A major part of the story line for 90 Day Fiance star Leida Margaretha this season is how she has made the difficult decision to leave behind her posh and glamorous lifestyle in Indonesia to relocate to America and be with the man of her dreams, Eric Rosenbrook. Leida knew there would be a bit of an adjustment when relocating to the US, but she had no idea just how much of an adjustment as the reality sinks in that Eric is a little less well off than he let on.
So, just like Leida seems to be doing a lot, we thought we would reminisce a bit about her glory days living in Asia — and more specifically, her participation in the Miss Indonesia 2009 pageant!
19-year-old Leida represented South Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera Selatan) in the pageant, which looks to have been a pretty big deal given the elaborate production for the event! Unfortunately, the only visual record of the actual competition that I could find online was a series of low quality videos uploaded to YouTube in 15 parts. Even so, the videos provide LOTS of great looks at Leida throughout the pageant — including a couple of interview segments, and even glimpses of her mom and dad in the audience.
Here are a few photos of Leida (and her parents) as well as an Instagram gallery to scroll through:
UPDATE – Leida reached out to us to let us know that IS NOT her parents in the audience photo. My apologies for the mistake! If you watch the video, it is certainly edited as though it is Leida’s parents — they cut to them as Leida’s name is announced. Leida tells us that her dad was not in attendance. I’m going to leave the photo in just for fun though. 🙂
It appears as though there were 33 finalists competing, and Leida did extremely well as she placed fifth overall. Or, as they say in the pageant world, fourth runner up. She also took home one of the five alternate titles given out by the judges, that of “Miss Healthy Body.”
If you’ve been watching the current season of 90 Day Fiance, you may have noticed that Leida brought a sash from the 2009 Miss Indonesia pageant with her to the United States. Here’ a screen shot in which you can clearly see it hanging in the background:
Something else you may notice is that the sash in the screen cap is not the same as the one Leida wore in the pageant. That’s because the sash is her “Miss Healthy Body” [Miss Tubuh Sehat] title sash.
I managed to track down Leida’s official bio from the 2009 Miss Indonesia pageant’s list of contestants, but unfortunately it was not in English so I had to run it through Google translate:
Studying in serious majors such as medicine does not necessarily make Leida stop doing her hobbies. Leida, who likes to draw various types of anime (Japanese cartoons), realists and caricatures, once won a ‘special’ rating on Computer Science subjects on the subject of website design when she was in third grade of high school. Leida, who was born on May 13, 1989, claimed to want to follow in her father’s footsteps as an ontology surgeon. He was also very happy to write and used to diligently send his writing to be displayed on the school’s wall.
If you’ve been keeping up with Leida on social media, then you know that she has been struggling with negativity from viewers — and not just the regular reality show “hater” negativity, but actual death threats against her, Eric, and her son! But, it seems that dealing with the haters is nothing new for Leida. One of her previous altercations with a woman that looks to be in a relationship with one of Leida’s exes is centered around the woman’s claim that Leida was making up the fact that she was a Miss Indonesia finalist.
Leida called out the woman repeatedly on Facebook, and even posted a photo receipt in the form of her signed certificate from being a finalist:
It seems that Leida’s receipt and her harsh words were not enough to keep the woman at bay, however. Or at least I assume it is the same woman that Leida went after in another post from May of this year in which she seems to indicate that her split from her first husband wasn’t initially as amicable as she is now trying to make it seem:
? Perhaps there is a 90 Day Fiance fan and seamstress out there that can make Leida a brand new “Miss Clapback 2018” sash? Or, if you are thinking that she is over-reacting a bit, then perhaps a “Miss Boohole Is Hurt 2018” sash? I will let you guys come up with a sash idea for Eric…
If you want to watch the entire Miss Indonesia 2009 pageant, you can just search Youtube and the 15-part clips are easy to find. Meanwhile, @90DayFianceTea has edited together just the Leida highlights in a single clip! (A video I wish I had found sooner!) Here’s that video:
And to wrap things up, I just wanted to emphasize a totally serendipitous moment that resulted in what may very well be the most amazing photo crop I have ever done:
#IWanaResidence Too perfect! (And remember, that wasn’t even in English!)
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
