Elle Smith: Miss USA 2021, Leah Williamson, Biography & Facts

Few pageant winners arrive at the Miss USA stage straight from a local TV newsroom, but Elle Smith did exactly that. On November 29, 2021, the Louisville multimedia journalist was crowned Miss USA 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma — New Hampshire Public Radio (the public broadcaster that profiled her) chronicled the win the next morning. This profile separates the verified record — the titles, dates, and journalism résumé — from the details that still rest on media reports and database entries.

Born: June 20, 1998 (Springfield, Ohio; one source lists June 19) · Title: Miss USA 2021 (Miss Kentucky USA) · Height: 5 ft 10 in (178 cm), per IMDb · Partner: Leah Williamson (England footballer, media-reported) · Known for: Miss USA 2021, TV journalism, modeling

Elle Smith at a glance

Twelve profile details, one pattern: the verifiable entries come from her education and newsroom record, while physical and personal details trace back to less authoritative databases.

The pattern: her documented record is strongest where institutions keep files — universities, newsrooms, pageant results — and weakest where databases copy from one another.

Was Elle Smith Miss USA?

Yes — and it is the cleanest fact in her file. Elle Smith won Miss USA 2021, and the only real debate in the coverage is how quickly her life changed afterward.

Elle Smith’s Miss USA title and year

• Title: Miss USA 2021, representing Kentucky (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Date and place: November 29, 2021, Tulsa, Oklahoma (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Place in history: second Miss Kentucky to win the national title, per Louisville station WHAS11 (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Follow-up: represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021 and reached the Top 10 (Wikipedia)

At the moment of the crowning, Smith was a working multimedia journalist for Louisville’s WHAS11 — the detail that made her win a story beyond pageant circles. New Hampshire Public Radio’s report led with her day job, not her gown, and national coverage followed the same angle.

The implication: for Smith, the title amplified a journalism career that already existed — the win added reach, but the credibility trace ran through her byline.

How she won Miss Kentucky USA

• Won Miss Kentucky USA 2021, securing the state’s spot at Miss USA (Wikipedia)
• Entered the national competition as a broadcast journalism graduate of the University of Kentucky’s class of 2020 (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Had served as vice president of the university’s National Association of Black Journalists chapter (New Hampshire Public Radio)

Her résumé before the sash already pointed toward storytelling: she worked as a reporter and videographer for university publications and completed journalism internships in Arkansas and Washington, D.C., according to New Hampshire Public Radio. The state title, in that light, was less a career detour than an extension of the same broadcast instinct. The trade-off: a state title can pull a competitor into full-time pageant preparation, but Smith stayed in her newsroom role through the Miss USA cycle — which is why her win read as a journalist’s victory.

How old is Elle Smith?

The honest answer is more interesting than the birthday line: her exact birth date is contested between databases, and the disagreement tells you how to read most Elle Smith facts.

Elle Smith’s birth date and age

• IMDb lists her birth date as June 20, 1998 (IMDb)
• One biographical source in IMDb’s own records lists June 19, 1998 instead (IMDb)
• Either date places her in her late twenties as of the most recent reviewed coverage

The one-sentence answer: she was born in 1998, with the exact day split between two database entries. IMDb lists June 20; another biographical record it carries says June 19. Until a primary record settles the disagreement, the responsible line is “born in 1998, exact day disputed” — and the discrepancy is a useful stress test for any profile that states her birthday with total confidence.

Elle Smith’s ethnic background

• Wikipedia’s biographical summary describes Smith as biracial, with a Black father and a white mother (Wikipedia)
• The claim appears in secondary biographical material rather than a primary interview or family record
• Her leadership in the National Association of Black Journalists, by contrast, is independently documented (New Hampshire Public Radio)

Because the ethnicity detail is attached to Wikipedia — a community-maintained encyclopedia — rather than a primary source, it belongs in the “reported” column; her journalism résumé carries the concrete version: vice president of her university’s National Association of Black Journalists chapter, a role NHPR documented. The public record therefore supports “biracial, per secondary profiles,” but not much more — treat the detail as indicative, not definitive.

Who is Elle Smith’s partner?

The short answer, based on media coverage: England and Arsenal defender Leah Williamson. PinkNews, the LGBTQ+ outlet covering the pair, identifies Williamson as an England women’s football international and Arsenal defender, while Infobae, the Latin American news outlet, has traced the couple’s story as a love story between the footballer and the former Miss USA. The less settled part is how public the relationship really is.

Relationship with Leah Williamson

• Leah Williamson is an England women’s football international and Arsenal defender (PinkNews)
• Media reports have linked Williamson with Elle Smith since approximately 2024 (Infobae)
• As of June 2025, PinkNews reported that neither Smith nor Williamson had explicitly confirmed the relationship (PinkNews)
• Later Instagram posts and 2026 coverage describe the relationship as ongoing (Infobae)

Williamson’s public profile is the higher-profile half of the pairing in the United Kingdom: she has been a regular in England women’s national team squads and plays her club football at Arsenal. For Smith, the association pulled her name into European sports pages, giving the former Miss USA a second wave of mainstream visibility.

