Right to reign

• By EMILY KERN HEBERT
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 3, 2008 - Page: 1E - UPDATED: 12:35 a.m.

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The 24-year-old woman who will represent Louisiana in the Miss USA contest already has shown she can overcome adversity and land on top.

Michelle Berthelot, a St. Bernard Parish native now living in Hammond, will compete April 11 in the 2008 Miss USA competition with delegates from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“It’s going to be — whether I come out first or last — one of the best experiences of my life,” Berthelot said. “I hope everyone will watch and I hope I can make them proud.”

Berthelot arrived in Las Vegas March 25 to spend more than two weeks with the other contestants getting ready for the live television broadcast. The pageant will be broadcast from the Theatre for the Performing Arts at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Each contestant will be judged in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview.

Life wasn’t always so glamorous for Berthelot, however.

After Hurricane Katrina wiped out her family’s St. Bernard Parish home, nine adults, two babies and four dogs took shelter at Berthelot’s college apartment.

She was a student at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond at the time, Berthelot said.

The living arrangement lasted four months and her family finally was able to find a house in Hammond two weeks before Christmas in 2005.

“Christmas was interesting,” Berthelot jokes now. “Shower curtains hung on the windows.”

“It worked though,” she said. “We made it through.”

Since Katrina, Berthelot has worked with the charity Dellucci’s Dream Foundation, founded by David Dellucci, outfielder for the Cleveland Indians.

The foundation is helping rebuild parks and recreation facilities in the New Orleans area.