Crystle Stewart

Crystle Danae Stewart is an American actress, professional model, and beauty pageant titleholder born on September 20, 1981. She is best known for winning the Miss USA 2008 title and for her screen roles, notably playing real estate agent Leslie Morris-Jetson in the television comedy-drama series For Better or Worse.

An African American native of Texas, Stewart attended Elkins High School in Missouri City and graduated from the Barbizon Modeling and Acting School in Houston. She earned a degree in consumer science and merchandising from the University of Houston in 2007. Prior to winning her state pageant title, she operated a party-planning and motivational speaking business while working as a professional model represented by the Neal Hamil Agency.

Stewart began competing in state pageantry in 2002, making her first appearance in the Miss Texas USA 2003 pageant as Miss Fort Bend County. After several semi-final and runner-up finishes in previous years, she won the Miss Texas USA 2008 crown on July 1, 2007, in Laredo, Texas, competing as an at-large delegate. In doing so, she became the second African American woman to win Miss Texas USA and earned the pageant's Everything but Water Swimsuit award.

On April 11, 2008, Stewart represented Texas at the Miss USA 2008 pageant and won the national title, becoming the ninth Texan to hold the crown. During her reign, she participated in media interviews, charitable appearances, and attended the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. She represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, wearing a national costume inspired by Texas's nickname, "The Lone Star State." Despite a fall during the evening gown competition, she reached the top 10 and placed eighth overall.

Following her reign, Stewart hosted the Miss Teen USA pageants in 2009 and 2010 alongside Seth Goldman, co-hosted multiple Miss Texas USA pageants, and served as a finals judge at Miss USA 2016. In November 2020, she became the national director of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, making her the first African American woman to hold the role. In October 2022, Stewart and her company Miss Brand Corporation were suspended following allegations of favoritism, result rigging, and sexual harassment, and she officially stepped down in August 2023.

Stewart made her acting debut in a 2011 episode of House of Payne before being cast as series regular Leslie Morris on Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse, which ran until 2017. Her acting projects also include the films Good Deeds in 2012 and Acrimony in 2018, as well as roles in Too Close to Home and The Exes. In 2024, she was cast in a lead role for the Netflix drama series Beauty in Black.

Stewart married Belgian model Max Sebrechts on August 9, 2014. The couple had two children together before divorcing in 2024.