It was you and me, God - Carole Gist opens up on homelessness before Miss USA history
Former Miss USA Carole Gist is opening up about one of the most difficult chapters of her life, revealing that she experienced homelessness as a teenager long before making history on the national pageant stage.
The 56-year-old, who became the first Black woman to win the Miss USA title in 1990, spoke candidly about her high school years during a television interview, sharing how family instability forced her to rely on herself at a young age.
Reflecting on life at home, Gist described a deeply challenging environment involving both of her parents.
She said there was a “dicey” situation between her mother and biological father, explaining that both struggled with substance abuse.
The emotional weight of that period was immense, especially as a teenager trying to make sense of what was happening around her.
“I had mixed emotions and hormones raging, and just probably a bad attitude about ... why can’t they take care of their kids?” she said.
Faced with that reality, Gist said she reached a turning point in her thinking.
“I just figured like, if they can’t do it, if my parents can’t do it, then it’s you and me, God. So I just did what I had to do to survive.”
For a period, survival meant living between temporary places and her car.
The Detroit native shared that she spent time “in and out” of her vehicle, sometimes staying overnight with friends after study sessions and at other times sleeping in the car herself.
“So sometimes I was couch surfing, so to speak, but the other times I was in my car,” she said.
Despite the hardship, Gist remained determined not to let her circumstances derail her future.
She found ways to maintain normalcy, even using school facilities early in the morning to freshen up before classes and activities.
“I would go into the school early… that’s when I would take a shower, brush my teeth and get ready if I had been staying in my car.”
What kept her focused, she explained, was a clear sense of purpose.
Her goals, keeping her grades strong, earning a scholarship, going to college and graduating debt-free, became what she described as “blinders” that helped her keep moving forward.
That discipline and resilience would later shape the path that led her into pageantry.
Gist revealed that seeing another titleholder, former Miss Michigan USA Anthonia Dotson, inspired her to enter the competition world.
That decision eventually changed her life.
After first winning at the state level, she went on to become not only the first woman from Michigan to win Miss USA, but also the first Black woman in the pageant’s history to claim the national crown.
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