Miss Universe Jamaica Gabrielle Henry fell offstage at the Miss Universe competition in November 2025 and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Almost a year on, she has written down what the recovery has actually been like, and it is not a comeback story.
“Recovery has been one of the most unpredictable periods of my life,” she wrote. “It is difficult to describe what going through this injury has been like. It almost feels as though I’ve had an out-of-body experience and returned to a body that isn’t my own.”
She has since returned to Jamaica, where her prognosis looked more positive. She does not smooth over the year it took to get there. “Recovery has been a difficult journey filled with ups and downs and lots of disappointment,” she wrote, before naming what carried her: “But I am most grateful for my support system and the genuine souls who have surrounded me with grace.”
What the year taught her, she wrote, was to stop measuring it against anybody else’s. “At the end of the day, I’ve learned that recovery doesn’t look the same for any two people. It requires us to be patient, exhibit self-compassion, and honor the body we’ve been placed in.”
