Jaime VandenBerg represented Canada at Miss Universe 2025 while 16 weeks pregnant, reaching the Top 30 without telling her relatives, fellow contestants or the national pageant organisation. The 29-year-old has now said she kept the pregnancy private because she feared being reduced to 'the pregnant contestant' instead of being judged on her advocacy, resilience and decade of pageant work.
VandenBerg competed in Thailand in November 2025 after learning she was expecting while completing a modelling contract in Mexico City. She publicly revealed the pregnancy on 2 March 2026, posting pageant footage beside a later clip showing her baby bump as she prepared a car seat. In a new interview published on 2 August, she said the decision also protected an intimate experience during a period when much of her life was already public.
Why Jaime VandenBerg Stayed Silent
The Miss Universe Canada titleholder said she and her boyfriend, Aaron Hernandez, did not initially tell their families or the Miss Universe Canada organisation. Although rule changes beginning in 2023 opened Miss Universe to mothers and married women, VandenBerg believed announcing her pregnancy could eclipse the work that had taken her to the international stage. Miss Universe describes advocacy, leadership and philanthropy as central to its platform, making her concern especially relevant to how contestants are publicly framed.
VandenBerg's platform was built around gender-based violence after she survived an attempted shooting in 2021. Her official Miss Universe Canada profile says she later worked in victim services, supported domestic violence cases and led safety and self-defence workshops, while her wider community work earned her the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. She said she feared her philanthropy would disappear beneath the label attached to her pregnancy.
Before travelling, VandenBerg consulted her doctor and had her first ultrasound with Hernandez. She recalled being reassured that 'pregnancy is not an illness' and that her years of physical conditioning meant she could continue if she listened closely to her body.
Hernandez also encouraged her to compete so she could finish a dream she had pursued for more than a decade without being left with a lingering 'what if'.
A Pageant Wardrobe Built Around Change
Keeping the pregnancy private also shaped how VandenBerg approached fashion during the month-long competition. She wore more fitted pieces earlier in the schedule, then saved stretchier and more forgiving silhouettes for later as her body continued to change.
Despite wondering whether people would notice, she said the speculation she encountered focused instead on whether she had undergone breast augmentation.
Her pregnancy also changed how she viewed the swimsuit round, one of the pageant's most scrutinised fashion moments. VandenBerg said she was less focused on presenting the leanest version of herself and more interested in appearing healthy, happy and confident for younger viewers.
She ultimately advanced to the Top 30 while four months pregnant, turning a private physical change into part of a result viewers did not fully understand at the time.
Motherhood After the Crown
In her pregnancy announcement, VandenBerg wrote that 'motherhood is not the end of ambition' and that 'pregnancy is not a limitation'. She and Hernandez welcomed their daughter, Charlotte Nicole Hernandez-VandenBerg, on 14 May 2026.
VandenBerg has since retired from competition after becoming the first Canadian woman to hold the country's four major national pageant titles.
Those titles include Miss Earth Canada, Miss International Canada, Miss World Canada and Miss Universe Canada. She plans to remain connected to pageantry through coaching and mentoring, but has described motherhood as her main focus.
Her disclosure places a new reality behind the polished gowns, swimwear and stage lighting of Miss Universe, while explaining why she wanted the judges and public to see the contestant before the pregnancy.
