Las Vegas Weekly

October 7, 2008 · 7:33 AM

Exclusive interview, candid photos from Miss America’s three-day visit

By Robin Leach

Kirsten Haglund poses like a mannequin at Barney's.

Photo: Venetian

The last time I saw Kirsten Haglund was seconds after the Miss America crown was placed on her head at the Planet Hollywood Theatre for Performing Arts on the Strip. It made the statuesque 19-year-old Michigan beauty the youngest ever winner of the prestigious title. Within hours she flew to New York and began her 20,000-mile-a-month, yearlong reign. Days ago she returned to Vegas for the first time since the pageant and Luxe Life won the exclusive opportunity to spend time with her on the three-day work and play visit with her. During her days in Vegas, she hit the Spice Market buffet and relaxed at the sixth floor pool of Planet Hollywood and dined at Mon Ami Gabi restaurant in the neighboring Paris resort hotel. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to relax and take a break in eight months of non stop traveling” Kirsten told me before taking in the only show she wanted to see on the Strip: Donny & Marie Osmond at the Flamingo.

Photo: Miss America Organization

Miss America contestants at Balboa Club.

Kirsten flew in from California, where she filmed episodes of the new TLC reality series, which introduces the 52 new contestants for the 2009 Miss America pageant. The girls lined up for the introduction of their Countdown to the Crown reality series at the famous Balboa Club resort on 15 stunning bayfront acres on the California coastline.

Kirsten checked into our Planet Hollywood resort and was updated on the advance plans for the preliminaries there starting Jan. 20 and the two-hour live broadcast set for Saturday night Jan. 24.

It was during a special shopping spree at the luxurious Shoppes at the Palazzo that I got to talk with Kirsten and her hostess, Lynn Weidner, wife of Palazzo/Venetian’s CEO Bill Weidner -- and herself a former Miss New Jersey contestant in the Miss America pageant. Kirsten toted the jeweled handbags from Edidi, tried on shoes at Catherine Malandrino, shopped Ralph Lauren and explored Barneys New York with a personal shopper. She wound up with a pair of chic sunglasses, hand-sewn Ayes Snakeskin heels and a Swarovski crystal credit card holder. For energy refueling in-between Miss America and her traveling companion lunched at Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 restaurant there enjoying a warm spinach salad with duck confit and toasted almonds. Here’s our exclusive conversation:

Photo: The Venetian

Kirsten Haglund during her visit to Edidi.

RL: The last time I saw you was last January - the very second the crown had been put on your head, then you raced next morning to NY, have you had time to catch your breath?

KH: It doesn’t seem like it. Now that I am 8 months in, it seems that January was so far away. Time goes in a flash traveling 20,000 miles in a month, and who doesn’t travel these days for their job. It has been amazing.

RL: You don’t look worn out or tired but you have changed your hairstyle.

Photo: Venetian

Kirsten Haglund in front of Table 10 at The Venetian.

KH: Yes, practicalities sake, we are on the road all of the time, it takes less time to do and it is easy to be stylish in 10 minutes. I chopped it in May; it was the best decision in my life.

Photo: Venetian

For Miss America Kirsten Haglund, it's all about the shoes.

RL: The crown is still on your head?

KH: I haven’t taken it off since January. The only time it comes off is when I sleep. Fortunately I’ve never been that tired that I forgot to take it off but after I was crowned I went to my hotel room and the ladies helping me said we have to get a picture of the crown on you head and the covers pulled up, it is tradition. I guess that one time.

RL: What adventures has Miss America had traveling 20,000 miles a month?

KH: It is interesting, the crown goes through security in my luggage and I always get strange looks going through security trying to see what it is. The great thing is that I get to see everything, I get to see a movie premiere in NY and the next day I am signing autographs outside a Wal-Mart in Chicago. It affords such differing experiences, but that is what makes our country so great it that it is so diverse and you get to experience so many things and all different sorts of people. The big things, the small thing, the glamorous things, and the poignant things like visiting children in a hospital. It can be exhausting and that is why it is important to take a step back and remember you are a person first.

Photo: Venetian

Kirsten Haglund at Barney's.

RL: What have you learned in the eight months?

KH: People are people anywhere you go no matter what stereotypes or prejudices, no matter their socioeconomic status, race, religion, ethnicity, at the end of the day we all want the same thing, we all put our pants on the same way. That is refreshing as a young person. You think you are very different and how are you going to make it and how will you be successful. When you realize how similar everyone is it makes it a lot easier.

RL: What do you think you have taught people?

KH: I think I got to be Miss America by being myself and very authentic and no apologies. I was the youngest girl in the competition. I never felt like a pageant girl, I never felt I looked the part, that I behaved the pageant way. I was just the drama student Kirsten. I think what you teach people is that it is okay to be yourself. You don’t have to follow a formula or look a certain way to be successful. The most valuable thing you can be is yourself.

RL: Do you sense you have changed, did you grown up?

KH: Growing up is a process. I know 40 and 50 year olds, and I hope this will still be me, but are kids at heart, you do. I feel like I have grown 10 years since winning. You are forced to be an adult; you suddenly become accountable and responsible. You have to prioritize. You have to live as a fully functioning adult when before you were just a carefree college student. You do grow up, but the more grown up and the more you learn, the less you know. I am at a point where comes January I am going to have start my life over again because I have grown up so much. It is a blessing and a curse. With all that knowledge then comes the responsibility to do something with it.

Photo: Miss America Organization

Former Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund decides to Rock the Vote.

RL: What did you want to be before this? And has anything changed?

KH: Yes. I am a musical theater student; I wanted to pursue a career on Broadway. Since I have been in New York - I love it to visit but the less I would want to live there. My brother is making that transition to Manhattan. I like the west coast better. I love Vegas, I love it out west so I think I will come out to Los Angeles and pursue a career. I am looking at Pepperdine or UCLA to finish school and hopefully work in entertainment out in Hollywood or here in Vegas.

RL: What’s been the goofiest moment on the road so far and how many planes have you missed?

KH: We haven’t had too many problems with planes. We have had one or two cancelled flights, my luggage has not gotten lost knock on wood, but I think the funniest moment happened the other day in Charlotte. I was with my traveling companion. We were on a moving walkway, we were going past the shops and we were jet lagged, and we passed a spa in the airport and we had a four-hour layover so we said lets go. For some reason we just turned around and tried to walk the opposite direction on the moving walkway. We were trying so hard to walk the opposite way to get to the spa. We collapsed on the floor in giggles. We never got to the spa because we had to walk all the way around and in the end there wasn’t enough time.

Photo: TVT

Miss America Kirsten Haglund and Mr. Ubiquitous Robin Leach.

RL: How many times have you been back home since getting the crown?

KH: I was there a couple of weeks ago but when I am there though I can’t stay at my house. I have to stay in hotels. Its kind of a Miss America rule because I am doing my job. So the only time I was home “home” was at Easter and in the beginning of September I had a week off around my birthday. I didn’t get one day off at all in August.

RL: You have just met the new contestants in LA and filming is underway. What are your first impressions?

KH: What I love about this year’s group of girls is that they all seem very comfortable with themselves. There are always a couple that feel like they have to be a certain way and feel like they need to analyze everything you do in order to win, that encourages me. As Miss America, you are an example for all of the girls competing. I have always prided myself on it is okay to be who I am and not have to fit a mold, it seems like this group of girls is that way too. It is okay to wear jeans to a baseball game. They are okay being themselves.

RL: Is everybody looking forward to coming to Planet Hollywood and Vegas in January?

KH: They can’t wait. They have all met each other and they are filming together and it is competitive, so you can tell they are just itching to go back to their states and prepare and then come out here and compete.

RL: How many of the 52 came running to you for tips and advice?

KH: It is interesting, I offered and said please ask me anything you want. I am an open book, and I am here for you. Not all of them seized that opportunity. I would say about half have done that, but they always ask the wrong question. They ask what can I do to prepare? What are the questions? The pageant is just one night; they need to prepare for the job. That most glamorous competition is one night, and then you are stuck with the job so you have to have the mental stability, the stamina, and the emotional strength. It is the ones that ask you what is the job like, what can I do to prepare for the job that you know are thinking the right way.

RL: Talking of emotions I notice a large sparkling ring on the 4th finger of the left hand, which I don’t remember seeing before.

KH: Don’t worry it is not an engagement ring! I usually wear it on the right hand. It was a fashion decision. I am dating some people right now; I had a relationship earlier in the year but it didn’t work out. I am casually dating. It is hard to find a man that can handle this job; you definitely need a man, not a boy. We will see what happens in January when I am more stable. For now I am just enjoying myself.

