Former Miss America, Marilyn Van Derbur, has been in personal contact with more sexual abuse survivors than anyone else in America. During the past 12 years, she has spoken in 225 cities. In "Miss America By Day: Lessons Learned from Ultimate Betrayals and Unconditional Love", Van Derbur shares the insights she has gained and the lessons she has learned through her correspondence with over 8,000 sexual abuse survivors and her personal conversations with tens of thousands of men and women, who often stood in line for two or three hours to talk with her after each presentation.

Anyone who knew Van Derbur as a child and young adult believed she had it all. Born into an affluent, prominent family, she was popular, an outstanding student and athlete. But beneath the surface, she suffered from panic attacks, unrelenting insomnia and excruciating body pain. No one could imagine that her father “incested” her from age five to age 18.

While a sophomore in college, her sorority sisters nominated her for Miss University of Colorado. Three months later, she was crowned Miss America.

Ignoring the sheer terror she felt at the prospect of speaking in front of others, Van Derbur choose motivational speaking as her career and, within a decade, was named “Outstanding Woman Speaker in America”. Believing people would look at her with disgust and disdain if they knew her secret, Van Derbur had an obsessive need to be successful and respected. As her life unfolded, she began to understand the complex ways in which her childhood trauma was driving her adult life. Through dogged persistence and gut-wrenching disclosures and confrontations, she began to heal the gaping wounds of her childhood.

When a newspaper reporter learned of her story, Van Derbur’s private shame became front-page news. When she landed on the cover of People magazine, there was national outpouring from survivors who turned to her for help and support. It became instantly clear that her new role was to help others who had suffered from rape and sexual abuse and to teach parents how to keep their children safe from predators.

"Miss America By Day" provides a message of hope after despair, of light after darkness. Equally importantly, it provides essential and practical guidance every parent and caregiver needs to know so that children in their charge are protected. 

The book can be purchased by calling 1-800-833-9327 or by sending $22.95 (plus $4.95 shipping and handling) to 
Oak Hill Ridge Press, 7150 Leetsdale Drive, 
#312, Denver, CO 80224, 
or online at www.MissAmericaByDay.com