Kerry Anne Wells (born 25 September 1951 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

) is an Australian fashion designer, writer, commentator, news anchor and

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

who was crowned Miss Universe 1972. The 1972 pageant was the first to take place outside the continental United States. That year, it was held in

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. Wells was not crowned by her predecessor,

Georgina Rizk Georgina Rizk ( ar, جورجينا رزق, Jūrjīnā Rizq, born 23 July 1953) is a Lebanese model, socialite, and beauty queen. She represented Lebanon at the Miss Universe pageant and won, making her the first Lebanese and Middle Eastern/ West ...

because Rizk was not able to travel to

due to government restrictions because of fears of a terrorist attacks after a group of Japanese hired by Arab terrorists, attacked the international airport in Tel Aviv and killed twenty-two Puerto Rican tourists. For that reason Wells was crowned by Miss Universe 1970, Marisol Malaret of

. Her crowning moment was not shown on television because of a strike threat among pageant electricians. The screen blacked out as her name was announced as the new Miss Universe. After her reign, she pursued working as a news anchor. Prior to entering the pageants, she worked as a weather girl. Wells's Miss Universe victory came in a year that Australian women also won the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss In ...

crown, the Miss Asia Pacific title, and placed second in

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

. This record was broken by India in the year 2000 where 4 beauty queens,

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta (born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and the winner of the Miss Universe 2000 pageant. She was previously crowned as Miss Intercontinental 1997. In her career, she has primarily worked in Hindi films. She is the ...

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...

Dia Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress, producer, and social worker who predominantly works in Hindi films. Mirza won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Mis ...

and

Aditi Gowitrikar Aditi Govitrikar (born 21 May 1974) is an Indian actress, physician and former model. She is the first Indian woman to win the Mrs. World title in 2001. From 1997 to 2004, Govitrikar remained the only Indian supermodel with both a medical docto ...

won

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 St ...

, Miss Asia Pacific and Mrs. World titles respectively. , Kerry Anne Wells is a successful fashion designer, writer and commentator who speaks out about positive realistic body image and self-esteem. She is involved with BodyThink, a healthy lifestyle program designed for Australian schools.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Kerry Anne 1951 births Australian beauty pageant winners Living people Miss Universe 1972 contestants Miss Universe winners People from Perth, Western Australia