Rachel Lindsay was overcome with emotion as she recounted her connection with her late costar Cheslie Kryst for a special episode of Extra airing Monday that paid tribute to the former Miss USA.
Rachel, 36, had tears streaming down her cheeks as she admitted she was was ‘very unsettled’ in the wake of Cheslie’s shocking death after she jumped from a 60-story building in Manhattan on Sunday morning.
Extra host Billy Bush, who also worked extensively with the rising star, admitted everyone on the show was ‘gutted’ and ‘grief-stricken’ as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy.
Saying goodbye: Rachel Linday, 36, was overcome with emotion as she chatted with host Billy Bush on Monday’s special episode of Extra, which was devoted to the memory of its late correspondent Cheslie Kryst
Shocking loss: Kryst tragically leapt to her death from a 60-story building in Manhattan on Sunday morning; pictured in June 2021 in NYC
Rachel’s voice was clearly strained with emotion as she recounted how Cheslie ‘was always there for you,’ which led to her own doubts and regrets.
‘It just makes you think, were you there enough for her?’ she mused.
Billy called Cheslie a ‘kindred spirit’ for the former Bachelorette star, and Rachel admitted her late costar was ‘inspiring’ to her.
‘I respect her. She and I went to dinner and we talked for hours about everything,’ she recalled.
Tearful: Rachel’s voice was clearly strained with emotion as she recounted how Cheslie ‘was always there for you,’ which led to her own doubts and regrets
Regrets: ‘It just makes you think, were you there enough for her?’ she mused
Sticking together: She added that both women faced similar struggles ‘about being the strong Black women’
She added that both women faced similar struggles ‘about being the strong Black women.’
Rachel wondered if she should have reached out to her colleague to how she was doing behind her strong façade.
‘I feel like, should I have pushed? Should I have just asked her a little more when it came to that,’ she said as her voice began to crack.
‘The sky was the limit for her. I just — I can’t believe she’s gone,’ she added.
While the reality star delved into her friendship with Cheslie, the two were seen in a play throwback photo as they seemed to pay homage to Charlie’s Angels by holding their hands up in finger pistols, though Cheslie was joining in remotely via a TV screen attached to the wall.
Looking back: ‘I feel like, should I have pushed? Should I have just asked her a little more when it came to that,’ she said as her voice began to crack
So much potential: ‘The sky was the limit for her. I just — I can’t believe she’s gone,’ she added
Billy opened the program by sharing some of Cheslie’s inspiring story from before she had even joined Extra.
He recounted how she was a ‘star athlete from North Carolina’ who managed the impressive feat of earning both a law degree and a master’s degree in the same year.
But it was her triumph in the Miss USA pageant that boosted her stature even more.
She was seen in brief clips from some of her high-energy interviews with stars including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Lizzo and even Oprah Winfrey.
Billy admitted that he had been in touch with Cheslie’s mother on Sunday night.
‘I spoke to her mother, and I said, ‘All we saw was happy-happy.’ I always thinking of her dancing in-between takes on set,’ which he said was similar to what she had experienced.
‘If that’s all her mom saw, then OK, we all missed it, of course,’ he added.
Stunning ascent: Billy introduced the special episode by recounting Cheslie’s rise from a star North Carolina athlete to the recipient of a law degree and a master’s to Miss USA
Hidden signs: ‘I spoke to her mother, and I said, ‘All we saw was happy-happy.’ I always thinking of her dancing in-between takes on set,’ which he said was similar to what she experienced. ‘If that’s all her mom saw, then OK, we all missed it, of course’
In another segment, he mused on former Extra correspondent Nate Burleson’s instruction to ‘check on your strong friends. Don’t assume.’
In a remote interview, Nate said he had no idea about Cheslie’s mental state before her death.
‘I was trying to look back on the times that we spent together and point out a clue or a hint that she was dealing with anything. And I couldn’t pinpoint one thing, he said.
‘But then I started to think, she was always on. There wasn’t a dimmer with Cheslie. She was always bright and bubbly, a huge smile on her face. I said it, she was sunshine personified.’
He added that her death ‘floored him,’ and he called her like a ‘sister’ to him.
But he wondered if the ‘weight’ of being such an ebullient person might have weighed on her.
Stay in touch: In another segment, Billy mused on former Extra correspondent Nate Burleson’s instruction to ‘check on your strong friends. Don’t assume’
Joyous: Burleson said, ‘There wasn’t a dimmer with Cheslie. She was always bright and bubbly, a huge smile on her face. I said it, she was sunshine personified’
Expectations: But he wondered if the ‘weight’ of being such an ebullient person might have weighed on her
Extra included an interview with Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, Chief Medical Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, to inform viewers about the way people can hide their suicidal thoughts.
‘A person can be very well aware, very educated, getting the best care and support from loved ones, and still have an outcome that we wish weren’t the case,’ she said.
Moutier added that ‘suicide risk’ could sometimes rise suddenly in an ‘impulsive way,’ but it was more common to be a long-term issue.
They juxtaposed the conversation with an old interview in which Cheslie spoke to Gabrielle Union about mental health.
The late pageant queen was also quoted from an old social media post in which she shared that trolls sometimes wrote abusive comments and criticized her ‘muscular build,’ calling it a ‘man body.’
Under the surface: Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, Chief Medical Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, explained that ‘suicide risk’ could come on suddenly, but it was more often a long-term issue
