She Left the US and Moved to Thailand, Where She Became a Beauty Queen

Metinee Kingpayome arrived in Bangkok on her 20th birthday.

Born in Maryland and raised in New York City by Thai immigrant parents, Kingpayome had only visited Thailand twice as a child.

That trip back to Thailand in 1992 marked more than just a birthday milestone; it marked the beginning of her new life.

“It was something special,” Kingpayome, now 53, told Business Insider. “Something that would change my life forever.”

Troubled teenage years

Raised in a working-class neighborhood in Queens, Kingpayome was around 9 when her parents separated. As the oldest of four — and the only daughter — she often took on the responsibility of looking after the house.

“My brothers were still quite young, so I had to help my mom at a very young age,” Kingpayome said.

She spent her childhood in a tight-knit Thai-American community, and her mother enrolled her in Sunday school to help her learn Thai.

At home, her mom spoke to her in their native language.

“She was very traditional, and she tried to raise me in that way,” Kingpayome said. “We clashed a lot. You spend 16 hours a day speaking English, living the Western life, and then you come home, and your mom is super strict.”

Her teenage years were especially rough. By 14, she was getting into trouble and clashing with her mother. She barely made it through high school.

A wake-up call came when the boy she was dating in her late teens got arrested. Working a dead-end job as a waitress in a Thai restaurant, she knew something had to change.

“I just felt like, OK, this is not working out. There’s got to be more,” Kingpayome said.

She’d always been drawn to fashion and decided to try modeling. But in the early ’90s, the industry favored blonde hair and blue eyes — a beauty standard that she didn’t fit.

Determined not to give up, she decided to give Thailand a whirl. Just for six months, she told herself.

She booked a one-way ticket, moved in with an aunt, and entered a beauty pageant. Several months later, she won Miss Thailand World 1992.

An unexpected beauty queen

Kingpayome says she didn’t intend to be a beauty queen, but modeling was competitive.

“I thought that would be a very good stepping stone,” she said. “Pageantry was huge back in the ’80s and ’90s. So I entered a beauty pageant, not expecting to win, but then won.”

Winning the crown changed everything. She was thrust into the spotlight and, at the end of the year, represented Thailand at Miss World 1992, where she was crowned Continental Queen of Asia and Oceania.

The transition from being unknown to a recognizable face was tough to navigate, especially for someone still finding her footing in a new country.

Thai society was more conservative at the time, and women were generally expected to be more reserved, she said.

“All of a sudden, I have to be this very proper, polite woman, and I struggled with that for a year,” Kingpayome said. “Being born and growing up in the States, I was very, very vocal.”

Once her pageant contract was up, she started modeling.

In the late ’90s, Kingpayome was featured in advertising campaigns for brands such as Lux Soap and Sony. Since then, she’s also appeared on the covers of the Thai editions of Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar, among many others.

Kingpayome says she stood out in the industry because of her bold fashion choices, such as taking part in photoshoots while wearing swimsuits.

“I felt I was part of the movement where things were starting to shift from conservative to modern,” Kingpayome said.

‘I was always professional’

Unlike the “sabai sabai” Thai way of life, where locals often adopt a relaxed, go-with-the-flow attitude, Kingpayome said her work ethic set her apart.

“If the call time’s eight. I’m there at seven-thirty. It doesn’t matter how hungover I am. I might look like crap, but I was there,” she said. “I was always professional.”

Still, it took time to convince her family of her career choices, as they struggled to understand the nature of her work.

It was only years later, when her mother eventually relocated to Bangkok from the US, that she began to understand, especially once Kingpayome started bringing her along to photoshoots.

“She’s like, oh, OK. You’re not actually taking off your clothes,” Kingpayome said, recalling her mother’s reaction.

Trading covers and catwalks for motherhood and a slower life

Young, independent, and suddenly in demand, Kingpayome’s life in Thailand took off.

“I worked hard, but I played harder because, as a teenager, I never had that kind of life. When I left New York, I was only starting to be legal to go clubbing and stuff,” she said.

Everything in Thailand felt so different and new, she added.

“I kind of got lost in the party scene, and my career was taking off. I was in every fashion show. I was on every cover of every magazine. It was just like, wow, oh my God, I love this life,” she said

In addition to modeling, she also built a successful career in show business, working as a TV presenter and appearing in numerous Thai movies and TV shows.

Her fast-paced lifestyle lasted nearly a decade before she began to feel burned out and decided to slow down.

In her mid-thirties, she got married and later had her son, who is now 16 and a competitive swimmer. The marriage ended in a divorce, but she still co-parents with her ex.

In recent years, she’s served as a mentor and judge on modeling reality shows and has coached contestants in the Miss Universe Thailand pageant.

In 2021, she established a modeling academy with her brother called Muse by Metinee.

“We use runway modeling as a tool to help people gain confidence. So our youngest student is 4 years old, and my oldest student, who is still with us, is 59,” Kingpayome said.

Many of her students are kids who have been bullied or who have low self-esteem, and seeing them break out of their shells and become more confident has been rewarding, she added.

Since pageantry is still big in Thailand, she also coaches men, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who aspire to compete. The academy has since expanded to include a modeling agency.

Jack Titus, the winner of Mister Model International 2025, who also grew up straddling both American and Thai cultures, told BI that his training at the academy was “the backbone” of his performance in the pageant.

“From the way we walked to the way we spoke, every moment was designed to prepare us for the world stage,” Titus said. “The discipline, presence, and emotional resilience I gained at Muse played a massive role in that win.”

Thailand, always

Over three decades later, Kingpayome is still one of Thailand’s biggest stars.

Parisa Pichitmarn, a millennial journalist based in Bangkok, told BI that she has always admired Kingpayome.

“She comes across as a strong woman who’s professional and also doesn’t take any crap,” Pichitmarn said.

Manorat Sangsuk, a Thai Gen X finance specialist, told BI that in the ’90s, a lot of the models were half Western and half Thai, and having someone who “just looked Thai” was refreshing. “She’s pretty cool in her own way — you know, not like sweet, gentle, traditional Thai type.”

It’s hard to say whether Kingpayome would have enjoyed the same level of success if she had stayed in the US.

“Because you’re a tiny fish in a big pond, whereas in Thailand, I was a big fish in a tiny pond. So it was very different,” she said.

These days, Kingpayome lives in Bangkok and considers herself to be more Thai than American.

“When I go back to America, I feel I’m visiting. I don’t feel like it’s home,” she said.

She used to visit the US more often, especially when her son was younger. But now, with her mother and two of her brothers living in Thailand, there’s less reason to return. Only one brother remains in New York, still living in the Queens apartment they all grew up in.

Years from now, Kingpayome says she might end up living by the beach, running a small bed-and-breakfast. Or she might move to wherever her son decides to live when he gets older.

“But I think my life is in Thailand,” she added.

Do you have a story about moving to Asia that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: akarplus@businessinsider.com.