Jim Hudelson, Associated Press
Miss Hawaii, Brook Lee, jubilantly shows her local side
after being named Miss USA Wednesday night
at Hirsch Coliseum in Shreveport, La.
Lee also fielded media requests for interviews on her first day as the new Miss USA. Her schedule already has become so hectic that her family members don’t expect her to be home until May after the Miss Universe pageant in Florida.
“She worked so hard for it,” he said. “She trained so hard. ... She‘s been running in pageants for the last eight years.”
She won the Miss Hawaii USA title on her third try for the crown and was third runner-up in the local Miss America contest two years ago.
Brendon Lee said she could no longer compete in the Miss America contest because, at 26, she was too old. The age cutoff for the Miss America contest is 25.
He said his mother, Tony Lee, and his sister were up most of the night. “When my mom called at 6 this morning, she still hadn’t gone to sleep and she was very tired.”
Lee is a graduate student at the University of Hawaii and a graduate of Chaminade University and Kamehameha Schools.
Last night the new Miss USA wowed judges with her response to co-host George Hamilton’s question to finalists about how they would deal with weight gains.
“I would take a good hard look at myself, and I’d look from the inside out, and I would know that I’m the same girl that won the crown that day and it wouldn’t really matter what I look like on the outside because I won,” Lee said to huge cheers from the audience.
The answer moved Lee ahead of the two remaining finalists, runner-up Miss Idaho Brandi Sherwood and Miss Tennessee Towanna Stone.
Hamilton’s question alluded to Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who made headlines when she gained weight after she won the crown last May.
Immediately after Lee was crowned, she and the other 51 contestants were feted at a riverboat casino ball with a Mardi Gras theme -- complete with food, floats and maskers throwing beads to guests.