Debra Lin — Pg 2 of 4

Q: Tell us about your background.
A: I was born in Hawaii, right by Trippler. 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: 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: What did your mom do?
A: When they got a divorce she started selling real estate.

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: 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: Did you date a lot?
A: I never dated in high school. I treated the guys like my brothers.

Q: What was your first ambition?
A: I wanted to go into advertising because it was creative and I like to be creative.

Q: And because it seemed glamorous?
A: Yeah, in a way, yeah.

Q: Were you always interested in the media and glamour?
A: No, not at all. I grew up like any other kid. I was happy where I was in Hawaii and I would never change where I grew up.

Q: What did you do after graduating from high school?
A: I went to KCC my first year out of high school [in 1986]. Then I took the year off because of the [Miss Asia World pageant in 1988]. Before that I was in the Miss American Train pageant in 1987. It was this goodwill ambassador kind of thing that went to Japan. They were going to display all these different products. So they had a big pageant in Hawaii. There were two girls from each state. This other girl from Maui and myself represented Hawaii.

Q: What gave you the idea that you could be a beauty queen?
A: I was tall, one of the tallest girls in my class.

Q: When did you hit the 5-9 mark?
A: Ninth, tenth grade.

Q: Were you 120 pounds back then?
A: No, I was 110, 105. I was like a beanpole.

Q: You entered just because you were tall enough?
A: I think a friend of my mother’s knew the people who were putting the pageant on. It wasn’t like me going in there and saying, Hey, I want to do this.

Q: You didn’t have any problems standing up there in a swimsuit?
A: Well, I went through a little bit of training and whatnot. I had a coach before and at that time. I was totally not polished. I had to do this with my hands, and that, you know.