Shandi Finnessey - Personal

Personal

"I conquered a fear of heights and water by bungee jumping from a crane over a lake. And if that's not crazy enough, I also wrestled a greased pig in a mud pit."

Her parents made her name up. Her parents are Patrick and Linda Finnessey. She has three brothers (Shane, Damion and Paul) and her grandmothers' names are Mildred Finnessey and Fern Miller. In high school, she had a mullet, tinted glasses, acne and braces, and was teased a lot. Eventually, the verbal bullying escalated to the point that she had to transfer from public school to an all-girls private school. She graduated from Incarnate Word Academy in 1996.

According to the press release issued at the time of her first public appearance as Miss USA on April 17, 2004 in New York City, she has earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. It also notes that she plays both the violin and piano. She also practices yoga, meditation and performs knitting and abstract painting. In 2003, she dated August Busch IV and has also dated Italo Zanzi. She is a Republican, and during her Miss USA reign she attended the The Commander-in-Chief's Ball at the Second inauguration of George W. Bush.

Her Miss USA press release also notes that she began her professional modelling career at the age of 6. She modeled with Ford Models in Chicago and Talent Plus in St. Louis. According the Miss USA website at the time of her reign, her modelling experience included television commercials, runway modelling, newspaper and magazine ads as well as upscale fashion store experience. She claims to have once wrestled a greased pig. As of 2011, her parents still lived in the house that she grew up in in Florissant.