Salon.com > Beauty Pageants

Miss America’s eating disorder

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Kirsten Haglund was thrust into the spotlight when she won the 2008 Miss America crown in front of more than 19 million viewers. But before she ever became an American icon, from the ages of 12 through 15, the Michigan native fought an extreme battle with anorexia. So determined was she to fit the dancer frame ideal that she lost 30 pounds as a pre-teen by subsisting on a diet of less than 900 calories per day.

When her parents forced her into a rehab facility, Haglund began learning the tools to overcome her anorexia and eventually recovered enough to begin competing in pageants. Then, when she won the Miss America crown, she used her platform to educate people on eating disorders and body image issues, eventually starting her own foundation. These days, she is a senior at Emory University in Atlanta and a frequent keynote speaker on the subject of eating disorders. In her exclusive interview with The Fix, Haglund speaks about the dance coaches who expressed concern for her, her brief attempt at pursuing an entertainment career post-Miss America and why she credits beauty pageants with helping her recover from her eating disorder.

Miss USA contestants: Unevolved?

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:22:00 +0000

The Miss USA pageant crowned its annual winner on Sunday, but the contest is drawing new attention for a video of all 51 contestants wrestling with the question, "Should evolution be taught in schools?" The results, as you might expect, are all over the place. To wit: While only a couple said a definitive "no," dozens more squirmed through answers -- trying as hard as possible not to offend anyone -- before arriving at the common conclusion that evolution should be taught alongside "alternative beliefs."

We watched through the video, and decided -- in the keeping with the pageant theme -- to hand out awards.

Winner: Lauren Carter, Miss Vermont, who said:

I think evolution should be taught in schools, because not everybody has the same religious backgrounds, and it's important to have scientific facts about the world. We do know that evolution exists even on the small scale, like ... bacteria that are becoming resistant to drugs and what not, so [we] might as well learn about it.

“Botox Mommy” was a hoax

Thu, 19 May 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Last week we all learned that sticking poison needles into your child's face will not only not get you arrested, but can land you a sweet appearance on TV with some cold, hard cash. Kerry Campbell, dubbed "the Botox Mommy," claimed to have given her daughter injections as well as bikini waxes in order to give her a leg up on the pageantry circuit. The story first appeared in the UK Sun, under the headline "I’m injecting my eight-year-old with Botox and getting her body waxes so she’ll be a superstar," and detailed how Kerry would administer these shots to her daughter, Britney, herself. (Don't worry, she's a nursing assistant.)

The outrage was immediate. I mean, no matter what your political view or background, we can all agree that this is not good child raising, correct? So it's no surprise that someone called child services on Kerry, only to find out she didn't exist.

Meet the new Miss America

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:55:00 +0000

A 17-year-old from Nebraska became the youngest winner of the Miss America crown in 90 years on Saturday after beating 52 other young women from across the United States.

Teresa Scanlan won a $50,000 scholarship and a yearlong run with the crown at the competition at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas, giving the Cornhusker State its first-ever win at the pageant.

She was the youngest Miss America since the pageant's first competition in 1921, when Margaret Gorman of the District of Columbia won at age 15.

Miss Arkansas Alyse Eady won $25,000 as first runner-up, while Miss Hawaii Jalee Fuselier won $20,000 for third place.

Scanlan, a recent high school graduate from the western Nebraska town of Gering, planned to study American politics at Patrick Henry College in Virginia after her reign as Miss America.

She also hoped to attend law school, become a judge and eventually a politician, according to her pageant biography.

Scanlan won after strutting in a black bikini and a white evening gown, playing "White Water Chopped Sticks" on piano and telling the audience that when it comes to the website Wikileaks, security should come before public access to government information.

Miss Universe and the death of the beauty pageant

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:23:00 +0000

Last night, I watched a two-hour commercial, and a beauty pageant kept breaking out.

Which is to say that, somehow, amid the interstices of skin- and hair-care commercials and NBC fall-show previews (repeated as insistently as Buddhist chants) and distance-learning courses in hair styling (from chief sponsor Farouk Systems) and running spigots of advertorials for Las Vegas attractions (Sushisamba! Minus 5!), the high solemnities of the 2010 Miss Universe competition were prosecuted efficiently and relentlessly and, yes, joylessly.

Do you remember when beauty pageants were entertainment? A hoot and a holler and a half? Gay men crowded around the TV set with their boy and girl pals and laughed at all those fire jugglers and hula dancers and rhythmic gymnasts and all the glib horrors that came tumbling from their cherry-red mouths, and look, there WAS Bert Parks dragging his ponderous ass down the Atlantic City runway, and we could laugh because it was our game, too. We were in on it, living in the same gap between aspiration and reality.

HuffPo editor on Miss USA’s “whorish” past

Wed, 19 May 2010 01:01:00 +0000

The New York editor of The Huffington Post, David Weiner, crafted this charming tweet earlier today: "I love how people are surprised that women who like to appear on stage and be judged on their looks have whorish pasts #missusa."

