Frances Louise Parker (born April 16, 1968) is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Miss USA 1994 Miss USA 1994 was the 43rd Miss USA pageant, televised live from the South Padre Island Convention Centre on South Padre Island, Texas on February 11, 1994. At the conclusion of the final competition, Lu Parker of South Carolina was crowned by ou ...

winner,

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

advocate, and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

Early life

Born in

Anderson, South Carolina Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 28,106 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702. It is one of the prin ...

, Parker attended the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

, where she was a sister of

Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Delta Pi (), commonly known as ADPi (pronounced "ay-dee-pye"), is an International Panhellenic sorority founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. It is the oldest secret society for women. Alpha Delta Pi is a mem ...

and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and was later named Alumnus of the Year. She then went on to receive a Master of Arts in Education from

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

. After graduating, Parker taught English literature at North Charleston and Middleton High Schools. Lu has been presented with the

Order of the Palmetto The Order of the Palmetto is the highest civilian honor awarded by the Governor of South Carolina. It is awarded to South Carolinians who demonstrate extraordinary lifetime achievement, service and contributions of national or statewide significance ...

, the highest civilian honor given in the state of South Carolina, and has been recognized in the South Carolina Congressional Record twice as an outstanding South Carolinian. Her first television broadcasting job was for

WCSC-TV WCSC-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located in the West Ashley section of Charleston, and its transmitter is locate ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, where she was an education reporter and fill-in anchor.

Pageantry

After winning

Miss South Carolina USA The Miss South Carolina USA competition, previously known as Miss South Carolina Universe, is the pageant that selects the representative for the state South Carolina in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. The ...

, Parker competed at

. She came into the semi-finals in first place, having won all three preliminary competitions. After the semi-finals, she went into the Top 6 in second place. After the judges' question, she just made the cut in the final three in third place, eventually becoming the third South Carolinian to be crowned Miss USA. She continued on to compete in the 1994

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

Pageant in Manila, Philippines, where she placed among the top 6 finalists. In 2016, she was one of the judges at the

Miss Teen USA 2016 Miss Teen USA 2016 was the 34th Miss Teen USA pageant, was held at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 30, 2016. Katherine Haik of Louisiana crowned her successor Karlie Hay of Texas, at the end of the event. The pageant was webca ...

pageant, at The Venetian Theatre,

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Parker has authored a book on pageantry titled ''Catching the Crown: The Source for Pageant Competition''.

Career

Communications career

In San Antonio,

KABB KABB (channel 29) is a television station in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual NBC/The CW, CW affiliate WOAI-TV (ch ...

TV hired Parker to serve as a weekend anchor and reporter. Parker was promoted to main anchor in 2000. In February 2003, she became the host for "Great Day SA" at KENS 5, which is San Antonio's top-rated live entertainment morning show.

KTLA

In January 2005, she moved to Los Angeles to join Frank Buckley as co-anchor for

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

's "KTLA Prime News" on weekends. In 2007, Parker began to co-anchor the weekday "KTLA Morning News" at 5:00 A.M and 6:00 A.M. with

Cher Calvin Cher Calvin (born August 1, 1974) is a news presenter for KTLA television in Los Angeles. Biography Born Cherlynn Calvin on August 1, 1974, in New York City, she is the daughter of the former Filipino actor Roger Calvin. She graduated from the ...

. Parker has been the anchor for the 11am - 2pm and 3pm newscasts at KTLA since 2015. She has won multiple Emmy Awards for her work. Parker has made appearances on "

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles s ...

" and E! Entertainment Television. She has acted in some films and television shows, most often as a news anchor. In 2016, she partnered with Maria Shriver and KTLA creating an inspirational webshow titled The Path with Lu Parker.

Personal life

Parker began a relationship with

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary ...

, Mayor of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in March 2009. Her employer, KTLA, was reportedly unaware of this fact until May 2009. Parker reported several stories on Villaraigosa prior to publicly revealing her relationship with him. Villaraigosa and Parker split in May 2012.

Arrest at LAX

On November 2, 2016 Parker was arrested at

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

(LAX) after taking a pair of earbuds which did not belong to her from a TSA security checkpoint. The earbuds belonged to a Los Angeles Police Department detective who later placed Parker under private person's arrest, as she was not on-duty. Parker explained her actions by saying she was going to try and find the owner, but when she couldn't find the rightful owner she decided to board her flight with the earbuds still in her possession. Los Angeles World Airports police officers later boarded the flight before the door was closed and removed Parker from the plane. She was later booked and charged with theft. Parker later agreed to enter a diversion program with the Los Angeles city attorney's office which will allow her to avoid being convicted, pleading guilty or even having a criminal record. No charges were filed.

Animal advocacy

In 2010, Parker founded the Lu Parker project, whose stated mission is to "improve the lives of at-risk youth and homeless animals through direct service, education, and advocacy."

References

External links

Official Lu Parker websiteLu Parker Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Lu 1970 births American reporters and correspondents Schoolteachers from South Carolina American women educators College of Charleston alumni Teachers of English Journalists from South Carolina Living people Miss Universe 1994 contestants Miss USA 1994 delegates Miss USA winners People from Anderson, South Carolina Television anchors from Los Angeles American women television journalists 20th-century American people 21st-century American women