Tara Conner
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Tara Elizabeth Conner (born on December 18,1985) is a beauty queen from Russell Springs, Kentucky who is Miss USA 2006 and has also competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Conner has held the titles Miss Kentucky Teen USA 2002, Miss Kentucky USA 2006 and Miss USA 2006. She placed second runner-up in the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant and fourth runner-up in the Miss Universe 2006 pageant. Conner's overall results are higher than any of the seven other women who have competed in each of the three Miss Universe Organization pageants, narrowly beating Lynnette Cole of Tennessee, Miss USA 2000, for this honour.
Conner graduated from Russell County High School in 2004 and at the time of her Miss USA win was studying toward a degree in Business Administration from Somerset Community College. Apart from her role as Miss USA, Conner has been employed as a model and waitress. Conner was a featured model on the HDNet series Bikini Destinations in 2004, posing for the cameras in Lake Tahoe.
Beauty pageants
Miss Teen USA
Conner's first pageant experience came in 2001 when she won the Miss Kentucky Teen USA crown. In August 2002 she went on to compete in the Miss Teen USA pageant held in South Padre Island, Texas and placed second runner-up to Vanessa Semrow of Wisconsin. Conner's placement equaled that of Kristen Johnson, as the second highest by any delegate representing that state.
Miss USA
Conner returned to pageantry in November 2005 when she won the Miss Kentucky USA crown, incidentally from former Kentucky Teen and Miss titleholder Johnson. In March she traveled to Los Angeles to tape a special episode of Deal or No Deal which featured twenty five of the Miss USA 2006 delegates and reigning queen Chelsea Cooley. The special aired in April 2006.
Conner represented Kentucky during the nationally televised Miss USA 2006 pageant in Baltimore, Maryland on April 21, 2006 and became the first woman from that state to win the Miss USA crown. She was crowned by previous North Carolina Miss USA Chelsea Cooley. At 5'5", Tara is relatively petite in beauty pageant terms, and was one of the shortest delegates in the competition.
Miss Universe
Conner represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2006 pageant in Los Angeles, California in July 2006. She placed fourth runner-up in the pageant, becoming only the fifth Miss USA to finish fourth runner-up at Miss Universe.
Her roommate during the three weeks the delegates spent in Los Angeles was Kenisha Thom of Trinidad and Tobago, who, along with Conner, made the top 10 cut in the Miss Universe pageant.
Controversy
On December 14, 2006 controversy erupted when TMZ.com published an article stating that Conner might be dethroned for unacceptable behavior in several New York City bars.[1] According to a report, sources told TMZ.com that Conner is "out of control".[2]
Executives of Miss USA pageant--Donald J. Trump and its broadcaster NBC-- met the same day to discuss whether to release Conner from her duties. The Miss Universe Organization released a statement saying that Conner had not been dethroned and that they and Trump would be "evaluating her behavioral and personal issues" and would make an announcement within the week.[3]
On December 15, TMZ reported that Conner would be stripped of her crown, and that first runner-up Tamiko Nash, who gave up the Miss California USA title in October, would inherit the Miss USA title.[4] This has neither been confirmed nor denied by the Miss Universe Organization, which will make a decision and announce it on December 19, 2006.
The December 16, 2006 edition of the NY Daily News reported Tara had tested positive for cocaine, had lustily kissed Miss Teen USA Katie Brown in public, and had sneaked men into their Trump Place apartment. One NY nightlife veteran said "She really is a small-town girl. She just went wild when she came to the city. Tara just couldn't handle herself. They were sneaking those [nightclub] guys in and out of the apartment."
Prior to the controversy, Conner, Miss Teen USA Katie Blair, and Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera, were all scheduled to appear at the Best Buddies Miami gala on December 16.[5] This has been changed, and now Katie Blair is the only one who will attend the event.
If Miss Conner is stripped of her title, she will be the first Miss USA to lose her title [6] since Mary Leona Gage in 1957. The only other MUO titleholder to lose her crown was Oxana Fedorova, who was fired for "not fulfilling her duties" in 2002.
