Meet beauty queen who was criticised for dark skin, failed in Bollywood, quit acting after marriage, now works as…

Aishwarya Rai to Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra, there are several beauty queens who not only made India proud but also went on to establish successful careers in Bollywood. However, one of the beauty queens failed to make a mark in Bollywood and left films after marriage.

The actress we are talking about was the third Miss World title holder who once worked as a celebrity manager and later at her friend's request, she started modeling. However, her career in Bollywood was a flop. She is Diana Hayden.

Diana Hayden is an Indian actress, television host, model, and the winner of the Miss World 1997 pageant. She is the third Indian woman to win the title of Miss World and the only Miss World titleholder to win three sub-titles during the pageant. 

Diana was quite young when her parents separated, so she had to start working at the age of 13. She worked for an event management company called Encore, during which she began taking up modeling assignments. At the age of 21, she worked as a Public Relations Officer at BMG Crescendo, where she assisted in managing the careers of singers Anaida and Mehnaz Hoosein.

However, it was her friend who insisted her to take up modeling after which she participated in Miss India and ended up in the second position and later went on to win the title of Miss World. She then moved to London and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[13] She also studied at the Drama Studio London, where she concentrated on the works of Shakespeare and earned a Best Actress nomination from the studio.

The former Chief Minister of Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb, questioned Diana Hayden winning the title and criticised her dark skin tone. Reacting to the same, the actress said, "I have been fighting this brown-skin bias since my childhood, and I have succeeded. I am a proud brown-skinned Indian and I am hurt. I've had to fight the 'light skin is better' issue we have in India. I felt so strongly about it that I turned down a fairness cream ad because it went against my beliefs. The minister is in a prominent position and he should be careful about what he says." 

The actress made her grand Bollywood debut with the movie Tehzeeb which failed to perform well at the box office. The actress then starred in a B-grade film Ab... Bas! which was also a disaster. After this, she was never seen in any of the Bollywood films. The actress disappeared from the industry after her marriage to Collin Dick, an American businessman from Nevada. She now works as a personal coach and a celebrity Guest Lecturer for airline personnel training programs.

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