Rima Fakih is an American beauty pageant contestant, and winner of the 2010 Miss USA title. She represented the state of Michigan in the Miss USA 2010 pageant, having previously won the 2010 Miss Michigan USA competition.
A native of Lebanon, as a child Fakih moved to the United States with her family. As a Muslim and an Arab, she is reputed to be the first person of her nationality, ethnicity or religion to be named Miss USA. In 2008, she traveled back to Lebanon to compete in the Miss Lebanon Emigrant pageant, placing third.
Fakih won the Miss Michigan USA pageant on September 19, 2009 at the McMorran Place Theater Port Huron. In May 2010 she represented Michigan at the Miss USA 2010 pageant held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She won the Miss USA title on May 16, 2010, becoming the first Miss Michigan USA to win the national title since Kenya Moore in 1993.
Fakih is widely believed to be the first Lebanese American, the first Arab American and the first Muslim to win the Miss USA title; however, pageant officials stated their records are not detailed enough to confirm these claims.[14] The first Michigan delegate to win the Miss USA title, Carole Gist, became the first African-American Miss USA in 1990.
Following the Miss USA pageant, internet entertainment media directed attention to a website featuring a 2007 "Stripper 101" pole dancing contest sponsored by Detroit radio station WKQI and won by Fakih. WKQI said they had been contacted by representatives of the Miss Universe Organization, requesting additional photographs and information about the contest. The station expressed their support for Fakih, adding "the photos taken from our website are no more provocative than those on the Miss USA website." On May 18, Miss USA pageant representatives told ABC News they would proceed with their media tour starring Fakih. She was also an actress in an independent short film with sexual undertones titled Throbbing Justice.
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