There She Was by Amy Argetsinger

Author:Amy Argetsinger [Argetsinger, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

And then there was Miss Ha-cha-cha.

Some in the pageant world winced at how Carolyn Sapp rounded out her year—by starring in a made-for-TV movie about her own domestic-violence saga.

Leonard argues that they had to sign on to the development of the NBC drama. The networks were nuts for ripped-from-the-headlines stuff, churning out movies about wife killers, murderous cheerleader moms, and a tragic switched-at-birth saga; in 1992, three networks raced to air their own version of the exploitative “Long Island Lolita” scandal. There was a fear the same flock of vultures could descend on Carolyn’s story if Miss America didn’t endorse a specific project. So Carolyn worked out a life-rights deal with NBC and insisted that Nu’u get paid as well. But then she surprised everyone by auditioning to play herself. She got the part.

The critics were not very kind to Miss America: Behind the Crown. It certainly didn’t launch a big acting career for Carolyn. But making the obligatory press rounds to promote it gave her another chance to talk about domestic violence. She would keep traveling and talking about it for years, grateful for the words that were said back to her: Thanks to you… You made me realize… If you got out, then I knew I could, too.

Of all the things that were said about her, Carolyn was hardly offended by being called the sexy Miss America. She knew nothing of the pageant’s demure white-glove history or the unspoken expectations the culture had of Miss America. She couldn’t see the lifted eyebrow in statements like that. So she took it as a compliment.

Never mind that fabulous swagger, that voracious energy, the pro-baller boyfriend—Carolyn was not the worldly creature she seemed. At twenty-four, she had never lived on her own; even when she left the family home on the Big Island for college in the city, her Filipino stepmom’s devoutly traditional parents insisted she live with them in Honolulu. She had dated very little before Nu’u. When she visited him in New York, she would decorously arrange to stay with married friends. And even after they broke up—well, good luck trying to find a guy in Hawaii brave enough to date Nu’u Fa’aola’s ex-girlfriend.

They were broken up. But they remained in each other’s orbit. Even after the police report. Even after she became Miss America. Even after it made the news, and even after she told her story on the cover of a national magazine.

She still cared about him. She worried about him. She wanted to help him. She was only twenty-four and still thought this was a thing she could fix.

On an official Miss America trip back to Hawaii, Carolyn hosted a surprise birthday party for Nu’u. They also went out to dinner together—just friends, of course. They were friends, she believed, and everything was fine. (Bonnie, the veteran Miss America traveling companion, joined them, and Leonard hit the ceiling about it later. “Leonard,” Bonnie said, “would you rather she had gone without me?”)

Today, Carolyn still

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