‘He held up his fist’: Miss England Grace Richardson on overcoming school bullying (EXCLUSIVE)

Grace Richardson once found herself surrounded in the school playground, with a boy shouting homophobic insults in her face as others looked on.

“This boy had formed a circle of people around me,” she recalls. “He was shouting at me, and my best friend was just stood there, trying to figure out how she could [defuse] the situation. He got in my face and held up his fist as if he was going to hit me.” At a statuesque five feet, 11 inches tall, Richardson remembers “actually towering over this boy”, before a teacher eventually stepped in.

Grace Richardson was crowned Miss England 2025 at 20 years old

Thankfully, Richardson has since had the ultimate revenge on her bullies. After turning to modelling to rebuild her confidence, she has been crowned Miss England 2025, making history as the pageant’s first openly gay winner at just 20 years old. It’s for this achievement that she is being recognised at the PEUGEOT Attitude PRIDE Awards Europe, supported by British Airways.

Discovering her identity while at secondary school was no easy feat for Richardson, who grew up in Leicestershire. “I didn’t feel like I necessarily fitted in,” admits the 21-year-old. Surrounded by a close-knit circle of friends, she found a love of theatre, and is now studying performing arts. “I definitely found comfort in drama and music classes,” she says. “I think learning about different characters and being able to put on that persona gives you an outlet.”

Richardson on discovering her sexuality

She first came out to her best friend in Year 10, shortly before the Covid-19 lockdown. It was that same friend who first suggested she might like girls.

“It took quite a few conversations between me and my friend,” she recalls. “I’d never looked at a man and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s a bit of me.’ I didn’t feel attracted to anybody,” says Richardson, until she felt an unexpected pull towards a female acquaintance that she couldn’t quite explain.

Talking it through with her friend brought clarity.“I almost needed her to say it to me, for me to actually think that was something I was allowed to do.”

Coming out to an LGBTQ+ inclusive household

Then came lockdown. In July 2020, Richardson came out to her parents and four siblings, becoming the third member of her family to identify as LGBTQ+, after her older sister shared that she was transgender – a journey Richardson says she continues to support closely.

When her parents were away, she looked after both her younger brother and older sister, who each have severe autism. She explains, “I sort of ended up becoming a bit of a young carer.” Despite the challenges, she recalls that period with fondness. “I think it’s actually helped me in my social life because now I’m so aware of people that are going through transitioning, queer people, lesbian and gay people,” she says with a smile.

“I had textbooks thrown at me”

During the 2020 rise of TikTok, Richardson began posting relatable videos about her sexuality – although she has since deleted them. “I didn’t think it would be a problem when I went back to school,” she says. But she was proved wrong. On returning to Year 11, she became the target of bullying. “I had textbooks thrown at me. I had puddles kicked at me,” she recalls.

Then came the particularly revolting incident described earlier. It was so serious that her parents considered involving the police. Needless to say, it tainted the rest of her school experience. “I needed to just separate myself from everyone. I got my head down and got on with my work.”

The road to becoming Miss England 2025

With help from a friend’s mother, who worked as a modelling agent, she entered her first pageant, Miss Leicestershire. “I applied and I ended up winning three days before my [18th] birthday,” she says.

Taking part in the Miss England competition was never about chasing the crown, says Richardson, who radiates congenial warmth. What drew her in first and foremost was the charity work. “That’s all I had known about pageants before I entered,” she explains. But her first attempt to become Miss England didn’t go as planned, and she didn’t make the top 12 in her debut year.

After a reset, she honed her craft, entering more pageants, as well as an international competition.

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Grace Richardon’s full interview appears in issue 371 of Attitude magazine, on sale in print and digital now. Order Attitude magazine issue 371 in print now, or in digital on the links below on Apple News+ and the Attitude app.