Caelynn Marie Miller-Keyes (born June 15, 1995) is an American television personality, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. Miller-Keyes received national recognition after appearing as a contestant on

season 23 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of '' The Bachelor''. While competing in ''The Bachelor'', Miller-Keyes received widespread attention and praise regarding her decision to detail the circumstances of a sexual assault she was the victim of while a college student. Her story was reported on by media outlets such as '' Forbes'', '' Vogue'', '' Inquisitr'', '' Bustle'', and ''

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...

''.

Early life and education

Miller-Keyes was born in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

to parents Jerry Keyes and Jai-leah Miller; she was raised by her mother and stepfather John Kamenicky. Her mother and maternal grandmother are Native Americans, both enrolled with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Her paternal grandmother was the first woman to become head of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

in Los Angeles. As a child, she was diagnosed with

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include seizures, hallucinations, ...

and was told by doctors she only had a 10% chance of ever walking again; she ultimately ended up fully recovering. Miller-Keyes attended

Stafford Senior High School Stafford Senior High School (colloquially known as Stafford High School and often called South Stafford High School) is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in Stafford, Virginia, Stafford, Virginia, United States. It was establi ...

and Virginia Commonwealth University, where she majored in broadcast journalism. Prior to winning Miss North Carolina USA, Miller-Keyes moved from Virginia to

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

and began working as a social media consultant.

Career

Pageantry

Miller-Keyes's pageantry career began at the age of 16, after competing in Miss Virginia Teen USA 2013. She competed at the Miss Greater Fairfax Teen USA 2013 preliminary pageant and placed second runner-up before competing and winning th
Miss Arlington County Teen USA 2013
preliminary a month later. She then went on to win the state title on her first attempt, and represented Virginia at Miss Teen USA 2013 at Atlantis Paradise Island in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

. Miller-Keyes ultimately did not place in the pageant and the pageant was won by Cassidy Wolf of California. Miller-Keyes later crowned Olivia Fletcher as her successor at the end of her reign. Miller-Keyes returned to pageantry several years after winning Miss Virginia Teen USA, and competed in

Miss Virginia USA The Miss Virginia USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Virginia in the Miss USA pageant. Virginia has been only moderately successful in terms of number of semi-finalists. They have had two Miss USA ...

in 2016 and 2017, placing as the third runner-up and first runner-up, to Desiree Williams and Jacqueline Carroll, respectively. After moving to North Carolina, Miller-Keyes competed in Miss North Carolina USA 2018, representing Asheville, where she ended up winning the title and being crowned by outgoing titleholder Katie Coble. As Miss North Carolina USA, Miller-Keyes was given the right to represent North Carolina at the Miss USA 2018 competition, held in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. While at Miss USA, Miller-Keyes advocated for her platform of sexual assault awareness. She went on to place as the first runner-up in the competition, behind eventual winner

Sarah Rose Summers Sarah Rose Summers (born November 4, 1994) is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 2018. As Miss USA, she represented the United States at Miss Universe 2018, where she placed in the top twenty. Previously, Su ...

of Nebraska. After finishing her reign, Miller-Keyes was unable to crown her successor due to filming commitments for '' The Bachelor''. Her successor, Cheslie Kryst, was instead crowned by Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2018 Kaaviya Sambasivam.

Reality television

In 2018, Miller-Keyes was cast in

of '' The Bachelor'', starring former professional football player

Colton Underwood Colton Scott Brown-Underwood (born January 26, 1992) is an American reality television personality and former professional football player. He played defensive end at Illinois State and was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free ...

. Filming for the season took place throughout fall 2018, and Miller-Keyes was later revealed by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as a contestant on December 6, 2018. Hannah Brown, another contestant, was crowned Miss Alabama USA 2018 and was Miller-Keyes's roommate at Miss USA. In the January 28, 2019 episode of the season, Miller-Keyes revealed to Underwood the details of a sexual assault that she was a victim of during her

sophomore year In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

of college, and how the experience led to her having difficulty opening up and trusting men for a period of time. Miller-Keyes received widespread attention and praise from the media after the episode aired, with outlets identifying the airing of their conversation as support for the Me Too movement. Miller-Keyes placed fourth in the season, being eliminated by Underwood during the hometown dates portion of the show in the episode aired on February 25, 2019. She began appearing on

season six A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

of '' Bachelor in Paradise'' in August 2019, before choosing to leave the show along with boyfriend

Dean Unglert The thirteenth season of ''The Bachelorette'' premiered on May 22, 2017. This season featured Rachel Lindsay, a 32-year-old attorney from Dallas, Texas. Lindsay attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a bachelor's de ...

in the episode aired September 9, 2019.

Personal life

As Miss North Carolina USA, Miller-Keyes revealed that she was a survivor of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

and adopted sexual assault awareness as her primary platform of advocacy during the Miss USA competition. During

of '' The Bachelor'', Miller-Keyes went into detail regarding her assault, revealing that it occurred during her sophomore year of college when she and some friends were drugged and raped by a group of boys they were friends with. Miller-Keyes also had indecent pictures of her taken while she was incapacitated. After learning of her assault, Miller-Keyes reached out to hospitals for a rape kit, and was turned away by the first hospital, while the second hospital's investigation came back inconclusive due to the time that had passed since the assault. Of her assaulters, one was expelled from school while the others were left unpunished. Miller-Keyes began a relationship with Dean Unglert during

of '' Bachelor in Paradise''. In January 2021, they purchased a house together in Summerlin, Nevada, where they will be permanently relocating in April. They got engaged in October 2022.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller-Keyes, Caelynn 1995 births American beauty pageant winners American television personalities American women television personalities Bachelor Nation contestants Female models from North Carolina Female models from Virginia Living people Miss North Carolina USA winners 2013 beauty pageant contestants 21st-century Miss Teen USA delegates Miss USA 2018 delegates Native American female models Odawa people People from Asheville, North Carolina People from Fredericksburg, Virginia Television personalities from North Carolina Television personalities from Virginia Virginia Commonwealth University alumni 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans