Miss USA: May 2010 Archives

"I don't know why people are so surprised," she said, about the exaggerated reaction to her heritage upon winning the crown. "I'm an American and a Lebanese, but I'm an American first, and everyone in America has their own ethnicity and comes from a different background . . . we all come from somewhere. We don't know who we are until we know where we came from."

She went on to say that, though she is Muslim, there is more to her than her faith. "I believe that religion doesn't define me and it does not define my family," she said, in the interview. "We have an abundance of faiths, and we respect all religions. Yes, we're a Muslim family, but we're also very cultured and we have a mixture of different religions. For example, my brother-in-law is Catholic...I even have two cousins here in New York City who are Jewish. As you can see, my family is just an amazing melting pot of wonderful religions and faiths."

Seems to me that Miss USA 2010 is a sensible one! 

Fakih, who has degrees in economics and business management and plans to go to law school, was born in Lebanon, lived as a baby in New York, and was raised in Michigan. She is the first muslim woman recorded to have won the title. 

Congratulations to the new Miss USA!