Why this matters: every “girlfriend” headline about Smith traces back to media inference rather than a joint statement, so readers should treat the romance as real in coverage but not as confirmed fact.

How long they have been together

• Reports date the relationship to around 2024 (Infobae)
• Neither woman has publicly confirmed an anniversary or start date (PinkNews)
• The couple’s public timeline, as covered by outlets, runs from roughly 2024 into 2026 (Infobae)

So “how long” has a two-part answer: media reports have linked them since approximately 2024, while the precise start is unknown outside the couple. Infobae’s 2026 coverage describes the relationship as an established love story, which suggests the pair view it as serious and lasting — and when public figures decline to confirm, the timeline stays fuzzy.

Why did Donald Trump sell Miss Universe?

The Trump-era question keeps surfacing in searches about any recent Miss USA because, for two decades, the pageant system was part of his business empire. The short version: he owned the Miss Universe Organization from 1996 to 2015, then sold it as his presidential campaign made the arrangement untenable.

Trump’s ownership period

• Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization from 1996 to 2015
• The organization ran both Miss USA and Miss Universe during that period
• Smith’s 2021 title came six years after the ownership change

The relevance for Elle Smith is indirect but real: every recent Miss USA, including Smith, competes under rules set by the post-Trump ownership, not by the 1990s broadcasting-era pageant.

Reason for sale and buyer

• Sale completed in 2015 to WME/IMG, the talent and media company now operating as Endeavor
• Trump’s presidential campaign created conflicts with the pageant’s broadcast and corporate partners
• The sale ended his direct involvement with the Miss Universe system

In 2015, with his presidential campaign underway, Trump sold the organization to WME/IMG. The reason, recorded at the time, was straightforward: the campaign created conflicts with the pageant’s broadcast and corporate partners.

Who owns Miss Universe after Trump and what does the winner get?

The ownership answer is short: WME/IMG, the talent and media company now operating as Endeavor, has controlled the Miss Universe Organization since 2015. The prize answer explains why the title still matters.

Current owner: WME/IMG (Endeavor)

• WME/IMG (now Endeavor) has owned the Miss Universe Organization since 2015
• It runs the Miss Universe and Miss USA competitions under one corporate structure
• Elle Smith’s Miss USA 2021 title was awarded in this ownership era

A talent-agency owner changes the incentives for titleholders: winners sit inside the same ecosystem as actors, models, and broadcasters, which is exactly the crossover space Smith now occupies.

Prize for Miss USA winner

• The winner’s package includes a cash prize, a wardrobe, an apartment, and travel expenses during her reign
• Miss Universe 2021 — where Smith placed in the Top 10 — operates under the same ownership structure
• Non-cash elements like housing and styling are part of the working package, not just a crown

The standard Miss USA winner’s package is a working arrangement: a cash prize plus wardrobe, apartment, and travel expenses while the titleholder fulfills appearances during her reign. For Smith, that meant a year of sponsored logistics layered on top of an existing journalism job. The pattern: pageant prizes are structured as employment support, not a jackpot — and the shift from a real-estate mogul to a talent agency professionalized exactly that part of the business.

Career and pageant record

Nine milestones, one through-line: journalism training came first, pageant titles came second, and each subsequent opportunity — national TV exposure, a music-video cameo, international media interest — built on that base.

The catch: the record is professional, not celebrity-style — every entry traces back to work, not to a publicist’s bio.

Elle Smith: key dates

Eight milestones, one timeline: pageant and journalism moves ran in parallel for two years, and the reported relationship enters the record only after her title year.

The pattern across the dates: the verified core of her story is compact — pageant wins in 2021, a journalism career before and after — while the relationship timeline is the part still being written by external coverage.

What’s confirmed — and what’s still unclear

Given the database conflicts, the honest split looks like this.

For readers, the split is the story: the confirmed column is four items long, and the unclear column is longer — which is the right way to read a profile built mostly on secondary sources.

Quotes and source voices

The three most useful quotes in the public record — each one shows how Smith’s story has been framed by a different kind of source.

“The new Miss USA is Elle Smith, a local TV reporter from Kentucky.”

— New Hampshire Public Radio (public broadcaster)

“Elle Smith is an American journalist, model, and beauty-pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2021.”

— Wikipedia (community-maintained encyclopedia)

PinkNews reported that neither Smith nor Williamson had explicitly confirmed their relationship as of June 2025.

— PinkNews (LGBTQ+ media outlet)

The common thread: the closer a source is to an official record, the firmer its language; the closer to the relationship, the more conditional the framing becomes.

The takeaway

Elle Smith’s public record splits cleanly into two tiers. Her pageant wins, her journalism résumé, and her University of Kentucky background are documented facts; her exact birth date, the ethnicity detail, and the relationship with Leah Williamson still depend on database entries and media inference. For pageant journalists, the choice is straightforward: anchor every future headline in the verified record, tag the relationship details as reported, and wait for primary confirmation before treating the rumors as settled fact.

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