Chidinma Adetshina, the newly crowned Miss Universe Nigeria 2024, has shared her painful experience of rejection in South Africa, where she withdrew from the Miss South Africa 2024 pageant due to online xenophobic backlash over her Nigerian roots.
The 23-year-old law student born and raised in Soweto, South Africa, to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother, revealed in an interview with Silverbird TV that her name, Chidinma, became the focal point of the controversy. According to her, many South Africans felt she wasn’t “South African enough” to represent the country because of her Nigerian name.
It all started because of my name, Adetshina explained. People were not happy that my name is Chidinma and I am representing South Africa. She described the experience as horrible and heartbreaking.
Adetshina broke down in tears during the interview when she said, “I’ve lived there for 23 years, and it’s heartbreaking to see that I wasn’t welcomed and accepted there”.
The situation escalated to the point where Adetshina felt compelled to withdraw from the competition,just before the finale. She noted that issues related to her mother’s identity documents also complicated matters. “A decision needed to be made, and it really hit social media as well. There were some statements that came out from Home Affairs with regard to my mom’s ID as well, and that is still a legal matter, so I won’t comment on it”.
Despite the challenges, Adetshina remains proud of her heritage, stating, “I was born in South Africa, and I am a South African. But I am also proudly Nigerian”.
Adetshina admitted that the ordeal had taken a toll on her mental health, “I think I’ve been avoiding it a lot, and only now it’s started to cloud me. It’s something I will work on and see a therapist because I feel like I have been suppressing my emotions… because of what has happened… it wasn’t a minor thing, it was actually really major”, she added
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