It’s not easy being beautiful.
Blair Griffith, 23, is Miss Colorado USA. She has a Facebook fan page and a crown. What she doesn’t have is a home. In interviews, she says she is “technically homeless.”
That news is getting her a lot of ink and airtime. She and her mother, Bonita Griffith, were evicted from their townhouse in October. They are now staying with friends. Sad but undeterred, the elegant beauty queen went on to win the crown a month later.
9News ran a story on Blair on Wednesday — and before you could shine a crown, “Today” flew Blair to Los Angeles for an interview with Meredith Vieira. It’s an inspirational weeper with Blair telling people to hold onto their dreams and goals and anything is possible.
“It’s amazing how this small story could become so big,” Bonita told me Friday. “It’s truly surprising to us.”
Bonita said times have been tough. Her husband, Gary Griffith, died in 2003 from prostate cancer. Bonita had a heart attack three years ago. She is unable to work, but she says she was denied disability. Now Blair is about to be laid off from her job at Saks Fifth Avenue, which is closing its Cherry Creek mall store next month.
“It’s very humbling to ask friends to give you shelter,” Bonita said. “The next step? We’re trying to find a home, I’m still trying to get disability and Blair is looking for a job. We’ll find a way to survive. We are resilient people. This is just a little kink in the road.”
The story has great legs — turning up in European newspapers and websites galore. “HOMELESS BEAUTY QUEEN” is a catchy headline.
A call to Blair’s cellphone Friday referred us to the pageant director to request an interview. Homeless with a publicist, that’s America. Donald Trump owns the Miss USA Pageant, and he rarely misses a publicity hop to help out a contestant. She’ll be at the pageant on June 19 in Las Vegas. We’ll stay tuned.
This is the end?
Hey, it’s not the end of the world. Or is it? Head to a screening 7 p.m. Thursday at Denver FilmCenter/Colfax of “2012: The True Mayan Prophecy.” Directed by PeaceJam co-founder Dawn Gifford Engle, it takes a look at the Mayan calendar that some say predicts the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012.
“I think the Mayans are saying something completely different than it’s the end of the world,” says Engle. “The film has a lot of wisdom in it, but it’s a lot of fun too.”
Getting real.
Denver’s Julie Zorrilla, now hanging in Hollywood, is one of 24 semifinalists on “American Idol.” She sings in an all-female lineup Wednesday night. Results come in Thursday night.
And “The Real World” is looking for some new roommates in Boulder, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at the Lazy Dog on Pearl Street.
City spirit.
The Beach Boys perform at the DCPA funder Saturday Night Alive on Saturday . . . IHOP is handing out free short stacks Tuesday; leave a tip for Shriners Hospitals . . . Sez who: “The laziest man I ever met put popcorn in his pancakes so they would turn over by themselves.” W. C. Fields
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
