NEW YORK — Cheslie Kryst’s hearbroken grandfather struggled Monday to figure out why the former Miss USA, “a light that shined so brightly,” would kill herself.
“To be extinguished so fast is just devastating,” Gary Simpkins told the Daily News by phone from South Carolina. “So hard to imagine one minute they’re here and one minute they’re not. And you know that the only [way] you’ll ever see them again is when you yourself pass away.”
“She was such a fantastic person,” he added.
“She was kind. She was generous. She felt for other people. She tried to help other people. She was just one of those rare people that had a heart for people.”
Kryst, 30, jumped to her death Sunday morning from the Orion, the West 42nd Street building where she lived, leaving behind a note indicating she wants to leave her possessions with her mother but providing no reason why she committed suicide, police said.
Her grandfather said she was born in Michigan but she grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
“She had a laugh that was infectious,” Simpkins said. “I can still hear it echoing in my mind. And I don’t know. But I do know that we’ll get through this. We will, but right now this is just devastating.”
Kryst — who won the 2019 Miss USA pageant, had a law degree and worked on as on-air correspondent for “Extra” — seemingly had everything to live for.
But the day of her fatal jump she posted a mysterious message on Instagram: “May this day bring you rest and peace.”
In a March 2021 essay in Allure, Kryst provided a window into what might have been a cry for help.
“Each time I say ‘I’m turning 30,’ I cringe a little,” she wrote. “Sometimes I can successfully mask this uncomfortable response with excitement; other times, my enthusiasm feels hollow, like bad acting. Society has never been kind to those growing old, especially women. (Occasional exceptions are made for some of the rich and a few of the famous.)
“A grinning, crinkly-eyed glance at my achievements thus far makes me giddy about laying the groundwork for more, but turning 30 feels like a cold reminder that I’m running out of time to matter in society’s eyes — and it’s infuriating.”
At the same time, however, she seemed to embrace getting older.
“Now, I now enter year 30 searching for joy and purpose on my own terms — and that feels like my own sweet victory,” she wrote at the end of her essay.
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