Miss Universe: An annual international beauty pageant.
Tiaras are all the rage in today’s media. If this isn’t a royal wedding discussion, somewhere Toddlers and Tiaras is being seen in someone’s living room or another pageant mom is getting her daughter ready for an upcoming event. A lot of effort goes into it, all leading up to that night where a flushed beauty feels as special as a princess and is crowned “Miss Universe.”
Before becoming another addition to Donald Trump’s portfolio, Miss Universe, now known as the “Miss Universe Organization,” was a pageant started by a clothing company in California in 1952. As a consequence of our beloved NAFTA, pageants have become wrongly recognized as American. Beauty pageants, in fact, originated in the United Kingdom, where the first documented festival, the “May Queen Festival” in 1881, named one lucky girl the “niceest and loveliest” of them all. The popularity of these pageants increased and spread to Western cultures until the tragic death of child beauty pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey in 1996.
Aside from the revered status of being labeled “Miss Universe” (which, I’m sure, would at least have men offering to cover her tab), this is a position bestowed upon an intelligent, educated, and cultured young woman. between the ages of 18 to 27 who “cannot be married or pregnant. They must never have been married, not have canceled a marriage or given birth, nor have they been the parents of a child. Title holders must also remain unmarried throughout his reign.”*
Upon being chosen as Miss Universe, the privileged winner signs a one-year contract with the Miss Universe Organization to travel and educate the world about peace, public awareness of AIDS and disease control. Thanks to Donald Trump, the winner receives a year of accommodation in a Trump Tower in New York. After all the glitz and glamor is said and done, Miss Universe must step down from her mighty throne and integrate back into the real world. So the question that is on many of her minds: “Where is she now?” Let’s take a look at the lives of a handful of these blushing beauties today.
In 1960, 18-year-old Linda Bement from the USA was crowned Miss Universe. She married two years later and had two children. After a seven-year marriage to a United States Racing Hall of Fame Thoroughbred jockey husband, she separated. Today, at 69, she lives a private life away from the media and who could blame her?
The winner of the 1970 contest, Marisol Malaret from Puerto Rico, has always been a public figure who adores the people of Puerto Rico. She became a popular radio personality and later went on to host a television show called Gala Late Night Ball (translation). Marisol went on to edit a women’s magazine called Imagen and later created her own magazine called Caras. She is currently a partner in a high-end fashion boutique called “La Femme” and recently, she collaborated with her daughter in a European home decor store called “En Casa”.
The 1980 crown was awarded in Seoul, South Korea, to Shawn Weatherly, 20, from the US. She attends school, majoring in nursing; however, his vocation was the entertainment world. She played several small roles in various movies and sitcoms (The Dukes of Hazzard), but had a huge success as Jill Riely on the popular series Baywatch where, unfortunately, her character was bitten by a shark attack. He went on to star in Police Academy 3: Back in Training and in an episode of Cold Case. She now resides in Newport Beach, California, with her husband and her two children.
Mona Grudt of Norway, crowned Miss Universe in 1990, has been seen in everything from David Lettermen, at various global press conferences, to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Most of her energy is now invested in the fashion and bridal industries. She is currently the editor of Ditt Bryllup, a Norwegian bridal magazine, and frequently hosts fashion shows and weddings in the Scandinavian countries. She is a spokesperson for Garnier. In 2011, she hosted Norway’s Next Top Model and was a winning contestant on Dancing With The Stars in Norway. She is married to an American and is the mother of two children.
Lara Dutta, from India, was crowned Miss Universe in Cyprus in the year 2000. Her dream of becoming a director changed a bit when she got involved in the Bollywood film industry as an actress, acting in more than 31 films. (Note that the Bollywood film industry produces movies much faster than Hollywood.) In 2010, Housefull (where Lara played a lead role) became the fourth biggest hit of the year in India and produced gross receipts of Rs 955 million, almost 20 million Canadian dollars. In 2010 she married an Indian tennis player and in August 2011 they announced that she was pregnant with her first child. Congratulations Laura.
The 2010 Crown was awarded to Mexican model Ximena Navarrete in Las Vegas. Very soon, she became the official face of L’Oréal Paris and Old Navy. Although her reign as Miss Universe is coming to an end soon, her future looks bright if she follows in the footsteps of former pageant winners.