This is, of course, a reference to Miss USA Rima Fakih, who competed in a radio station pole-dancing contest back in 2007. Pictures of Fakih competing in short shorts and a tank top found their way onto the Web the day after she won and promptly whipped the bloggerati into a froth on Monday, but Weiner evidently just now heard about it, and decided to announce to the world that anyone who can work a stripper pole -- even with her clothes on -- is a whore.

How Miss USA will push the secret Muslim agenda

Tue, 18 May 2010 19:15:00 +0000

MEMORANDUM

To: The Muslim World

From: Evil Muslims Worldwide, Inc.™

Re: "The Muslim Agenda: Or, How to Infiltrate America by Learning to Love Ridiculously Good Looking People in The Miss USA Pageant"

This is a transcription and translation of a meeting recently held in Arizona, U.S.A, the global headquarters for Evil Muslims Worldwide, Inc.™ Several evil dignitaries were present either in person or via Skype. Their identities have been protected.

------------------------------------------------------

A bearded man of average height and brownish hue dismounts his distinguished, but very evil, camel and proceeds to address the distinguished evil guests in a very evil, foreign language.

Gentleman, our nefarious plots for infiltrating America and creating a "politically correct, Islamo-pandering climate" has yielded mixed results. We need a new strategy.

Arab-Americans delight in Miss USA victory

Mon, 17 May 2010 23:20:00 +0000

Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant sure knows how to make headlines.

Arab-Americans rejoiced Monday over the crowning of raven-haired beauty Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old Lebanese immigrant from Michigan, calling it a victory for diversity in the United States, especially at a time when Arabs suffer from negative stereotypes in this country -- and anti-immigrant sentiment is in the news.

Meanwhile, some harsh critics wondered if Trump's Miss USA organization was trying to send a message, sniping that the victory amounted to "affirmative action," or implying the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA, suffered unfairly because of an answer she gave supporting Arizona's new immigration law.

All this comes, of course, a year after 2009 runner-up Carrie Prejean and her views on gay marriage dominated the headlines. Suddenly it seemed like the pageant had become a battleground, albeit in bikinis and flesh-baring gowns, for the hot-button political and social issues of the day.

If all that weren't enough, photos emerged of Fakih pole-dancing in skimpy shorts and a tank top in a radio show contest in 2007. The show's producers said they'd been contacted by representatives of the Miss Universe contest requesting more photographs and information. But the show also noted -- correctly -- that the photos were no more provocative than anything on the Miss USA website.

Miss USA stripping scandal: How shocking!

Mon, 17 May 2010 19:40:00 +0000

Last night, Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA, but by this morning she was outed as the past winner of another kind of ... pageant. One involving a pole. A stripper pole. Back in 2007, the 24-year-old competed in a local radio show's "Stripper 101" contest and her win last night has stirred up photos of her working the pole. Now, according to Mojo in the Morning's website, the show's producers "have been contacted by representatives of Miss Universe requesting more photographs and information regarding Miss USA Rimah Fakih's involvement in the 'Stripper 101' contest. When asked if Fakih's status as Miss USA was in danger, pageant representatives would not answer."

You know what this all means: Summon the outrage and prepare to shame -- it's time for Miss USA's annual sexy photo scandal.

Miss USA’s sexpot hypocrisy

Mon, 10 May 2010 21:40:00 +0000

It seems of late that behind every wholesome, all-American beauty queen, there's an impressive array of embarrassing, scantily clad pictures. So this year, Miss USA appears to have come up with a genius way of heading scandal off at the pass: by releasing a spank-worthy collection of its contestants in lingerie.

On Miss USA's Web page and the NBC site for Sunday's pageant, visitors can browse an array of "glam shots" featuring very little clothing and the biggest hair outside a Mötley Crüe reunion. After all, what better way to say that you're an "international organization that advances and supports opportunities for young women" than fishnets, push-up bras and posing facedown on a bed? USA! USA!

There's no harm in a little cheesecake, even if does make the kerfuffle over Carrie Prejean's underwear shots last year look pretty ludicrous. And hey, if the only way to get people to watch your dinosaur of a competition is to turn it into the Victoria's Secret fashion show, godspeed.

There she still is: Miss America

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:42:00 +0000

You know how sometimes you hear a story about a faded celebrity and think, "I didn't even know he was still alive?" That's how we here at Broadsheet felt when we heard that Caressa Cameron of Virginia had been crowned Miss America over the weekend. They still do that?

Like the dowager queen of a declining empire, her highness's sphere of influence has in recent years been steadily diminishing. The televised competition for the crown, which once drew over 26 million viewers, last year netted only a paltry 3.5 million. The Super Bowl of beauty, it hasn't aired on a major network in ages. (Saturday's broadcast aired on TLC -- the network that is, uncoincidentally, home to the creepfest known as "Toddlers and Tiaras.")