Tonight, Jennifer Berry, Miss America 2006, will wear her crown for the last time, as her 12-month reign comes to an end. Minutes before 7PM PST, she will crown her replacement; Miss America 2007. Luxe Life sat down with Jennifer for her final interview and in this exclusive, emotional and candid conversation she really spills some secrets of her year at the top.

Robin Leach: Tomorrow morning I am thinking that the only girl who is going to want to talk to you is the new Miss America and she is going to say HELP. So go back 12 months and tell us, who did you ask?

Jennifer Berry: I talked with a lot of the past Miss Americas. Deidre Downs, who crowned me; she was my best outlet for advice. You never know until you have lived it yourself. So I spoke with Deidre and Chantal Smith, who was Miss America 96 from Oklahoma, someone that I have known for a while and that is the best outlet because there are only 85 of us who have really gone through it. So you have to look at the ones who have been there done that.

RL: So, what will you tell the new Miss America tomorrow morning?

JB: I will tell her, you know, you are starting a new year that is going to be one of the most rewarding years of your life, but also one of the most challenging years, and one of the most exhausting years. This will be a year that will challenge you personally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. It will be something that you will grow from drastically. I will tell her to take it one day at a time and know that it is just one year and on the bad days find something that you can be grateful for.

RL: So, what is a bad day? When you have to wake up early and put in 12 hours?

JB: A bad day is that and like anybody else's bad day. You are tired, sick and had a stressful day prior to that and Miss America may have to make four speeches in one day and maybe you don't feel good. Those aren't the best days and I say that we are human just like anybody else and there are days when you don't want to be Miss America. You have to realize that is the role and the responsibility you took on for that year.

RL: What is Miss America when she isn't Miss America on a bad day? Does she stay in bed? Is she in sweats and no makeup or what?

JB: On the very few days that Miss America has off, I was always in my bed, pajamas hanging out by myself; just having that solitude is so important because the job is so social. You are always talking you are always meeting people. That alone time is so important just to maintain your sanity I think.

RL: So, how do you think you have changed now looking back 365 days. You were, as polished as you were, you were still naive. Did you grow up in many ways?

RL: Yeah. I grew up in various ways. I learned a lot more about myself. They always say that when you are by yourself you learn the most about yourself. When you are Miss America, you are constantly surrounded by people, but you are surrounded by people you don't know. I definitely learned that I had more patience than I thought I did. I had to grow through times that were challenges. I had to go through things that most 23 year olds don't have to go through and I see myself, not as a different person, but as a more developed person than I was a year ago. I was very fortunate I stayed healthy for the most part. There weren't any bad experiences, and I am grateful for that.

RL: So, home is Oklahoma.. How often did you get home in days?

JB: I think I got home about seven or eight times, but usually they were about for 24 hours. So there were only a few times that I was home for more than a couple of days and that was at Easter and at Christmas.

RL: So, romance, family, and everything goes on hold.

JB: Thank goodness for the Internet and the cell phone. I think back to Miss America 20 years ago and I think how did she keep communication with anybody? I mean that must have been so difficult because we are so reliant as a society on the Internet and on cell phones and that is really how I stayed in touch with friends and family, and with my now fiance. That is really how we maintained our relationships. I got engaged in September. That was just good timing for us. I had told him that I wanted to really be able to plan out wedding and enjoy that and Miss America was out top priority, during that year that is your first obligation. You have to focus on that as a titleholder. So I knew that if I was engaged it would be hard to make Miss America my first priority.

RL: So how did you keep that alive for 12 months?

JB: I have a good man, Nathan Gooden. He is very understanding. It takes a strong man to be with a woman who is in a different state every day. To me he is Mr. America, but we had a great foundation for our relationship and it came from being apart and our communication foundation was just so strong. He is originally from Kansas, but he lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Nathan is a senior VP of corporate development of a cellular technology company that he actually started with Ryan Worstch, who is Chantal Smith's husband, the Miss America from 96.


RL: Amazing. Small world. Let's go back to the moment, five minutes before the end of the show last year and you are cut down to the final 10, the final five, the final two. Do your knees buckle? Do you shake with butterflies? What is that emotion like when you go into this suspended state of disbelief?

JB: It is. The atmosphere of the whole night is so intense you know with the audience, with the contestants. Te anxiety is so high. I have been competing for five years I am used to being on stage and performing, but when it comes down to that moment, it is a culmination of all the hard work and five years. Oh my goodness I was trying not to fall over the whole night. I was so nervous and anxious and there is no time to slow down. It is a TV broadcast and it is minute by minute.

RL: So, now we go to 75 minutes before the end of tonight's show and suddenly, no disrespect, you become a former Miss America. It is all over. How does that make you feel? Is there a great sense of relief that sweeps over you?

JB: The great thing about Miss America is that once a Miss America, always a Miss America. You are a former, but you are known as a Miss America the rest of you life. There is a sense of relief because it's an incredibly hard year. It is incredibly difficult, but I am thrilled to pass that on to another young woman. It will be nice to go back to some sense of normalcy. I am not going to be sad to leave the two suitcases behind and go back to normal life.

RL: So, was your life in two suitcases? Are you the world's best packer?

JB: I don't think so. I still don't have it down. I still get to the airport with my bags overweight. But yeah you do live out of 2 suitcases, from hotel to hotel. There is no home base; there is nothing that even feels like home.

RL: So there is a loneliness of the long distance roadrunner?

JB: It is lonely. You know the phrase; it is lonely at the top that is very true. It can be a lonely job. You are with a travel companion, you are going through it together, but you are still away from friends and the people you know. You are surrounded by people, but you don't know anybody and that is why maintaining relationships is so important.

RL: So, how do you think the new Miss America will wake up on Tuesday morning? How did you wake up?

JB: You are in complete disbelief it takes months for it to sink in and I don't know if it has completely for me and I am about to give it up. When you grow up in admiration of Miss America and then it happens to you, it is a very hard thing to grasp.

RL: In a sense are you two people? Is it Jennifer that you know and then Miss America who you send out to work?

JB: A little bit. It is almost like there was no Miss America I was the one who wanted all of the autographs and so when it is yourself it is hard to comprehend and I know that is how the new Miss America will feel as well. I haven't changed in the simple parts of me. I still like to lay in bed and watch TV all day. I still like to eat macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly.


RL: Were you allowed to do that on the road?

JB: Oh yeah, if I could find it, but we were always at fancy dinners and those things. I am still the same girl that I was a year ago. I still don't get that I am Miss America.

RL: It is a hallowed title. Where do you go from here?

JB: I am liking that I made some great lasting relationships this year. I am going to continue the attention. I am going to be doing public speaking appearances, making yearlong relationships as the former Miss America. Those will continue, it will be at a much slower pace now I am going to get married late Spring. Life will change, and I am ready for that. I am going to continue working for the organization and doing anything I can do to help the new Miss America. I am going to continue working with MADD. I think this year we built a great new avenue for MADD and I was a 23-year-old national spokesperson and I hope to continue that.

RL: And just what happens to your crown?

JB: I keep the crown. They make a new crown. Each winner each year gets a new one, but you cannot wear it in public anymore,. You can only wear it around the house. I think will wear it when I am doing the dishes but It comes in a beautiful wooden box so I will find a special spot for it right on the mantelpiece so everyone can still see it. Its something I will remember for the rest of my life."

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