There’s a particular kind of magic in watching someone walk out of a local newsroom and into a national crown. Elle Smith did exactly that: a Kentucky TV reporter who entered pageantry for the first time and, within about a year, held the Miss USA title — while her Ohio upbringing, University of Kentucky degree, and public link to English footballer Leah Williamson remain a mix of well-documented fact and surprisingly thin record.
Full Name: Elle Smith · Title: Miss USA 2021 · Home State: Kentucky · Height: 5’10” (178 cm) · Occupation: Model and reporter
Quick snapshot
- Full name: Ellen Elizabeth Smith (New Hampshire Public Radio (NPR affiliate))
- Height: 5’10” (178 cm) (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia))
- Occupation: model and reporter (UrbanMixr profile)
- Publicly linked to footballer Leah Williamson (UrbanMixr profile)
- Exact birth date and current age (not in the public record)
- Net worth (no disclosed figure)
- Relationship start date with Leah Williamson (not confirmed)
- November 29, 2021: crowned Miss USA in Tulsa (The Courier-Journal (Louisville daily))
- 2022–2023: relationship with Leah Williamson becomes public (UrbanMixr profile)
- Continued on-air work in Louisville (UrbanMixr profile)
- Modeling and pageant appearances around her Miss USA profile (UrbanMixr biography)
Eight biographical entries, one pattern: the reliable facts come from her Kentucky newsroom and university record, while the softer claims trace back to aggregated bios.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ellen Elizabeth Smith (UrbanMixr biography) |
| Title | Miss USA 2021 (National Newspaper Publishers Association (Black press association)) |
| Crowned | November 29, 2021 — 70th Miss USA pageant, Tulsa, Oklahoma (UrbanMixr profile) |
| Hometown | Springfield, Ohio (UrbanMixr biography) |
| Education | University of Kentucky, class of 2020 (University of Kentucky (her alma mater)) |
| Height | 5’10” (178 cm) (UrbanMixr biography) |
| Occupation | Model and reporter (UrbanMixr profile) |
| Partner | Leah Williamson, English footballer (UrbanMixr profile) |
How long have Leah Williamson and Elle Smith been together?
Who is Leah Williamson?
- Leah Williamson is an English professional footballer, and she is the person most often named as Elle Smith’s partner (UrbanMixr profile).
- Neither Smith nor Williamson has published a joint statement, an anniversary, or any confirmed start date for the relationship.
- Search interest in “Elle Smith Leah Williamson” spikes because the pairing connects two separate audiences: American pageant fans and English football followers.
Crossover interest is the real engine of this story. Smith’s name pulls in readers who know Miss USA; Williamson’s name pulls in readers who know the women’s game. When coverage mentions both, the query volume jumps — but the underlying facts don’t get stronger with popularity.
Elle Smith’s relationship timeline
- 2022: reports begin linking Smith and Williamson (UrbanMixr profile).
- 2023: coverage of the couple becomes more established, though no verified start date emerges (UrbanMixr profile).
- The honest answer to the question: publicly linked since roughly 2022–2023, exact duration unknown.
That last line is the one to remember. The relationship is real enough to be reported consistently, but it has never been pinned to a specific month or year in any source reviewed here.
The relationship is the most-searched part of Elle Smith’s story and the thinnest-documented one. No verified start date, no joint announcement — just consistent secondary coverage that says the couple exists.
What this means: any article that states exactly how long they’ve been together is filling a gap with inference. The defensible line is “public since around 2022–2023,” which is why this profile leaves the date open.
What is Elle Smith’s ethnicity?
Elle Smith’s real name
- Her full name is Ellen Elizabeth Smith, per contemporaneous coverage of her win (New Hampshire Public Radio (NPR affiliate)).
- She works and competes under the shorter name Elle Smith.
The “real name” query has a direct answer, and it is not a mystery: the fuller form appears in NHPR’s write-up of her victory, while her professional life runs on Elle. Both forms are correct.
Where is Elle Smith from?
- Born in Springfield, Ohio, and graduated from Shawnee High School in 2016 (Spectrum News 1 (Ohio cable news)).
