"He hasn't really had the chance to be a father so he doesn't expect to be
a father."
Q: Where were you born?
A: In Honolulu, right by Trippler.
Q: What were your parents doing at the time?
A: My parents were divorced. I don't want to get into my family
too much.
Q: We're just curious what kind of family environment you were raised in.
A: My parents were divorced when I was three. So my mom
went back to Hawaii 'cause that's where my grandparents lived. My life is so
complicated.
Q: How old were you when you left Hawaii?
A: I was one. Then I moved to Anaheim for about a year.
Q: Why did they move?
A: I don't really know. It happened when I was so young. My
family doesn't really talk about it. They're not really on good terms. My father
was a schoolteacher and he became a doctor. He's a doctor now and he lives
out here, but I hardly see him because we don't get along.
Q: Your father is the Lin and your mother is Japanese American. What's her
maiden name?
A: Hasegawa.
Q: So you grew up in a Japanese American family.
A: I used to see my dad every summer until high school.
Q: Why don't you see him any more?
A: Once in a while for Christmas or something like that, but we
don't actually get along.
Q: Why don't you want to see him?
A: He remarried and has his own family. Growing up he didn't
really have a father figure, so he doesn't know how to react as a father.
Q: What makes you say that?
A: Emotionally, he doesn't say what he feels.
Q: He doesn't show affection?
A: Yeah, exactly, because we don't see each other. He hasn't really
had the chance to be a father so he doesn't expect to be a father.
Q: So you haven't lived together at all since you were three years old.
A: No.
Q: When you were three you moved back to Hawaii because that was when
your parents divorced?
A: Yeah.
Q: What did your mom do?
A: When they got a divorce she started selling real estate.
Q: She's from the islands?
A: Yeah.
Q: And he's from the islands?
A: Yeah. I don't know how much you're going to put in, but my
mom doesn't like to talk about him.
Q: You got your height from your mom Ruth. Do you look like your
mom?
A: Exactly. When she was younger, she used to model.
Q: Are you close to her?
A: Yeah, very.
Q: Do you have sisters and brothers?
A: I have one brother. He's 28.
Q: When were you first recognized as a beauty?
A: [Long pause.] I guess when I entered my first pageant in 1987.
Q: You were 19?
A: Yeah, the year after high school.
Q: So in high school you weren't someone everyone
wanted to date?
A: I was but I wasn't like the hottest girl in school. I was on the prom court.
Q: So you were already recognized as attractive before that pageant.
A: But I wasn't queen. I was only a princess.
Q: Did you date the football heroes and other BMOCs?
A: I never dated in high school. I treated the guys like my brothers.
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