Anyone remember the "Mess USA" scandal?  Back in 2006, Tara Conner was caught drinking, using cocaine, and kissing Miss Teen USA at a nightclub in Manhattan -- not exactly the type of behavior you want in a Miss USA. Though many people wanted to see the crown yanked off her beautiful blonde head, Donald Trump had a press conference and made a surprising announcement.

He was not going to dethrone the young lady, but only on the condition she enter rehab. She did. And now, she's speaking out in gratitude for the man who is now President of the United States. In USA Today, she wrote:

I was 20 in 2006 when I was crowned Miss USA. Few people knew my name and my “Miss USA story." Later that year, millions knew my name because of my real story, the story I didn’t want shared. I became famous as “Mess USA” when my boss — now the president of the United States — tossed me into rehab after I tested positive for cocaine. Rather than strip me of my crown or add to the negative press with a humiliation campaign, Donald Trump surprised me, and shocked the world, when he held a news conference and declared: “Tara is going to be given a second chance.”

This is a nice bit of news, after the media exhaustively covered complaints from former pageant participants back when Trump was campaigning. But count Conner as one of Trump's admirers.

"My boss set an example for employers to help folks who, like me, would not have been able to otherwise afford treatment or even know how and where to look for help," she said, commending the President for his recent mention during his Congressional speech of expanding treatment opportunities for those who struggle with addiction. 

"It was 10 years ago that I got out of treatment, and I thank him for my 10 years of recovery," she wrote. "I will always be profoundly grateful. He saved my life and, essentially, made me great again."