I've reinvented myself many times in my life. I thought I'd become a concert violinist but burned out at 17. I thought I'd go to law school but became Miss America.

When people watch me on TV, they see part of my life. I wanted to let them know the real me behind the scenes. The child who was a concert violinist from the age of six. The young woman who took on the challenge to compete in the Miss America pageant. The television journalist for twenty-five years.

I didn't know at all I wanted to do TV. I thought I might go to law school. I might want to become a history professor.

She is so hurt and outraged. Her whole life has been turned upside down because of this. Law school is hard enough, but local and regional newspapers and radio stations have demoralized her.

My parents raised me with a never-give-up attitude, telling me I could be anything I wanted to be. I was a serious violinist and a valedictorian of my high school class. I knew all about hard work.

There was a small point in my life in law school, right before I moved to Newark, when I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I felt so lost.