After confidently strutting her stuff in a lilac bikini, wowing the audience in a fuchsia gown, and fielding a tough question about the transgender community participating in pageants, Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo was crowned 2012’s Miss USA.
"I was just so surprised, so shocked, so honored to be there," Culpo said of beating out 50 other contestants for the Miss USA crown.
The 20-year-old passed the question round with flying colors when she said she would welcome a transgender woman winning the Miss USA crown. “Would you feel it would be fair that a transgender woman wins the Miss USA title over a natural-born woman?" celebrity judge Rob Kardashian asked.
"I do think that that would be fair, but I can understand that people would be a little apprehensive to take that road because there is a tradition of natural-born women, but today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it's a free country," Culpo answered.
Miss Maryland Nana Meriwether took first runner-up while Miss Ohio Audrey Bolte took second runner-up.
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