by Stacy Jackson
January 9, 2024
The new book, written before the former Miss USA died, details the internal battles and mental illness she faced behind her glittering smile.
Over two years after former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst’s suicide at age 30, one of her lifelong dreams, of becoming a published author, is coming to pass.
On April 23, Forefront Books will release Kryst’s book, By the Time You Read This: The Space Between Cheslie’s Smile and Mental Illness. The work fulfills one of Kryst’s final wishes, according to her mother, April Simpkins. “She left me her final wishes in the text message that she sent to me the morning that she passed … that I see to it that her book get published, and it has been quite a journey doing that,” Simpkins told Extra.
In the first half of the book, the former Extra correspondent shares her incredible story in her own words, spanning her highest achievements, including passing two bar exams, winning Miss USA 2019 and building an entertainment journalism career. It also captures her lowest moments of “heartbreak, betrayal, and persistent depression.” The late beauty queen’s bright public persona often masked profound inner turmoil. “These are her own words. Cheslie, for most people who saw her on TV or saw her at events, she was smiling, and she was bubbly, and she was happy, and that was her true self… but there was still a lot of pain that she felt, and I do feel like the book stands right between that place of what people saw in her smile and her private battle with depression.” Simpkins told Extra.
For Simpkins, shepherding the book to publication brings bittersweet closure while also furthering her daughter’s legacy. She herself picks up the narrative, recounting her shattering experience in the aftermath of her daughter’s death.
Simpkins hopes this firsthand account of the private struggles that led to her daughter’s suicide will inspire more compassion and support for those with mental illness.
“I hope that when people read this book that they promise themselves to seek help when they need it,” she said. “That they work to create a safe space so that their friends can share, and that they learn how to really listen.”
As previously covered by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Kryst, then 30, was found dead on January 30, 2022, on the street after jumping from a 60-story high-rise building in midtown Manhattan. She left her loved ones with an Instagram message that read, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”
Net proceeds from the book will support the Cheslie C. Kryst Foundation, established to honor the late correspondent. The book is available for preorder before its April release.
