Some public figures become famous for a title, and then again for a photo — Elle Smith’s Miss USA 2021 crown made her a pageant-era headline, and four years later, a red-carpet appearance with England captain Leah Williamson made her a headline all over again. This profile sorts the documented milestones — the pageant win, the Ballon d’Or photo, the reported romance — from the speculation that still circles both women, so the signal survives the noise.
Born: June 20, 1998 · Birthplace: Springfield, Ohio, USA · Title: Miss USA 2021 · Occupation: Actress, Digital Creator · Education: Stetson University
Quick snapshot
- Won Miss USA 2021 after the Miss Kentucky USA crown (GOAL (football outlet))
- Born June 20, 1998, in Springfield, Ohio (GOAL (football outlet))
- Graduated from the University of Kentucky in May 2020 (Infobae (Latin American news site))
- Which university she attended: profile cards list Stetson University, while Infobae reports the University of Kentucky (Infobae) (The Sun (UK tabloid))
- Exact start of her relationship with Leah Williamson — tabloid reports say around 2024 (The Sun (UK tabloid))
- Leah Williamson’s salary, children, and pre-Smith dating history — none publicly documented (The Sun (UK tabloid))
- 2021: crowned Miss USA (GOAL)
- September 2025: appears with Williamson at the Ballon d’Or in Paris (PinkNews)
- September 24, 2025: Williamson shares photos of Smith on Instagram
- More public appearances as both women stay active online and on the pitch
- Continued LGBTQ+ media coverage of the couple’s role in women’s football visibility
Six datapoints, one conflict: the profile-card basics are consistent across sources, but her education is split between Stetson University and the University of Kentucky.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Elle Smith |
| Birth Date | |
| Birthplace | Springfield, Ohio, USA |
| Title | Miss USA 2021 |
| Occupation | Actress, Digital Creator |
| Education | Stetson University |
What is Elle Smith’s ethnicity?
The short answer, on the record: the sources reviewed for this profile describe Elle Smith as an American model, journalist, and pageant titleholder. None of them itemize her ethnic background, so this section focuses on what is documented — her nationality, date of birth, birthplace, and education.
Elle Smith’s Age and Birthday
Born: June 20, 1998 · Birthplace: Springfield, Ohio, USA · Nationality: American
Profile records consistently list her date of birth as June 20, 1998. If you have searched “how old is Ella Smith,” the spelling drifts but the person doesn’t: that query reaches the same woman, the Miss USA winner born in 1998.
Birthplace and Education
- Birthplace: Springfield, Ohio, USA
- Reported graduation: University of Kentucky, May 2020 — with studies in journalism or television communication and political science (Infobae)
- Conflict to resolve: standard profile cards list Stetson University instead
So what is Elle Smith’s ethnicity? The source-based reply is: she is American, born in Ohio, and the reporting reviewed here does not go further into her ancestry. Nationality is documented; ethnic heritage is not, at least in the material this profile is built on. Both school listings could even be accurate if she studied at two institutions, but the reviewed sources don’t reconcile them.
Elle Smith’s documented record is strong on place — Ohio, Kentucky, New York — and quiet on ancestry. An unlabeled ethnicity isn’t a mystery to crack; it’s a gap in the sources.
The pattern: place comes first in every profile of Smith — where she was born, where she studied, where she now lives — and identity labels beyond “American” have not been part of the reporting. For a fuller treatment of her background, read Elle Smith: Biography, Ethnicity, Partner, and More.
Who is Elle Smith’s partner?
The answer based on the reporting reviewed here: Leah Williamson, the Arsenal defender and England captain who appeared with Smith at the 2025 Ballon d’Or. Tabloid and football media have described Williamson as Smith’s girlfriend, and the couple’s September 2025 red-carpet appearance turned that reported link into a public confirmation for fans.
Leah Williamson: Professional profile
Club: Arsenal · Position: Defender · National team: England Lionesses · Captaincy: England women’s international campaigns (The Standard)
Williamson is a central figure in English women’s football: an Arsenal defender who has captained the Lionesses through major international campaigns, as The Standard notes. She is also a publicly visible supporter of LGBTQ+ causes, a thread picked up later in this article.
Children and family
- Children: none documented in the sources reviewed for either Elle or Leah
- Engagement or marriage: not reported
- Family details: the coverage reviewed here stays focused on Elle’s Ohio origins and Leah’s football career — little else is public
“Did Leah Williamson have any children?” is a frequent search, and the verification-first answer is straightforward: no public reporting documents children for either woman. If either had made a family announcement, the coverage reviewed here would have captured it; none has.
Salary and dating history
- Salary: no verified figure in the reporting reviewed here
- Dating history before Smith: not publicly documented
- Public identity: Williamson was reported as identifying as bisexual in 2022 — covered in the representation section below
Salary figures and “dating history” lists that circulate in comment sections have no counterpart in the reporting reviewed here. Treat them as speculation until a named outlet documents them.
How long have Elle Smith and Leah Williamson been together?
The shortest honest answer is “since around 2024,” according to tabloid coverage — with the caveat that no reviewed source documents an exact date.
When their relationship began
- Reported start: around 2024 — the exact date isn’t independently established
- First public confirmation: Williamson’s Instagram post on September 24, 2025
- Widely seen confirmation: the Ballon d’Or appearance in Paris, September 2025
Tabloid coverage placed the start of the romance around 2024, and the couple then stayed private until the fall of 2025. The first public markers came within a single week: an Instagram photo, then a red carpet.
Notable milestones
- GOAL tracked a Williamson visit to New York with her “model girlfriend,” keeping the couple’s long-distance setup in football media (GOAL)
- September 2025: a Williamson Instagram post featuring Smith, followed by the Ballon d’Or appearance
- After Paris, coverage began treating the two as a couple without hedging
The pattern: confirmation arrived in stages — a reported link, a posted photo, a red carpet — and that staged sequence is the real timeline. Any site quoting an exact anniversary is guessing. For the earlier coverage of this connection, see Elle Smith: Miss USA 2021 Linked to Leah Williamson.
How many of the Lionesses are queer?
There is no official count in the reviewed reporting — no federation census, no player survey, no league figure. The verified picture is built from individual public identities, and the most documented one here is Leah Williamson’s.
Openly queer Lionesses
- Leah Williamson: reported as having publicly identified as bisexual in 2022, and described by PinkNews as an LGBTQ+ supporter and activist (PinkNews (LGBTQ+ news outlet))
- Williamson’s relationship with Elle Smith adds a high-profile same-sex couple to the Lionesses’ public story
- No reviewed source publishes a full list of queer Lionesses
The number people want — “how many of the Lionesses are queer?” — is not a data point any reviewed authority has published. What the reporting shows is a team with a visible LGBTQ+ presence, anchored by a player who has captained England and publicly identified as bisexual. Representation in this squad is not a monolith: some players share their private lives, others don’t, and every public disclosure is a personal choice.
Arsenal women’s players who are lesbians
- No reviewed source provides a roster of Arsenal women’s players’ sexualities
- The most visible Arsenal example in this profile: Leah Williamson’s relationship with Elle Smith
- Search phrases like “Arsenal women’s lesbians” reflect that visibility, not an official list
Arsenal has become shorthand for LGBTQ+ visibility in women’s football largely because of the public relationships of its players, with Williamson’s case the clearest in the sources reviewed here.
Lucy Bronze’s relationship
- Not covered in the sources reviewed for this article
- Fan questions about “Lucy Bronze partner” remain unanswered in the provided research
- No verified relationship details for Bronze appear in the reporting this profile relies on
The honest answer for Bronze is that no verified public detail about her relationship appears in the sources reviewed. Leaving it out is a fact-lock decision, not an oversight.
When a star player brings her girlfriend to the Ballon d’Or, the image does what advocacy campaigns often can’t: it makes queerness in elite football normal rather than notable.
Do any of the Lionesses have autism?
Based on the sources reviewed for this profile: no public documentation connects any Lioness to an autism diagnosis — including Leah Williamson, the player closest to the center of this story.
Autism awareness in sports
- No Lioness has publicly disclosed an autism diagnosis in the reviewed reporting
- The question circulates in fan searches — “autism in women’s football” is a recurring query — but not in the reviewed sources
- No reporting on Williamson or Smith reviewed for this article mentions autism or neurodiversity
This isn’t the same as saying no Lioness is autistic; it’s saying an affirmative answer would require a public disclosure, and none has been documented. The verified response is the absence of a verified response.
Other inquiries: boyfriends
- No reviewed source inventories which Lionesses have boyfriends
- The most visible player relationship in this coverage is between two women: Williamson and Smith (The Sun)
- Blanket claims about the squad’s dating lives, in either direction, aren’t supported by the reviewed reporting
The question “do any of the Lionesses have boyfriends?” carries the same problem as the autism one: relationships are reported selectively, not comprehensively. Some become headlines; most stay private. A source-based answer only reflects what has been documented, and the documented record here is weighted toward same-sex relationships among the most high-profile players.
The trade-off: answering “does anyone on the team have autism?” with “no public disclosure found” feels like a dodge. It isn’t — it’s the difference between a verification-first profile and a rumor list.
Elle Smith’s public timeline
Eight markers, one arc: an Ohio-born pageant contestant becomes Miss USA, then becomes a news story a second time in Paris.
| Year | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Born in Springfield, Ohio, on June 20 | — |
| 2020 | Graduates from the University of Kentucky | — |
| 2021 | Wins Miss Kentucky USA, then Miss USA | — |
| 2021 | Represents the U.S. at Miss Universe; reportedly reaches the top 10 | The Sun |
| 2022 | Appears in the Churchill Downs music video | — |
| 2024 | Tabloid reports place the start of her relationship with Leah Williamson | The Sun |
| 2025-09-24 | Williamson shares photos with Smith on Instagram | — |
| September 2025 | Appears with Williamson at the Ballon d’Or in Paris | — |
The two 2025 rows are the relationship’s only confirmed public markers; their sources are logged in the snapshot above. Everything earlier is the documented biography, and everything in between is the unreported private stretch.
Confirmed facts vs. open questions
This is the verification core of the profile: what the sources support, side by side with what they don’t.
On the record
- Elle Smith won Miss USA 2021, after winning the Miss Kentucky USA title
- She was born June 20, 1998, in Springfield, Ohio
- She graduated in May 2020, with studies in journalism or television communication and political science
- She appeared with Leah Williamson at the 2025 Ballon d’Or in Paris
- Williamson has captained England’s women’s team and plays for Arsenal
Not on the record
- Her exact ethnic background — not itemized in the reviewed sources
- Which university or universities she attended — Stetson and Kentucky both circulate
- The precise start date of her relationship with Williamson
- Leah Williamson’s salary, children, or pre-Smith dating history
- An official count of queer Lionesses — no such count exists in the reviewed reporting
- Any Lioness’s autism disclosure — none found in the reviewed sources
The balance leans toward open questions, and that’s the honest verdict of the record: Smith’s documented milestones are real, but the relationship, salary, identity-count, and neurodiversity details driving most searches remain unconfirmed.
What the people and sources actually said
“Busy, but make the relationship work.” That was Williamson’s description of the couple’s rhythm, offered in an interview with The Standard.
Leah Williamson, via The Standard
“Appears to finally confirm relationship with photo of girlfriend at the Ballon d’Or awards.” The headline marked the shift in coverage — from rumor to record.
PinkNews, September 25, 2025
Between Williamson’s understated quote and PinkNews’s confirmation framing, the couple’s public story is one of deliberate reveal: a private relationship, a single confirming image, and a shared red carpet.
The takeaway
For fans, the verified story is both simpler and shorter than the search results suggest: Elle Smith is a Miss USA titleholder, a Kentucky-education journalist-model, and the woman who walked the 2025 Ballon d’Or carpet with England captain Leah Williamson. Everything beyond that — the exact anniversary, the salary figure, a team-wide identity count, the autism rumors — is either unverified or speculation dressed as a headline. For anyone writing about this couple, the choice is clear: anchor every claim to a named source, or the speculation becomes the record.
standard.co.uk, cosmopolitan.com, thepinknews.com, pride.com
Frequently asked questions
How did Elle Smith begin her career as an actress?
The reviewed sources don’t document an acting career. Her public profile is that of a model, journalist, and pageant titleholder; “actress” and “digital creator” appear in profile cards, but no covered reporting details specific acting roles.
What are Elle Smith’s educational qualifications?
She graduated in May 2020, with studies in journalism or television communication and political science. Some profiles list Stetson University as her alma mater; the reviewed sources don’t reconcile the two records.
What is the net worth of Leah Williamson?
No verified net-worth figure appears in the sources reviewed here. Public reporting on Williamson focuses on her football career and relationship, not her finances.
How did Leah Williamson and Elle Smith meet?
The reviewed reporting doesn’t document the meeting. Coverage places the relationship’s start around 2024, and public confirmation came with the September 2025 Ballon d’Or appearance.
What does the term “Lionesses” refer to?
It’s the England women’s national football team — the squad Leah Williamson has captained during international campaigns.
How many players are part of the England women’s football team?
Squad sizes change with each tournament, and the reviewed sources don’t specify a permanent number for this profile.
What is Elle Smith’s presence on TikTok?
Her documented social presence in the reviewed reporting centers on Instagram, including the September 2025 post by Williamson. TikTok specifics aren’t covered in the sources reviewed here.
George Thompson is Senior Reporter at UrbanMixr.uk, covering breaking culture, lifestyle and general news stories across the UK.