Vanessa Minnillo

November 09

Welcome, Vanessa

While living on a military base in the Phillipines, U.S. Air Force Aircrew member Vince and his Filipina wife Helen add daughter Vanessa to the family, which includes older adopted brother Vincent. They live in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan before settling down in Charleston, S.C. In 1983, Minnillo's parents separate, followed by a divorce in 1986 that moves Minnillo, Vincent and Helen to Florida and Las Vegas.

The War Abroad

Minnillo's mother eventually remarries and moves the kids to Turkey, where her new husband, a U.S. Air Force serviceman, is assigned. But when the Gulf War erupts in 1990, they are forced to evacuate and Minnillo moves back to Charleston to live with her father and his wife, Donna.

October

Miss S.C. Teen USA

As a junior in high school, Minnillo enters her first pageant. "I told her to go for it, but I didn't think she had a snowball's chance in you-know-what," father Vince tells hometown paper the Post and Courier. "She's a pretty kid, but the chances of winning those things are pretty slim." Minnillo takes her first crown as Miss South Carolina Teen USA 1997.

August 17

Miss Teen USA

Minnillo, 17, beats 50 contestants when she is crowned Miss Teen USA in Shreveport, La. She receives more than $150,000 in cash and prizes, and is also named Miss Congeniality by her peers. When asked, during the competition's Q&A section, if she would take a pill that would keep her young forever, Minnillo replies: "Yes. I'm having the time of my life and I'd like to remain this age forever."

Minnillo's Break into Showbiz

After moving to L.A. at 19, Minnillo swears that she will never work on a soap or be a host. But her first job is a recurring role on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful. That same year, Minnillo cohosts the pilot Top of the Pops, based on the UK's long-running live-music series, and becomes one of three finalists in E!'s competition to host the network's travel series, Wild On.

November

Jeter & Minnillo

Minnillo, 23, is photographed sitting courtside at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, 29. Although the pair keeps quiet about their on-and-off relationship, they stick it out for more than two years.