RL: Tell everyone in your own words what Miss America has meant to you in terms of rounding you out as a lady, being different and standing out and up for being all- American.

KH: It gives you an incredible amount of self worth. Not only is it living out what every little girl dreams, but also it is about an image and it also gives you an image and a voice. Young people just want to be listened to. They want their opinions to be valued. It gives you a platform to be able to speak about things. It also demands certain things of you. It demands that you love; it demands that you give of yourself and your time. That can be exhausting, but it teaches you that it is a gift. Selflessness and service are hard teachers because it is exhausting, but it is the greatest gift.

RL: What is the strangest thing and the worst thing that has happened to you?

KH: I think the funniest thing is when I was doing media with a little kid at Children’s Miracle Network and we were live from DC and he was 6 and they asked him if he had made a lot of friends and met other kids from other states and he was like “oh yeah I met this one guy that was in an accident and he lost all of his fingers except for one” and he was giving the camera the bird and it was almost out of a movie. I looked at him and I said “is that right” as I grabbed his hand. It was funny.

The strangest moments have to be autograph signings. You get some people who are really polite and you get some people that throw something at you and say “sign this for Bobby”. They wont say anything, they won’t make eye contact with you, and they think you are a robot. I had this one gentleman come over to me, he was probably 60-70 years old, and he said, “You shouldn’t have cut your hair, it looked better long, it looks horrible.” That is when you just smile and have patience. One of the worst things, there aren’t a lot that are awful, I did have one instance where I overslept, I was in Boise and I was so jet lagged that my alarm didn’t go off and I woke up with 10 minutes to be TV ready. Luckily it was Boise and they weren’t on that tight of a time schedule.

We have had to suffer some bad drivers. They didn’t hire a limo service in Chicago and the driver kept turning around to talk to us in the back seat. He drove right through the wooden barrier of E-Z pass and we were terrified. He just drove right through the toll onto the freeway!

RL: Can we expect anything different when you come back to Vegas in January?

KH: The pageant is always evolving and changing. This is our second year with TLC so I know that our producer Tony Eaton has great ideas for the show this year. It is going to be great for both the reality show and the live pageant. It is going to be bigger and better. I know that the reality show is going to be a lot more glamorous and respectful of the girls. They feel much more comfortable; it is going to be all glam. America is going to get to know the girls better. The challenges are a lot more relevant as they pertain to the competition. It is going to be suspenseful.

RL: Have you been told that you have been a great Miss America queen?

KH: I have gotten some really positive feedback, which is nice to hear. A lot of times it is just you and the chaperone on the road so you don’t hear a lot of feedback, but when you do, it is really nice and it is so weird to think of yourself in line with the great Miss Americas, but the important thing to remember is that you are an individual and you can’t meet up to anyone else standard, just your own.

RL: Does it get a little bit lonely on the road?

KH: Yeah It gets lonely and I really noticed that when I got to hug people I hadn’t seen in ages. You are sort of in a bubble as Miss America. You have your traveling companion who can give you a hug, but people don’t want to come up to you. You miss giving hugs and holding someone’s hand or arm and being close to someone and being with family. You don’t get that bonding, that bonding chemical and a feel good chemistry Sometimes you miss that. I journal, pray and meditate and that makes the time you see your family all that much better.

RL: What does Miss America look like at 6 am when you are getting out of bed?

KH: Bloody awful. What woman doesn’t feel gross? I promise that I don’t wake up looking or feeling gorgeous.

Photo: Venetian

Kirsten Haglund poses in front of Catherine Malandrino.

RL: Isn’t that funny- people always think you look beautiful around the clock just like the very moment Miss America is crowned.

KH: This is a hilarious story. I was in California a few days ago and I woke up early and didn’t put on any make up and went down to workout. I thought no one would ever know. Gretchen Carlson, Miss America 1987 who hosts Fox and Friends on the Fox news cable network had flown in too and was down there with no make up on and we were both looking gross. There we were on our machines and she turns around and says Kirsten and I say Gretchen and we are both working out and not expecting anyone to be down there. But whatever, we are human too.

RL: When you said that you are thinking of a California or Vegas move, does that mean more TV than the stage?

KH: Yeah I think so. I love performing whether it is singing, acting. My goal is to get a commercial agent and start training again. I love to be working. I will come out here and whatever opens up first. I don’t need to walk a billion red carpets and have a reality show, I just love to do my craft and whatever that means I just want to feel fulfilled.

— From Vegas Deluxe

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