No one will ever forget the gobbly gook answer Miss Teen South Carolina Caitlin Upton gave when Friday Night Lights" Aimee Teegarden asked why a percentage of Americans couldn"t locate our country on a world map.
"I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed," Upton told New York Magazine in a Where Are They Now-type series on past internet sensations.
"I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide. The fact that I have such an amazing family and friends, it really, really helped."
Upton got a little upset talking about the incident, in which she nervously rambled for 30 seconds.
"This is the first time I’ve actually been able to talk about it. It was awful, and it was every single day for a good two years.
"I’ve only spoken to my fiancé about how I felt in those moments truthfully, and my best friend. And, recently, my mom. But, like, my dad doesn’t even know yet.
People were awful to Upton after the flub.
"I lost a lot of close friends over it — people I’d been friends with since I was 10, people I grew up playing soccer with," Upton, who is now engaged and works as a model, admitted.
"One group of girls took me to this party at the University of South Carolina, and I walk in, and the entire USC baseball team surrounded me and bashed me with the harshest, meanest comments I had ever heard."
Others would leave threatening letters in Upton"s parents" mailbox; one even read "GO DIE CAITE UPTON, GO DIE FOR YOUR STUPIDITY."
Though she"s not fully over her 15 minutes of infamy, Upton is thankful for another model who shares the same name.
"The past few years, going brunette, I have not had any recognition for the Miss Teen USA Pageant at all," Upton said. "But I also get recognized for having a similar name to Kate Upton. So I’ll go into my auditions and be like, "Yes, yes, I know — I’m the other one.""
I still feel SO BAD for this girl.
