Hannah Brown
Hannah Kelsey Brown (born September 24, 1994 in Tuscaloosa) is a former beauty pageant winner and a frequent participant on reality TV shows on the ABC network.
Brown is the daughter of Robert Walker Brown and Susanne Brown. She grew up in Tuscaloosa and Northport and graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School. While in school she was participated in the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society's Tuscaloosa Belles program. She was named first runner-up to the 2010 Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen, and was second runner-up the following year. She competed in the Miss Alabama pageant in 2013 as Miss Tuscaloosa.
She earned a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude from the the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences in 2017. She worked as an interior designer in Northport while resuming her pursuit of beauty pageant success. She did not place in the 2017 Miss Alabama USA contest, but returned the following year as "Miss West Alabama USA" and won the crown. As reigning Miss Alabama USA she promoted a platform of mental health awareness, citing her own struggles with depression and anxiety as factors in her hiatus from pageant competition.
Brown was crowned Miss Alabama USA in 2018. During 2019 she appeared as a contestant on "The Bachelor" starring Colton Underwood, and was then cast as the lead in season 23 of "The Bachelorette." That appearance culminated in her engagement to winner Jed Wyatt, but the engagement was called off because he was in an existing relationship. She and partner Alan Bersten were crowned the winners of season 28 of "Dancing with the Stars". She was named "The Competition Contestant of 2019" during the People's Choice Awards in November 2019.
In May 2020 Brown stirred controversy by performing DaBaby's song "Rockstar," which includes repeated racial slurs. She later posted a long apology and an explanation of her efforts to educate herself on the harms of casual racism. In 2021 she returned to television as the prize on the premiere of "The Celebrity Dating Game".
| Preceded by: Baylee Smith |
Miss Alabama USA 2017 |
Succeeded by: Hannah McMurphy |
References
- Taylor, Drew (January 2, 2018) "Northport native to represent Alabama in Miss USA beauty pageant" The Tuscaloosa News
- Flanagan, Ben (March 12, 2019) "Alabama's Hannah Brown is ABC's next 'Bachelorette'" The Birmingham News
- Colurso, Mary (November 11, 2019) "Hannah Brown says ‘Roll Tide!’ as she wins People’s Choice Award." The Birmingham News
- Colurso, Mary (May 17, 2020) "Hannah Brown says the N-word, apologizes after backlash." The Birmingham News
- "Hannah Brown" (June 15, 2021) Wikipedia - accessed June 22, 2021
- Flanagan, Ben (June 19, 2021) "Hannah Brown: ‘I struggle with depression’." The Birmingham News