Hawaii's Brook Lee
While Wendy Fitzwilliam was winning
returns to normalcy with
a mid-pageant haircut
the Miss Universe title last night, Hawaii's Brook Lee
was cutting her own hair. The impromptu trim by
the outgoing Miss Universe is perhaps symbolic
of a new phase of her life.
Miss Universe: For a full report on the pageant, see next story.
By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin
While 80 other Miss Universe contestants fuss and fidget with makeup and dresses in their dressing rooms an hour before last night's international broadcast on CBS, Miss Canada, Juliana Thiessen, sits on a stack of folded tables backstage, telling jokes to crew workers who are enjoying her looks as much as her good humor.
When pageant owner and entrepreneur Donald Trump strolls by, Thiessen smiles and invites him to join the group later for some bowling.
"I don't bowl," says a startled Trump.
"Well, neither do I," Thiessen chimes. "Fun is the point, Mr. Trump, fun."
"Wow, what a personality," Trump says. "You're quite a girl."
A moment later Miss Venezuela, 18-year-old Veruska Tatiana Ramirez, darts into the hallway. She swivels her head, searching.
"Where is he?" she asks before seeing him locked in conversation with Gov. Ben Cayetano.
"Governor," Trump is saying, "Did you know CNN is here, and Entertainment Tonight and E channel? This (pageant) will be very, very good for Hawaii."
Miss Venezuela, in 5-inch heels and tight black dress, waits, tapping her toe and frowning.
"Ay," she says before giving up and returning to the dressing room.
Miss Great Britain, Leilani Dowding, 18, has been watching Venezuela and, a moment later, Miss Puerto Rico."It's not really fair, you know," she says. "Some of the contestants have had augmentations, surgeries -- and what chance do the rest of us have if we haven't had those things done? Everyone should be natural. Look at them walk and how they just stick out."
The "delegates" in the 47th Annual Miss Universe Pageant, which concluded last night at the Stan Sheriff Center, are a mixed bag: those working hard to win, others who see the event simply as a two-week vacation in Hawaii.
At a dinner two weeks before the pageant, Canada's Thiessen and Miss Estonia Mari Loorens both said they knew they wouldn't win.
"There are prettier girls here than me, and that's OK," Thiessen said. "They should call it what it is though: a beauty pageant. If it's not, then why is the swimsuit competition worth the same amount of points as the interview?"
Estonia's Loorens often stayed in the background during the numerous public and private events when photographers took pictures. When Russian's Anna Malowa, Puerto Rico's Joyce Giraud and Venezuela's Ramirez nearly knocked over other contestants to get in front of a television station's video camera, one contestant said, "Bet they make the top 10." They did.It is the day before the pageant, and contestants are preparing for a dress rehearsal. Away from the public eye, they stand outside the center smoking, their hair in soup can-size rollers, drinking coffee, eating doughnuts and sweet rolls.
Away from the public eye, they speak candidly.
"What's the point ... when they've already picked the top 10?" a contestant says. "You can pretty much guess who they are. Look at who the executives are fawning over."
Another contestant said Venezuela, Puerto Rico and USA are certain to be in the top 10.
"It has to be USA because we're in the United States," one said.
"I hope the judges don't waste votes on Venezuela and Puerto Rico," Great Britain's Dowding says. "They just don't have much to say."
On the other side of the center, Miss Universe Brook Lee is in a dressing room, wearing silvery pants, white tennis shoes, T-shirt and a leather Planet Hollywood jacket.The mood is decidedly melancholy. Lee's legs are tightly crossed; her head is down; she runs her hands through her long, black, shimmering hair. She's emotionally fragile.
Lee is angry at herself, CBS and Miss Universe executives. The show's script has been revised, cutting her out of about 30 "live" seconds in the middle of the two-hour production.
"I blew it," Lee says.
She had insisted that two of the three dresses she chose to wear on stage would come from local fashion designers Nakeu Awai and Lisa Schienle, owner of MonaLisa Designs Inc.
But the award ceremony duties were switched to host Jack Wagner, so Schienle's gown wouldn't be seen on stage. Lee is devastated. Pride prevents her from asking executives to reinstate the deleted section.
"It's my fault because I should have asked about the script. ... I just assumed that because the show is in Hawaii and I'm from Hawaii and because I've worked so hard this year, they wouldn't cut me out."
It's not surprising that Lee's resilient facade is starting to crack as time gets closer to turn over her crown. Her eyes mist over. Her arms and cheeks tremble. She starts to cry.
"When I found out on Sunday I was in complete shock. ... Sure, I could ask but it doesn't matter anymore. I know I'm just a former (Miss Universe)."
Through tears, Lee talks about losing her "pageant family," about an undecided future, about not being missed, being unappreciated. She says the sort of angry things people say when pressure and tension and the loneliness of crowds become too great. Then somewhere deep inside, Miss Universe loses it.
"I'm sorry," she says through sobs. "Bet you never thought you'd see Miss Universe like this. I didn't think I would have to fight for time -- not here, not at home."
The center reverberates with drumming. Contestants are rehearsing again.
All are either on stage or sitting in the first few rows listening to the choreographer. Tension is high.
Miss Canada is off, talking to her parents and boyfriend who have traveled from Calgary. A chaperone tells Thiessen she needs to watch the rehearsal."I can stay here because I know exactly what I have to do," Thiessen says.
"You spent too much time backstage already; you need to come down here to watch, please," the supervisor says.
Thiessen returns to a lower seat.
Pageant costume designer Pete Menefee's job is to ensure "the women are happy, I'm happy, CBS is happy."
The most popular swimsuit style this year is the two-piece. The contestants "work so hard in the gym, they don't want to hide anything."
Despite their well-proportioned bodies, some contestants still want an edge, Menefee said.
Since 1991 the pageant has allowed padded bras; breast augmentation has never been prohibited. But some women who have already had large breast augmentation still use padding, Menefee said.
CBS standards prohibit excessive cleavage.
"If a girl is pushed together so much that her chest resembles Kirk Douglas' dimple, you can't do that," Menefee said.
The pageant stations staff backstage to make sure contestants have not deliberately rolled up the legs of their swimsuits, pushed their bras down or overpadded their breasts.
"On pageant night you can be sure we pull and push all night before they walk out on stage," Menefee said.
The pageant telecast opens with Lee, her long hair draped over one shoulder, standing atop an 8-foot "volcano," wearing a red "Pele-esque" dress by designer Awai. Half a minute later, Lee is in her dressing room.This is the first day of the rest of her life as former Miss Universe, and she needs it to be significant.
"I want my hair cut," she says.
There are protests that you just don't cut your hair in the middle of a live television show. Lee grabs scissors and chops a hunk off.
"Yes, I can," she says. "I just did."
A moment later her hairdresser is summoned and he completes the job. When Lee returns on stage for her final walk as Miss Universe, her new do barely touches her shoulders, her smile is spread ear to ear, there are no tears. Miss Universe is radiant and royal.
After crowning winner Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad and Tobago, Lee sprints offstage, tossing her tiara to a crew member, then returns.
"There should only be one girl on stage wearing a crown, and that-a girl-a is-a not-a me-a," she jokes.
"I'm so OK now; that's what this was all about," she says, flipping her hair up. "I have a new life. I made the first cut."
Official Miss Universe Web site.
