Iris Mittenaere, born on 25 January 1993, was a French model before she decided to venture into the world of pageantry. The beauty queen had an unstoppable journey, and it was surely a memorable one.

After winning the Miss Flandre title in Bailleul, Iris entered the Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2015 pageant in Orchies, which she also won. Mittenaere represented Nord-Pas-de-Calais at the Miss France 2016 pageant. On 19 December 2015, she was crowned Miss France 2016 by Miss France 2015 Camille Cerf in Lille. As Miss France 2016, Iris Mittenaere travelled to India, China, Italy, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Ivory Coast.

Little did she know, this was just the beginning.

She then crowned her successor Alicia Aylies on 17th December 2016.

She then competed in Miss Universe 2016 where she succeeded Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines. Iris became only the second woman from her country to win the crown after Christiane Martel won Miss Universe 1953, breaking France's 63-year title drought.

During her reign as Miss Universe, Iris Mittenaere traveled to the Philippines, Indonesia, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, India, Egypt and numerous trips around the United States and France. Mittenaere eventually crowned her successor Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa as Miss Universe 2017 on November 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

But, her journey wasn’t all that easy. In a photo from March, Iris and her supposed girlfriend posed together in the Dominican Republic. Her caption is roughly translated from French: “I found the sun in 20 days with the most beautiful, for my journey of integration! I cannot wait to go back with my kitten.” Netizens started questioning the sexuality of Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere after Instagram photos seemingly showed she had a girlfriend. Iris has not responded to the rumours, which ran rampant on Twitter after she was crowned Sunday.

Instead of confronting the gossip, Iris promoted her Sunday win on Twitter and Instagram. “Beauty, grace, confidence, intelligence. Those are the qualities embodied by your 65th Miss Universe, Iris Mittenaere,” the Miss Universe picture wrote about the French winner Sunday. “Shining brighter than gold. This is your Miss Universe.”

A true display of the grace that one looks up to the Miss Universe for.