- She was inspired to enter pageantry after a former high-school classmate, Brittany Reid, won Miss Ohio Teen USA (Spectrum News 1).
- She represented Kentucky at Miss USA and was based in Louisville as a WHAS-TV reporter (UrbanMixr profile).
So the accurate short answer is “Ohio by birth, Kentucky by career.” The state she carried at Miss USA is the state that shaped her adult life — not the one where she grew up.
On ethnicity itself: coverage of her win reported that Smith was the third consecutive Black woman to take the Miss USA title (National Newspaper Publishers Association (Black press association)). Smith herself has not published an official ethnic or racial classification, which may be why the search question keeps circling.
If an outlet ever lands an in-depth interview with Smith, the ethnicity and background questions will finally get primary answers. Until then, coverage descriptions are the only guide.
The pattern here is inverted from most biographies: geography is well documented, while ethnicity is inferred from coverage rather than confirmed by Smith herself. That asymmetry is exactly why search results mix solid facts with guesswork.
How tall is Elle Smith?
Elle Smith’s height and age
- Height: 5’10” (178 cm) (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).
- Exact birth date: not part of the public record.
- Inferred age at the 2021 win: roughly 23, based on a 2016 high school graduation (Spectrum News 1 (Ohio cable news)) and a 2020 college graduation (University of Kentucky (her alma mater)).
In pageant terms, 5’10” is a significant runway height — the kind that reads instantly in evening gown and on-stage walks. That may help explain why she fitted the Miss USA stage so naturally.
Elle Smith’s modeling measurements
- Exact dress and suit measurements are not part of the verified record.
- Public profiles describe her as a model and reporter, with height as the only reliable physical metric (UrbanMixr biography).
The absence is meaningful. In a search landscape where “measurements” sells clicks, the trustworthy sources simply don’t publish body measurements for Smith — and no credible outlet has printed a set of numbers.
The trade-off: one hard number — 5’10” — and silence around the rest. For readers, that means trusting the metric that’s consistent across sources and ignoring the numbers that only appear on fan pages.
The implication: the only reliable physical spec is height; any article listing additional measurements draws from guesses, not records.
Why did Miss USA step down?
Who has won Miss USA in the last 10 years?
- Smith won at the 70th Miss USA pageant, in Tulsa, on November 29, 2021 — the same date documented in the snapshot above.
- Coverage of her win placed it inside a run of Black titleholders; the ethnicity section above carries that source.
- No source reviewed here provides a complete decade-by-decade winner roll, which is itself a sign of how thin the pageant record gets once you leave the winner’s own file.
The “stepped down” question trends because pageant systems rarely produce quiet transition years. For Smith specifically, the answer is direct: she didn’t step down. Her documented timeline runs from the November 2021 crowning through Miss Universe and back to her reporting work — with no early exit on record.
Elle Smith’s Miss USA journey
- Represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021 in Israel (The Courier-Journal (Louisville daily)).
- Reached the Top 10 at Miss Universe 2021, according to Wikipedia (open encyclopedia).
- Returned to her reporting role in Louisville after the pageant cycle (UrbanMixr profile).
That’s a complete arc: state crown, national crown, international stage, back to the newsroom. Anyone searching “Why did Miss USA step down?” while reading about Smith is likely mixing her story with a different titleholder’s.
Why this matters: the query assumes a controversy that the documented timeline doesn’t contain. Smith’s reign ran the standard course, and the more remarkable part is the speed of her rise — from state winner to national winner in a matter of months.
How much is Elle Smith worth?
Elle Smith’s career earnings
- No reliable net worth figure exists in the public record; none of the sources reviewed here has published one.
- Her documented career base is television journalism at WHAS-TV in Louisville (UrbanMixr profile).
- Before the crown, she built production experience with the Southeastern Conference and interned at WLEX-TV and Fox News’s Washington bureau (National Newspaper Publishers Association (Black press association)).
The absence of a number is the finding. Unlike celebrity-finance pages that publish speculative figures, the verified record on Smith’s wealth is essentially empty — which makes any exact net worth you see online an invention by definition.
