Friend reflects on Cheslie’s life

Local news station WSOC talked with a friend of the 30-year-old.

“I called her my doppelganger because obviously we were twins,” Bea Cote said.

“Just a real, sweet, funny, smart and beautiful person.”

Cote said she was stunned over the weekend to learn that her friend had taken her own life.

The two met in a leadership class three years ago and became close friends.

“Disbelief. Disbelief because I, like most other people, fell for that. She’s got it all, she’s doing it all and she’s got this,” Cote said.

Cote said Cheslie was so down-to-earth that she had no idea that she was competing in beauty pageants when they met.

No matter how famous Cheslie got, she never lost her humility, Cote said.