Michelle Renee Royer-Jefferson (born January 5, 1966) is an American television personality and beauty queen who won Miss USA 1987 and second runner-up to Miss Universe 1987.

Early life

Prior to competing in Miss Texas USA, Jefferson grew up in

Keller, Texas Keller is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to the 2020 census, the city's population is 45,776, making Keller the 71st most populated city in Texas. The most recent population estimate, as of Ju ...

, attended

Keller High School Keller High School is a public high school located in the city of Keller, Texas and is served by the Keller Independent School District. The school educates students in the majority of the city of Keller, western Southlake, northwestern Colleyv ...

where she was active in the high school band program, serving as drum major. She continued her education at

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is t ...

. She is the daughter of a salesman, who changed jobs frequently.

Pageantry

Miss USA

She won the title of

Miss Texas USA The Miss Texas USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state Texas in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. This pageant is part of the Miss USA Organization, owned by Texas native C ...

as the representative of

Keller Keller may refer to: People * Keller (surname) * Helen Keller * Keller Williams, jam-band musician * Keller E. Rockey Places India * Keller, Shopian United States * Keller, Georgia * Keller, Indiana * Keller, Texas * Keller, Virginia * Keller, W ...

in August 1986 and was crowned

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

in February 1987, becoming the third of five consecutive winners from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

during the 1980s.

Miss Universe

At the 1987

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, she placed first in the

preliminary Preliminary may refer to: * Preliminary internships * Preliminary English Test * Preliminary finals * Preliminary hearing * Preliminary Notice See also * Preliminary examination (disambiguation) {{disambig ...

competition, second in semifinal interview and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

in swimsuit and

evening gown An evening gown, evening dress or gown is a long dress usually worn at formal occasions. The drop ranges from ballerina (mid-calf to just above the ankles), tea (above the ankles), to full-length. Such gowns are typically worn with evening ...

, finishing second runner-up to

Cecilia Bolocco Cecilia Carolina Bolocco Fonck (born May 19, 1965) is a Chilean actress, TV host, and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universo Chile 1987 and Miss Universe 1987. Bolocco has worked as a journalist on the Spanish language edition of CNN, on ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Life after Miss USA

She is married to Donald "Banana Don" Jefferson, a morning on-air personality at country-formatted radio station

WITL-FM WITL-FM (100.7 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Lansing, Michigan, and serving Ingham, Eaton and Clinton Counties in Michigan. It first began broadcasting in 1961 (as WMRT-FM) alongside daytime only ...

in Lansing, Michigan. The pair met when she made a stop in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

during an appearance shortly after winning her Miss USA title, and joined her husband briefly as half of the morning show behind the microphone when he accepted a new job as morning on-air personality at adult contemporary-formatted

WSHH WSHH (99.7 FM) is a commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is the flagship of Renda Broadcasting and airs an adult contemporary radio format. From mid-November through December 25, WSHH switches to all Christmas mu ...

. They have two children together.

References

External links

Official Miss USA website - Past titleholders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royer, Michelle 1966 births Living people Miss Universe 1987 contestants Miss USA winners People from Keller, Texas Texas Wesleyan University alumni