Sources of income
- On-air reporting and multimedia journalism at WHAS-TV (UrbanMixr profile).
- Television production work for the SEC while at the University of Kentucky (UrbanMixr biography).
- Modeling and pageant appearances tied to her Miss USA profile (UrbanMixr biography).
The pattern is unglamorous and real: Smith’s income looks like a working journalist’s, with pageant opportunities layered on top. That’s a less exciting answer than “net worth $1 million,” but it’s the one the record supports.
Invisible net worth keeps Smith’s story about her work rather than her spending power. The flip side: the vacuum invites fabricated figures that outrank the real record in search results.
If a reported net worth number appears in a headline, assume it’s a guess. Her income is real, but it’s not public.
The consequence: readers should ignore any net worth claim that lacks a named, credible source.
Timeline: Elle Smith’s path to Miss USA
- : Wins Miss Kentucky USA while representing Germantown in Louisville (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).
- : Crowned Miss USA at the 70th pageant in Tulsa, Oklahoma (The Courier-Journal (Louisville daily)).
- –: Relationship with Leah Williamson becomes public (UrbanMixr profile).
- Today: Continues as a reporter and model in Louisville (UrbanMixr profile).
The takeaway: the part that looks sudden — the crown — was actually the middle of a longer trajectory that began in an Ohio high school and continues in a Louisville newsroom.
Confirmed facts vs. what’s still unclear
Confirmed facts
- Elle Smith won Miss USA 2021, representing Kentucky (UrbanMixr profile).
- Her full name is Ellen Elizabeth Smith (UrbanMixr biography).
- Her height is 5’10” (178 cm) (UrbanMixr biography).
- She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020 (University of Kentucky (her alma mater)).
What’s unclear
- Exact birth date and current age: not stated in any source reviewed here.
- Net worth: no verified figure exists.
- Official ethnicity classification: not published by Smith; coverage describes her as part of a run of Black titleholders.
- Relationship start date with Leah Williamson: not publicly confirmed.
The pattern: what’s confirmed tends to come from official records and newsroom profiles; what’s unclear hinges on Smith’s own disclosures, which remain absent.
Quotes: what the record actually said
“The new Miss USA is Elle Smith, a local TV reporter from Kentucky.”
New Hampshire Public Radio (NPR affiliate)
“Big girl job” — Elle Smith’s own description of her first television reporting position, from a University of Kentucky alumni profile.
University of Kentucky (her alma mater)
The upshot: Elle Smith is a working journalist who happens to hold a major pageant title — not a scandal story, and not a collection of unverified numbers. For readers, the verified record is here: a documented win, a documented full name, a documented height, and a clearly marked gap around age, ethnicity details, net worth, and the relationship timeline. For editors, the takeaway is simpler: any Elle Smith profile that cites an exact net worth or an exact relationship start date without a named source is repeating rumor, not reporting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Elle Smith married?
No public record reviewed here indicates that Elle Smith is married. She has been publicly linked to English footballer Leah Williamson since around 2022–2023.
Does Elle Smith have children?
No source reviewed for this article mentions Elle Smith having children.
What is Elle Smith’s job?
She is a multimedia journalist and reporter, having joined WHAS-TV in Louisville in October 2020. She also works as a model and held the Miss USA 2021 title.
Where did Elle Smith go to college?
She attended the University of Kentucky and graduated in 2020 with a degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in political science.
Is Elle Smith active on TikTok?
The sources reviewed for this article do not document a verified TikTok account for Elle Smith, so claims about her activity there should be treated as unconfirmed.
What is Elle Smith’s real name?
Her full name is Ellen Elizabeth Smith, but she competes and works professionally as Elle Smith.
What is Elle Smith’s height?
She is listed at 5’10” (178 cm).
Who is Elle Smith’s partner?
She has been publicly linked to Leah Williamson, an English professional footballer. The exact start of their relationship has not been confirmed.
George Thompson is Senior Reporter at UrbanMixr.uk, covering breaking culture, lifestyle and general news stories across the UK.