It was neat to see Taylor Hansen, the 16-year-old figure phenom, getting plenty of screen time on The E! True Hollywood Story; Female Bodybuilders, on Wednesday night.
Obviously, the segment didn’t deal only with bodybuilders; former Team Universe champion Tracy Beckham also received a good amount of air time as Taylor’s trainer as they prepped for Taylor’s first ever contest–my NPC Junior Cal, held in June.
I got into the special 20 minutes after it began, but did see segments on the late Shelley Beattie, the former USA champion who gained fame as "Siren" on the original "American Gladiators", and the self-proclaimed "Muscle Goddess", Lauren Powers. I knew Shelley well and did a cover story on her in the early 1990s; Beattie, who suffered from depression, committed suicide in February, 2008, at 40 years of age.
From what I saw, it was a fairly positive, and "fair" piece all-around, which is unusual compared to the slanted media coverage on the industry; now, seeing that dude fly all the way in from New Zealand to have a "session" (non-sexual, the show claims), with the the irrepressible Powers might seem a bit weird to many folks but, as they say, to each his own.
Hansen, a 5′ 2 1/2", 102-pounder from Walnut Creek, California, won the Teen division in my show, and placed an impressive 5th out of 9 competitors in the "B" category. As I said to the crowd that night, this amazing young lady is Taylor made for success in the industry in the years to come. And, who would dare doubt the Swami?
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