked, ‘Is this a joke?’

Many critics felt that the kind of long hair favored by previous winners – and Gallic female icons such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve – would have been much more appropriate than the Lille University student’s short pixie bob.

The public, whose votes counted for 50 percent, put Miss Guyana and Miss Guadeloupe ahead of Eve, but critics claimed the all-female jury was motivated by “wokeness.”

No short-haired woman had ever reached the final of the 103-year-old pageant before.

Six months later, the fuss has all but died down, and Gilles, spotted enjoying the opening week of the French Open, has been named maths ambassador by President Macron, as the French leader tires to encourage more young women into STEM subjects to study.

Reflecting on the outrage in a new interview with The timesthe 21-year-old says the comments about her physique were far more disturbing than the opinions about her hair.

The vile comments increased after photos of her in a swimsuit were published during a location shoot in Guyana.

Gilles, who says she weighs around 2.5kg, told the newspaper: ‘I chose my hair. I didn’t choose my body or metabolism. It was body shaming.”

The backlash against her hair, she says, started as soon as she got through the regional rounds. She says: ‘It was like a tsunami coming. You can’t see it, but you know it’s here.’

When she was crowned, Gilles hit back at the barrage of criticism that came her way: saying: ‘We are used to seeing beautiful ladies with long hair, but I opted for an androgynous look with short hair’ and added: ‘No one should dictate who you are’.

Although things have improved with Macron’s appeal and fans have dubbed her Miss France a win because of ‘diversity’, the maths expert says the trolling was hard to ignore in the days and weeks after the competition.

She continued, “Sometimes it was very difficult. I am human and especially in the beginning it was very disturbing for my mother. But I got over it and when she saw that I was okay, she was okay too.”

Gilles says she has never experienced face-to-face abuse and says: ‘No one has the courage. People just say they love me.”

Her height was also critically examined; Prestige participants must be at least 1.7 meters tall, but Eva was only 1.695 meters tall.

Gilles, from Quaedypre – a village near Dunkirk – said this helped her ‘gain the missing millimeters by stretching’.

A photo first published in Eve’s local newspaper, La Voix du Nord (Voice of the North), shows her as a girl beaming at the camera while dressed as a beauty queen.

“I dreamed of being a teacher since I was little,” she said, but “as I got older, I didn’t really know how to start” and wanted to feel “good in my body, good in my mind.” .

“These are things we learn to live with, and I don’t understand how we can criticize something we can’t change.”

Eve was born in Dunkirk and grew up with her surveyor father, Bruno Gilles, her mother, Edith Gilles, and two older sisters – all of whom helped her cope with the pressure. Eve’s mother is from Réunion – an island in the Indian Ocean – and met Bruno when she moved to northern France for work.

The beauty pageant winner started dancing from the age of four and is also an avid equestrian.

After high school in Dunkirk, Eve wanted to become a neurologist, before switching her university studies from medicine to mathematics and computer studies.

Midway through the 2021 academic year, Eve returned home and decided to apply for a place on the mathematics course at the University of Lille.

She worked in an egg factory for a year and now wants to become a statistician.

While she waited to return to her studies, Eve worked in an egg factory near her parents’ home, pulling shifts all day.

When asked if she thought beauty pageants themselves were dated, Eve replied: “My answer is if it’s cheesy, why do so many people continue to watch?

‘If it’s corny, why do so many girls keep coming? This is a huge opportunity for us. For me, Miss France also embodies part of feminism. These are young women who have decided to participate themselves.’

Angry comments on Twitter/

However, critical voices were quickly drowned out by a wave of support for the newly crowned Miss France.

One fan wrote: ‘Maybe the new #MissFrance isn’t beautiful in your eyes, but if you see wokeism in her because she has short hair… It’s just ridiculous.’

Another said: ‘Eve Gilles is the new Miss France 2024, your malicious and useless criticism won’t change that, she is sublime.’

“Eve Gilles isn’t even transgender, never claimed to be transgender, but half the comments about her are transphobic because she has short hair,” said a third.

MP Sandrinne Rousseau also came to Ms Gilles’ defense, saying: “So in France in 2023 we will measure progress on respect for women by the length of their hair?”

Another MP, Karima Delli, wrote: ‘Great support for Ève Gilles, #MissFrance2024, despite the hateful tweets on social networks of incredible violence!

‘Swallow your poison, not only is she fantastic, Miss Nord pas de Calais is intelligent in embracing her diversity!’

After Eve’s victory, the mayor of Quaëdypre said France Blue: ‘The entire congregation is happy when they see the reactions of everyone present at the broadcast.

‘I didn’t sleep much, but we’ll sleep tomorrow. It is a source of pride, I am 74 years old and it is the first time I have had a Miss in Quaëdypre.’

Miss France organizers also hailed the choice as a victory for the kind of diversity the competition has strived for since the 1970s, despite feminist attacks.

Last year it opened the competition to transgender women but kept the 6-foot-5 qualification. During their 12-month reign as Miss France, the winners are not allowed to gain weight, show tattoos or – crucially – change their hairstyle.