Miss America Nina Davuluri Targeted by Racists: I'm Used To It [PHOTOS]

Miss America Nina Davuluri has commented on the racist remarks that followed her win in the competition on 15 September.

"It was something I wasn't surprised about. I'd experienced those same kind of remarks when I'd won Miss New York and I knew if I won Miss America it would happen again," Davuluri said.

Davuluri, from New York, is the first woman of Indian extraction to win America's national beauty crown.

In the hours after her victory, Twitter was inundated with messages of support - but several tweets also expressed disgust, tainting Davuluri's victory with slurs such as "Arab" and "Miss Al Qaida".

Many people supported the 24-year-old beauty queen, but it was Vanessa Williams' support she cherished the most. Williams was the first African-American to win Miss America in 1983.

"She had the similar response and backlash when she was crowned. It just shows, in 30 years, yes, we've evolved, but how much further we have to go, because it's a very similar conversation," Davuluri said. She met Williams backstage at her Broadway show, The Trip to Bountiful.

Davuluri comes from a family of doctors. Her parents Koteswara Chowdary and mother Sheila Ranjani are doctors in the US, as are her paternal uncles. She has an elder sister, Meena, who is in her third year of medical studies. Davuluri is also an aspiring doctor who plans to use the £31,000 prize money to further her studies.

"A part of the reason was for scholarship money. Education was very much pushed in my household from day one. Going to med school or becoming a physician was the easy path. It was expected of me in my family," she said.