 Brook Mahealani Lee was crowned Miss Universe on May 16, 1997.
Of mixed Korean, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Hawaiian ancestry, Brook was crowned Miss Hawaii USA on her third try for the crown, then went on to win the Miss USA crown prior to winning the Miss Universe pageant. That year, the outgoing Miss Universe, Alicia Machado of Venezuela, was criticized by Donald Trump for gaining weight after winning the crown in 1996. It is said that Lee's answers to the judges' questions in both the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, both of which alluded to that controversy, greatly impressed the judges. In the Miss USA pageant, when asked about how she would handle weight gain, Lee said, "I would take a good hard look at myself, and I'd look from the inside out, and I would know that I'm the same girl that won the crown that day and it wouldn’t really matter what I look like on the outside because I won." Later, in the Miss Universe pageant, when asked what she would do if she didn't have to follow any rules, she replied, "I would eat everything in the whole world — twice!"
Lee attended the prestigious Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Chaminade University of Honolulu.
After her reign as Miss Universe, Lee has made several cameo appearances in movies and television shows, and has hosted numerous television shows in Asia and the United States. She played herself (Miss USA) on a hilarious episode of THE NANNY, hosted HAWAII SPORTS ADVENTURE for Espn, hosts TOP TEN BEACHES OF AMERICA for Travel Channel, host of CASTING SESSIONS for Fox Movie Channel, host of E! BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT MISS UNIVERSE on E! Entertainment Television and her current project is a regional television show known as PACIFIC FUSION, which focuses on Asian-American lifestyles.
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