By: Natasha Archary

Newly crowned Miss SA 2023, Natasha Joubert gets real about her struggles with depression, sharing how she didn’t feel worthy after failing to make the Top 21 at Miss Universe 2020.
In an interview with SABC’s Morning Live, Natasha reminded people that everyone has hidden, inner struggles.
This was the same year Natasha was placed as the second runner up in the Miss SA pageant, and she needed to go for therapy as soon as she returned from Miss Universe.
“I had to mentally keep working on myself, because I fell in deep depression.
The result of Miss Universe left a sense of, not being worth it, not being good enough. To not be placed as highly as Demi, Zozi or Tamryn, was really hard to comprehend.
When you represent South Africa, you know, it’s you carrying the people of the country, and you obviously have to represent them well, and with that result, I just felt like I didn’t do it well.”
Reaching a point where she struggled to get out of bed, Natasha says it was her best friend who gave her a lifeline by sharing her psychologist’s number.
Natasha Joubert spent the first three therapy sessions just crying, because flashbacks of her time at Miss Universe overwhelmed her with post-traumatic stress.
This coupled with the reality that she had spoken about her father’s death for the first time at the pageants, meant Natasha had a lot of childhood trauma to unpack.
“It took time for me to get to a point and tell myself, I need to come to terms and at peace with what has happened in the past in order to move forward.
It’s been two years of therapy, and I’ve been seeing a life coach last year, because I wanted to focus on, how I could evolve as a woman.”
Also read: Dr Musa and Liesl celebrate 2 years of marital bliss



