Gabrielle Henry, the former Miss Universe Jamaica, whose shocking fall from the pageant stage during the global Miss Universe competition made headlines in November of last year — has filed a lawsuit against the organization and two of its parent companies, JKN Legacy Inc. and Legacy Holding Group USA.
Henry’s lawsuit, filed on Monday, Sept. 21 in Delaware Superior Court, brings five claims against the defendants, including negligence; premises liability; negligent hiring, retention and supervision; and both negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the complaint, Henry alleges she was following rehearsed choreography during the preliminary portion of the Miss Universe competition on Nov. 19, 2025, when she fell about five feet through an “unmarked and uncovered opening in the stage,” which contained both lighting equipment and concrete. Henry’s suit also claims that intense lighting facing her during her rehearsed walk impaired her visibility and caused her to fall from the stage.
Henry says she lost consciousness on impact and suffered “traumatic brain injury with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage, frontal lobe hemorrhagic contusion, and subdural hemorrhage” that required her to be hospitalized from Nov. 19 to Dec. 10, 2025.
Miss Universe Jamaica 2025 Gabrielle Henry. Image@ Courtesy Miss Universe Jamaica
The event was the “most traumatic moment” of Henry’s life, the complaint states, adding that the intense media coverage that her fall drew “has caused, and continues to cause, severe emotional distress distinct from, and in addition to, the distress arising from her physical injuries.”
Henry, a then-practicing ophthalmologist, was left with injuries that made her “unable to resume her medical residency” at the time and have caused her to continuously suffer “neurological and cognitive symptoms,” which continue to require ongoing care, rehabilitation and follow-ups.
The suit also alleges that other contestants had complained about the lighting and staging conditions and that, following Henry’s fall, the stage was “modified to add bright white lights to illuminate the edging of the stage.” Henry’s suit claims that the Miss Universe Organization and, by extension, the other defendants were “wanton, reckless, and in conscious disregard of the safety of Plaintiff and the other contestants.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, the Miss Universe Organization claims that, “To date, the Organization has not been served with, nor has it received, any lawsuit, claim, demand letter, or subpoena from Ms.
Henry or anyone acting on her behalf. We are therefore not in a position to comment on claims we have not seen.”
“Responsibility for the production of the 74th Miss Universe competition in Thailand, including the venue, the stage, and on-site safety, rested with the host and production entities, MGI and Miss Universe Thailand, under the direction of Mr. Nawat Itsaragrisil,” the statement adds.
“When those parties failed to cover Ms. Henry’s hospital expenses and left her unattended, the Miss Universe Organization stepped in and paid them, despite having no obligation to do so,” the organization’s response continues.
“The Organization also covered her treatment at a specialized hospital in Jamaica following her return home. Since then, the Organization has not received any request or claim for additional medical expenses. Going well beyond any legal responsibility, the Organization also offered Ms. Henry a place on the Miss Universe team as goodwill ambassador. We have not received a response to that offer,” the organization says.
Henry also mentions Miss Grand International (MGI), which the Miss Universe Organization retained as the local host and event producer of the competition, in the suit. She alleges that, while MGI was in charge of the “staging, lighting and safety work” for the event, the Miss Universe Organization “retained and exercised control over the manner and means” of the three things.
The complaint reads, “MGI’s failure to oversee stage safety during the competition caused an injury to Plaintiff.” PEOPLE has reached out to MGI for comment.
Henry adds that the Miss Universe Organization failed to maintain a safe stage by allegedly leaving an opening unguarded, unmarked, and unbarricaded, and by failing to know about MGI’s “unsafe staging and production practices.”
Following the incident at the 74th annual Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, speculation about what led to the pageant queen’s fall from the stage began to circulate.
At the time, Miss Universe Haiti Melissa Sapini, a contestant in the 2025 pageant, told PEOPLE that after the fall, the remaining contestants were allegedly gathered for a meeting, where she claimed a staff member blamed Henry for the fall.
“I don’t know that they handled that correctly,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “The first thing he said was it’s because she wasn’t paying attention.”
She clarified that the pageant staffer had then told the women, “Of course, safety is our number one priority, this that. But it’s like, ‘Are you serious?’ That was really scary.”
The Miss Universe Organization did not respond to PEOPLE’s multiple requests for comment on Sapini’s claims at the time, though the pageant’s president and owner, Raul Rocha, continued to share updates on Henry’s health on his social media.
At the time, the Miss Universe Organization also claimed in a Dec. 8, 2025 statement that it had “assumed one hundred percent of all related expenses, including those of Dr. Henry’s family. This has included hotel accommodation near the hospital, rebooking of airline tickets, transportation services, and dedicated staff assigned to accompany and assist the family throughout this process.” Henry’s suit makes mention of the December statement as well.
While the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to a request for comment, a representative from the host pageant organization Miss Grand International told PEOPLE in a statement at the time that “the incident occurred primarily because she missed her blocking and may not have been looking at the runway while walking. However, no one from MGI blamed her,” the rep claimed.
“The stage was extremely large — the catwalk was more than 5 meters wide with clear, oversized white borders,” they added. “No other contestant experienced any accidents on that runway, indicating the environment was safe and the fall was an isolated case.”
The Miss Universe Organization seemed to confirm suggestions that Henry “contributed in any way to the incident are entirely inaccurate,” per the suit, citing the Dec. 8 statement. It said that the defendant “has never attributed blame” to Henry, as well as stating that such suggestions “are unfounded and do not reflect the facts.”
SOURCE: people.com