Bria recalls being Miss Teen Minnesota...

Bria Jeurgen's experience on the beauty pageant circuit was the defining experience of her life, and after the attention and adoration lavished upon her as Miss Teen Minnesota, she realized that she could not give it up at return to being simply... ordinary. She found fame addictive.

Bria found the competition fierce once she moved from the regionals to the state finals, with many of the other young women seemingly as talented and motivated as her, and in large measure even more accomplished in academics or community service. She assumed it was her good looks that tipped the scales: fair in hair and features, with an all-American body that was both athletic and buxom. In fact, one of the judges, Jerry Ross, was so obviously taken with her beauty that he immediately began dating Bria's mother, and they soon moved in with him.

When they called Bria's name and presented her with her tiara, sash and bouquet, it was the happiest moment of her life and a culmination of her fantasies. Her life transformed over-night from a poor small-town high-school student into one more akin to nobility. Everything changed for Bria: her wardrobe expanded with fancy clothes, her calendar filled with functions and charity engagements, and her social circle expanded state-wide and beyond.

Bria had many exciting memories of things she did and people she met. She focused her charity and advocacy work on assisting the poor and unemployed, particularly immigrants and minorities. She attended fundraisers and photo-ops, made speeches to homeless men and shared a few words with state politicians.

Her reign was not, however, a complete success. Though her heart was in the right place, she was no natural politician, and often said the wrong thing when she spoke off-script. There were more than a few red-faced apologies. And what stuck out most prominently was her disappointing early exit from the Miss Teen USA pageant, signaling that she had gone as far as she would as a beauty queen. She then began her move to the next stage: Hollywood...