‘NOT YOUR TYPICAL BEAUTY QUEEN:' From the arms of Wayne Newton to Destin, former Miss USA reflects on her journey (VIDEO)

Being crowned Miss USA was never a goal for Arkansas native, Terri Amos-Britt. 

“I lived in a small town in Arkansas, population 4,000 people, and for me, I was looking for opportunity. I thought I wanted to do acting, modeling, maybe broadcasting. I didn’t really know. I was a young kid,” said Miss USA 1982.

The former beauty queen is now a Destin resident, the mother of four children, “a spiritual coach” and an award-winning author. 

“Miss USA was an avenue to open doors, but I also learned from it, and what I learned was the night I won Miss USA I remember feeling mixed emotions. If you look at my face right here, you can see it almost looks sad in a way,” she said pointing to an image of her being crowned. 

With “mousey,” short brown hair, the 20-year-old said she stood out from her fellow contestants. During the interview process, judges asked Amos-Britt, known by her maiden name, Utley, “what do you do on a Saturday night in Cabot, Ark.?”

“And I said, ‘In the winter we stay home, and in the summer, we cruise up and down Main Street, we go to the Tasty Freeze and we sit on the back of my friend’s truck. He plays the banjo and the guys drink beer and dip Skoal. It’s a really good time,’ ” Amos-Britt told The Log. “How many Miss USAs do you hear say that?

Four months before the pageant, she had taken a break from college to sell shoes and train to sell timeshares for a resort.

 “It’s so interesting because most people thing that as Miss USA you are the epitome of success. For me it was just the beginning of opening up to my heart.”

 Despite her atypical qualities, there was something about the honest Midwestern girl that judges liked, because she took home the crown and sash that night in Biloxi, Miss. 

“I won Miss USA and the next day we did some local shots, and it was either that afternoon or the next day we flew to New York City and I was on the ‘Today Show,’ ” she said. “You want to talk about shocked. I don’t know what I talked about but I was shocked.”

During her reign, Amos-Britt said it was a lot of hard work, signing autographs and meeting people all across the nation. She even met Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton.

“I dated him all through my reign as Miss USA and he was a lot of fun. He was crazy. We would get in an elevator and he would look the other direction so when people got in they would be confused about where the door was going to get out… He just had a really funny sense of humor,” she said. “And he dumped me on my rump. It was very painful.”

After passing on the crown to the new titleholder, Amos-Britt found herself in California looking for a job in the spotlight.

“The first gig I got was on an old show called ‘Rip Tide.’ ” It was a detective show on Friday nights. I was a flight attendant. I sat there all day to do my little bit, and I walked away from that show and said, ‘never again.’ This is not what I want to do. I’m not interested in sitting around and doing a few lines.”

Amos-Britt then started studying broadcasting at the University of Southern California and went to an NBC affiliate in Sacramento where she worked her way up from the bottom on the research desk. After a layoff, she got a job as a news anchor for MovieTime, now the E! Channel.

After a year and a half, she left the news and entertainment industry to get married and become a full-time mother.

“I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything because of the life I’ve led and the opportunities I’ve had and the way I have absorbed everything like a sponge,” she said. “To be in the Oval Office with the president of the United States, to talk to ambassadors around the world, to be able to be a voice of a young woman in America; there is nothing that can replace that kind of experience.”