By RICHARD VIRGILIO
The Superbowl is coming up soon. No, not the Superbowl with the beefy guys (well, that one is coming up too), I’m talking about what some consider to be the “gay” Superbowl, the Miss America Pageant 2009 – Saturday, Jan. 24 (on TLC).
I spoke with Miss New Jersey, Ashley Fairfield, 22, of Egg Harbor last week about her quest to become the first Miss America from New Jersey in 25 years.
TBP: What do you do when you are not busy being Miss New Jersey?
Ashley: I am a full-time senior at Richard Stockton College, so when I am not doing five days of appearances, I am usually studying…or sleeping.
TBP: What was it like helping Ellen DeGeneres try to fulfill her long-standing goal of getting George Clooney on her show?
Ashley: Ellen is amazing. She dances through the commercials with the audience. As we were leaving, she read my sash, smiled and said, “Jerseeeeyyyy.” She is so much fun.
TBP: Ellen is the best. What is something we would have never known about Ashley Fairfield, Miss New Jersey?
Ashley: I love football and am a raging Eagles fan. I also love to golf but I am no female version of Tiger Woods. I’m not the “girly girl” stereotype associated with beauty queens.
TBP: Jazz dance is your talent and Habitat for Humanity is your platform issue. Coastal Habitat for Humanity has helped many families here, just finishing a beautiful home in Wall.
Ashley: There is nothing like seeing a child’s face when they walk into their own house, their own bedroom for the first time. I would love to come to Asbury Park and help build a house.
TBP: Everyone’s heard about Vaseline on the teeth, what are some other beauty queen beauty tips from a non-girly girl?
Ashley: One day dirty hair always styles 30 times better. Also, a lot of the girls use “butt glue” – a spray adhesive so bathing suits don’t move out of place during the competition.
TBP: What’s it like being a beauty queen in New Jersey?
Ashley: The past five years competing in pageants has been amazing. Being Miss New Jersey is a dream come true and I am enjoying every second of this experience. I am so thankful. From your state queen, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and joyous New Year.
Briefly: Whitney Houston is back, looking amazing and shopping like a champ. Last Monday I walked into the Mall at Short Hills right behind Whitney. As she held the door for me, I told her she “looked fabulous” and she leaned over towards me and whispered “thank you” back.
Wearing Dolce & Gabbana jeans that her stunning body pulled off perfectly, a bolero Chinchilla coat, amazing black boots, a four-thousand dollar Dior handbag and no make-up or hair extensions (her hair was under a beret-type hat), she entered Neiman-Marcus with a imperial personal presence only matched, for me, by Howard Stern or Aerosmith’s Stephen Tyler.
It was like Brad Pitt secretly walking into a gay bar – reflexively every in-the-know security guard and employee greeted Whitney with weakly controlled excitement. No one recognized her. It was her eyes, her stunning eyes that really gave her secret shopping trip away to me.
As a fan of Whitney’s since “How will I Know” and a passionate lover of her Christmas album (one of the best ever) it was a great Christmas gift to see her doing well and looking happy and healthy.
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Published every Thursday.
I don’t know what I’d be like if I saw her, but I’m sure I’d freak out. I hear she is at the SHM on occasion though, that’s not the first time I’ve heard someone say they’ve seen her there:) SO COOL.
Hey Richard. I loved your Whitney sighting story, I am soo so jealous! Glad to hear that you report she looked fabulous!
Nice interview. Thanks for posting this!
By the way..did she charge you for this exclusive interview?!