Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner
Former Miss USA, Tara Conner has spoken publicly about her drug addiction, which at its peak, meant popping upwards of 30 pills a day following her pageant crown.
Conner was awarded the title in 2006, but almost immediately reports began surfacing of her alleged drug and alcohol use. After testing positive for cocaine, Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss USA organization, gave the beautiful but troubled young woman a second chance as long as she cleaned up her act in rehab. Without hesitation, Conner entered into a treatment facility and got sober.
While many people who use drugs to lose weight become underweight and malnourished because of the stimulatory and appetite-suppressing effects of the drugs, Conner has never commented on whether drugs had anything to do with her thin physique or whether diet supplements were part of her drug repertoire. But she does admit that after years of using drugs to find her identity, she was numb to food.“I didn’t know what foods I liked. If someone said I like spaghetti, I’m going to go with spaghetti. If someone said I like pizza, I was a pizza girl,” she told the Oprah Show. “I never really had my own identity with anything, because the longer I used, my authentic self just continued to drop down.”
Today, almost four years into her sobriety, Conner is making amends for her troubled life and is living up to the second chance that Trump gave her.
Even though she is a strong advocate for substance abuse problems, being in the limelight, health is a priority. But Conner’s diet is not routine of regimented rules. In fact, before a fundraiser fashion show, she admitted to chowing down on a cheeseburger as her pre-runway food.
Burgers and fries are probably not the daily diet staples of this pageant-winning beauty, but a decadent indulgence every once in awhile is truly the path of a healthy life.
(image via: Oprah.com)