Year in the life of Miss USA
Immediately following her pageant win, Conner moved into a Trump Place apartment that she will share with sister titleholders Miss Teen USA Katie Blair, and Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera. Her first week in New York included many media events, which included print interviews and spots on CNN Headline News, Live! With Regis and Kelly, and The Early Show.
On 29 April Conner returned to Baltimore to make appearances connected with the Volvo Ocean Race, sailing on board the yacht Black Pearl and then returned to New York, appearing with Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova at the Invest in Our World Benefit on May 3.
In the first week of May she briefly returned to Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby and was a celebrity guest at the Mint Jubilee Gala benefiting the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. She attended the event with fellow national beauty queen Jennifer Berry, Miss America 2006 (of Oklahoma) and former Miss Kentucky USA titleholders Lizzie Arnold and Kristen Johnson, as well as other notable beauty queens. After returning New York, Conner participated in charity events and was photographed by official photographer Fadil Berisha. On May 18 she had the honour of ringing the opening bell at the American Stock Exchange. She returned to Kentucky for her official homecoming in early June where she met with servicemen and volunteered with local charities.
On July 19th 2006, Conner appeared as a guest judge in an episode of the 3rd Season of the Bravo! series Project Runway. The contestants on the show competed against each other to create a dress for her to wear in the Miss Universe pageant. The winning design (by Kayne Gillaspie) was featured in the evening gown competition, with Conner competing as one of the top ten contestants. She made the top five cut and finished fourth runner-up.
In August Conner met up with newly crowned Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera and out-going Miss Teen USA Allie LaForce in California where they were involved with media events, before all three travelled to Palm Springs, California for the Miss Teen USA 2006 pageant. On August 15 LaForce crowned Katie Blair of Montana as the new Miss Teen USA, and Conner, Rivera and Blair returned to New York.
In late August Conner and Blair attended a number of high-profile parties in New York including a Land Rover event featuring Maria Sharapova, a U.S. Open Kick-Off Party, a pre-Video Music Awards party hosted by Ciara and Missy Elliot and another Video Music Awards party hosted by Nick Lachey.
In September Conner traveled to Boston to promote the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure, as her predecessor Chelsea Cooley had done the year previously.[7] She then travelled to Colorado to support the Cheryl Shackelford Foundation[8] and to Pennsylvania to attend an event hosted by the USO of Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.
In October she spent time volunteering with more charities, including Gilda's Club, Best Buddies and Project Sunshine, before embarking on a USO tour to Italy and Turkey in November, where she met her brother who is living in Italy.
Footnotes
- ^ "Miss USA Dethroned?". TMZ. 2006-12-14.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|accessate=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Miss USA Dethroned?". TMZ. 2006-12-14.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|accessate=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Tara Conner, Miss USA, Dethroned?" (PDF) (Press release). Miss Universe Organization. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
- ^ "First Runner-Up to Become Miss USA". TMZ. 2006-12-15. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
- ^ Miss Teen USA upcoming events. Retreived 2006-12-15.
- ^ "Miss USA Tara Conner Lesbian Kissing Miss Teen USA Causes Eviction". National Ledger. 2006-12-17. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ^ Interview on Fox Boston, 2006-09-06. Retrieved 2006-09-08.
- ^ Second Annual Teal Soiree a huge success, 2006-09-20. Retrieved 2006=10-06
References
- Miss Kentucky Crowned Miss USA, Washington Post, 22 April 2006 (accessed 1 May 2006)
- Pageant brings glamor to city - and a crown for Kentuckian, Baltimore Sun-Times, 22 April 2006 (accessed 1 May 2006)
- Miss USA's hometown abuzz, Lexington Herald-Leader, 27 April 2006 (accessed 5 May 2006)
- Listen to Miss USA, Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 28 April 2006 (accessed 1 May 2006)
- Miss USA Dethroned? (accessed 14 December 2006)
- NY Daily News: Queen is way out of line - Failed test for coke, kissy with teen missy (accessed 17-12-2006)
External links
