EXCLUSIVE: The utterly uplifting story of the Miss USA winner who overcame mother's 'messy' divorce to alcoholic father by working 12 hour waitress shifts to pay for college to get honors degree in finance (2024)

By Daniel Bates

Published: 18:25 GMT, 18 June 2013 | Updated: 23:28 GMT, 18 June 2013

With her tiara and her perfect smile and physique Erin Brady looked every inch the career beauty queen.

But MailOnline can reveal that to win this year’s Miss USA competition, is an utterly inspiring story of a young woman who overcame deep personal struggles to succeed.

Erin Brady, 25, moved out on her own at 18, took in her younger sister and worked split shifts as a waitress to put herself through a finance degree which she graduated with honors.

She also had to cope with an alcoholic father who went through a ‘messy’ divorce from her mother when she was young.

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His descent reached its nadir when he trashed the home of a girlfriend and spent three months in jail for breaching an order not to go near her.

Relatives told MailOnline that Erin is an ‘inspiration’ who has ‘always been the big sister’ to her two younger siblings - and ensured none of them go down the same path as their father.

Erin was crowned Miss USA on Sunday at the annual pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

She had previously won Miss Connecticut 2013 which gave her a spot in the pageant - but only entered her first beauty contest last year.

She waited until then because, in her own words, she wasn’t ‘in the right state of mind’ to do so.

Erin has in previous interviews glossed over her troubled past. She admitted that her family has seen its share of alcohol and substance abuse, and that it has been a ‘struggle but it shaped who I am’.

She has said: ‘Sometimes I feel like a 35-year-old in a 25-year-old body but the struggles helped me be better.’

The truth is more extraordinary and courageous than that - far more remarkable than her humility suggests.

Erin’s early days were spent in Portland, Connecticut and she was the eldest of two sisters. Lauren is now 23 and Audrey is now 21.

Their parents Francis, 54, a builder, divorced their mother Judith Krauth, 53, when Erin was around eight and all the girls lived with their mother.

Family friends told MailOnline that even back then Francis’ drinking was a problem.He has two convictions for drunk and disorderly, a misdemeanour offence, from 2000 and 2001.

For the second instance he was ordered to attend a 26 week ‘Family Violence’ course, and though no other details are available as the court records have been destroyed it would appear to relative to his own family.

Despite this - or perhaps because of it - Erin showed incredible drive and commitment to better herself.

She attended Portland High School, graduating in the 2005 class, where she was on the choir, a member of the National Honor Society and took part in the 4x800 relay race.

Erin was popular and was voted ‘Best Personality’ by her classmates and was crowned Prom Queen at the 2004 prom.

A note from her mother in the back of the yearbook reads: ‘Wherever your dreams take you, just know that I love you and I am truly blessed to have you in my life.

‘You are a special gift and I will cherish you forever and a day’.

In her entry, Erin herself written a heartfelt note and told of how much she loves her two sisters.She also hinted at the solidarity that their shared troubles have given them and added: ‘It’s us 3 to the end’.

Erin also wrote to her mother: ‘We’ve been thought a lot but I couldn’t have done it without you’.

There is no mention at all of her father but her motto reads: 'Life is too good to feel bad'.

At 18 Erin moved out and struck out on her own, working split shifts at Max Amore restaurant in Glastonbury, Connecticut where she relied on tips during her 12 hour shifts at night and in the day to pay for her books and tuition fees.

She also took out student loans to make sure she got through college which she is still paying off today.

Her paternal grandmother Theresa Brady, 75, who family members say was a mentor to her, said: ‘She has always been very mature for her age. She’s a born leader.

‘She moved out on her own at 18 and paid for herself to go through college. She lived with a girlfriend initially but after a few years Lauren joined her and they got an apartment together.

‘Erin has always watched out for her sisters. She was a real big sister to them, she stepped up to that role and made sure they didn’t get involved with drink or drugs or anything like that.

‘I don’t know where she gets the will to succeed like that - she has always been that way. Getting on the school honor roll was not enough for her, she had to be on the high honor roll too.

Erin and Lauren first lived in a modest apartment in New Britain then they moved to Middletown and she commuted to Central University in New Britain where she eventually graduated with honors in finance and a minor in criminal justice.

She later got a job as a financial accountant with Prudential has been living in South Glastonbury.

Her family life, however, has always been an issue and her father’s alcoholism was never far from her mind.

Francis and ex-girlfriend Theresa Labbadia dated for two years until 2009 until what she called his ‘drinking problem’ came between them.

Miss Labbadia said: ‘When we were together Frank (Francis) was trying really hard to put his relationship back together with his daughters.

‘I think his mother was helping him out a lot. I think what happened between us was a wake-up call and I hope he is doing better now’.

A former friend however said that Miss Labbadia was ‘blindsided’ when Francis snapped one day when they were snowed in one winter at the house they shared together in Middletown.

Until then there was no sign that he could behave in such a fashion.

In a drunken rage Francis trashed Miss Labbadia’s house when he could not get out and, appalled at his violent behavior, she broke up with him.

Worse was to come - Miss Labbadia took out a prevention order against Francis which he broke in May 2009 when he surprised her on the street in Middletown.According to a police report from the time, he ‘started yelling at her’ outside a liquor store.

He also blocked the car of the friend who had driven her there and shouted at her some more.

Francis denied violating the protective order but was found guilty. He was also charged with third degree stalking but the charge appears to have been dropped as he was not put on trial for it.

He could have been jailed for up to two years for the felony offence but only got 60 days, of which he served around half.

Whatever happened in the past, Erin has broken the back of her early struggles and her future could nothing but bright - winning the crown will bring opportunities galore and she also gets the use of an apartment in New York for a year. But the rewards are not just financial.

Both her mother and her father and her sister Lauren were in Las Vegas to see her win Miss USA, suggesting they have put their differences aside for the moment.

She is also engaged to fiance Tony Capasso who her relatives say dotes on her and is deeply in love.

Erin herself has said that she wants to use the platform of winning Miss USA to raise awareness for charities which help children of alcoholics.

She has said: ‘I grew up in a family influenced by that and I think it’s really important to help the children of families that are suffering from those problems’.

As her grandmother said, she's a leader to the end.