Miss America Mallory Hytes Hagan has a problem: The blond beauty is locked out of her friend’s house in Coney Island after taking out the trash. As the current crown-holder has learned over the past year, the job of being America’s sweetheart is often far from glamorous.
“There is no such thing as a typical day — every day is different, and that’s what’s so crazy about the job,” the 24-year-old tells The Post after shouting for a neighbor who has keys to let her back into her buddy’s house.
The rare visit to Brooklyn, where she lived before becoming the first Miss New York to snag the title since Vanessa Williams in 1984, is a pit stop for Hagan, who lands in a different city every 48 hours.
The day before, she filmed a commercial in Salt Lake City, and she was recently in Kansas and Georgia before landing in Atlantic City last week ahead of next Sunday’s pageant. The Alabama native has logged about 20,000 miles each month over the last year and says being a “nomad” is the toughest part of the job.
All that traveling has made keeping a bikini-perfect body nearly impossible — as the press noted when she was photographed frolicking in Hawaii in a bathing suit just one month after the pageant.
“Living out of airports and using hotel gyms isn’t ideal for maintaining a fitness regime and the swimsuit body you had when you were working out twice a day,” she responded.
“I looked for fruit and drank lots of water,” she tells The Post about eating on the go, adding that she generally tries to eat before getting to the airport but, in a pinch, occasionally picks up prepackaged salads.
Exercising on the road was also a challenge — but she stayed fit by running and packing the “Fast Fitness” DVD for workouts in her hotel room.
“I’ve always had a good self-esteem, so I took it with a grain of salt,” she adds.
The discussion about her looks even inspired her to blog about her daily diet and exercise regimen so young women could understand the importance of healthy eating habits.
“A lot of girls look up to Miss America, and I don’t want them to think we spend our days eating salad and grilled chicken,” she says. “Your life goes back to normal and you aren’t focused on working out all the time.”
Hagan prefers to spend time raising awareness for her signature issue — child sex abuse — while juggling appearances. She also appreciates the powerful platform she has when discussing controversial issues.
“Not many people have an opportunity to reach a large audience,” she says. “It comes with a lot of responsibility.”
In fact, Hagan has so cherished the spotlight that she’s switched her career plans from pursuing a degree in cosmetic marketing to working toward a future on TV.
“If I could do anything, I’d do something like Kelly Ripa,” she says. “The energy is fun and it feels like a comfortable space for me to be in.”
Before she does anything, she plans to “chill out” with her parents in Alabama for two weeks after passing the torch to the new winner. Then it’s off to meet with talent agencies in Los Angeles before she returns to the Fashion Institute of Technology in January.
Despite the buzz around her love life — she and her banker boyfriend Charmel Maynard recently broke up — she won’t be looking for a new beau anytime soon: She, like many regular women her age, wants to throw herself into her job.
“Dating sometimes steers you in a different direction, and I want to stay on the path I’m on,” she says.
She adds that her travel schedule places a strain on her dating life.
“It’s difficult,” she admits. “It would challenge any relationship, but I’m a firm believer everything happens for a reason.”