Diana Hayden (born 1 May 1973) is an Indian actress, television host, model and the winner of

Miss World 1997 Miss World 1997, the 47th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 22 November 1997 at the Plantation Club Seychelles in Baie Lazare, Seychelles. 86 delegates competed for the coveted crown. At the end of the event, India's Diana Hayden ca ...

pageant. She is the third Indian woman to win the title of Miss World. She also won three subtitles during the pageant and is the only Miss World titleholder to do so. In 2008, she was a celebrity contestant in the reality show ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made ...

''.

Early life

Hayden was born in

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. W ...

, India, in an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...

Christian family. She attended St. Ann's High School in Secunderabad. Her parents separated when she was in school and she had to start working at the age of 13. She worked for an event management company called Encore, during when she began taking up modelling assignments. At the age of 21, she worked as a

Public Relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

Officer at BMG Crescendo, where she assisted in managing the careers of singers Anaida and

Mehnaz Hoosein Mehnaz Hoosein (born 30 January 1973) is an Indian pop singer and songwriter from Mumbai, India, popularly known for her hit song 'Banoongi Main Miss India'. She is a graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. At the age of 13, Mehnaz started ...

Pageantry

Hayden's journey in pageantry began at the age of 23, when a friend recommended her to enter Femina Miss India. She was then shortlisted for the Femina Miss India 1997 contest. She finished second place and earned the title of Miss India World. She represented India at the 47th edition of the Miss World pageant held in

Baie Lazare Baie Lazare () is an administrative district of Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 11 ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. A total of 86 delegates competed for the title and at the end of the event, Hayden was crowned as

. During the question and answer segment of the competition, Hayden responded to the question - "Why do you want to become Miss World?", by stating:

''"I draw inspiration from a famous writer and poet,
William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
, who once wrote - 'With Dreams Begin Responsibility.' Well for me, this title is that dream and the responsibility it brings, I cherish that in a small way I could make a difference and help the dreams of others. Thank you."''

Hayden was also crowned as the " Miss World - Asia and Oceania" during the Miss World contest. In addition, she won the titles ''Miss Photogenic'' and ''Spectacular Swimwear''. Hayden is the only Miss World titleholder to win three subtitles during the competition. She is the third Indian woman to win the Miss World pageant, after

Reita Faria Reita Faria Powell ( née Faria; born 23 August 1943) is an Indian physician, former model and the winner of the Miss World 1966 pageant. Born in Bombay to Goan parents, Faria is the first Asian woman to win the beauty contest. She is also t ...

in 1966 and

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ( Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. The winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, she has established herself as one of the most popular celebriti ...

in 1994. After her win at Miss World, she was signed up to endorse

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...

, Colgate and

Chopard Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A., commonly known as Chopard, is a Swiss manufacturer and retailer of luxury watches, jewellery and accessories. Founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, Switzerland, Chopard has been owned by ...

in India. She has been associated with various charities including

Child Rights and You Child Rights and You (CRY) is an Indian non-governmental organization (NGO) that works towards ensuring children's rights. The organization was started in 1979 by Rippan Kapur, an Air India purser. CRY works with 99 grassroot projects across ...

(''CRY''), Greenpeace, PETA and the

Spastics Society of India In medicine, the adjective spastic refers to an alteration in muscle tone affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is a well-known symptomatic phenomenon seen in patients with a wide range of central neurological disorders, including s ...

. She has supported several causes to spread awareness about cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Career

Following her tenure as the Miss World organization's global representative, Hayden moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and studied acting at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

. She also studied at the

Drama Studio London Drama Studio London (DSL) is a British drama school in London. It is accredited by the Federation of Drama Schools. The Drama Studio London was founded in 1966 by actor and director Peter Layton, focusses on developing individual talent nurture ...

, where she concentrated on the works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and earned a Best Actress nomination from the studio. In 2001, she made her screen debut in the film version of Shakespeare's '' Othello'' in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. She hosted Miss Europe twice in 2001 and 2002 in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, along with

Miss Lebanon Miss Lebanon ( ar, ملكة جمال لبنان, Malikat Jamāl Lubnān, Queen of Beauty of Lebanon) is the national beauty pageant in Lebanon. The current Miss Lebanon is Yasmina Zaytoun who was crowned on 24 July 2022. History Miss Lebanon h ...

1997 and Julien Lepers. Diana was signed by the Avalon Academy in 2006 as the face of the Academy and currently serves as a celebrity Guest Lecturer for airline personnel training programmes. In 2008, Diana Hayden became a wild card entry on the second season of the Indian TV show ''

''. She was voted off ''Bigg Boss'' during Week 13. Diana Hayden launches her own book on women's grooming 09

She has written a book called ''A Beautiful Truth'' which is an "encyclopedia on grooming and also deals with personality development and confidence building". She took two years to complete the book, which was released on 6 August 2012.

Personal life

Hayden is married to Collin Dick, an American businessman from

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. He had been working in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

for an international

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

. In an interview, Hayden had stated that she met Dick when he came as a prospective tenant to rent her apartment. They got married in a private ceremony which was attended by their family and close friends, on 13 September 2013. The wedding took place in a country club in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. In 2016, she gave birth to a girl. The child was born from an egg that Hayden had frozen 8 years previously. In November 2017, Hayden confirmed that she was pregnant for the second time. In March 2018, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

Controversy

In 2018,

Biplab Kumar Deb Biplab Kumar Deb (born 25 November 1971) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Tripura. He was the state unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tripura from 7 January 2016 up to 2018. He led the BJP to victory in the 20 ...

, the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

state made a controversial statement regarding Hayden during a public speech. Deb questioned the rationale behind crowning Diana Hayden as Miss World in 1997 and claimed that all international beauty pageants were a farce. Deb expressed - "Tell me, did she ianadeserve it? People might say I am creating a controversy. I can understand Aishwarya Rai getting it, at least she has traits of an Indian beauty." Deb went on to add that "for Indians,

Goddess Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). A ...

and

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a g ...

exemplify beauty. I don't understand the beauty of Diana Hayden." Deb's remarks received massive backlash from netizens and social activists. Hayden responded to Deb's comments by stating: Deb later expressed regret and apologized for his remarks on Hayden.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden, Diana 1973 births Femina Miss India winners Anglo-Indian people Indian Christians Indian beauty pageant winners Indian film actresses Living people Miss World winners Miss World 1997 delegates Actresses from Hyderabad, India Actresses of European descent in Indian films Actresses of European descent in Bollywood films Alumni of the Drama Studio London Beauty pageant contestants from India Female models from Hyderabad, India Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants