Short Biography

She was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Her mother, María Martínez, is a psychotherapist, real estate investor, and secretary, and her father Raymond Herring was a developer and organic farmer of German descent. The two divorced in 1971. Harring lived the first ten years of her life in Mexico, before her family relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Caught by stray fire from a driveby shooting at age 12, Harring suffered a bullet wound to the head. At age 16, she convinced her family to let her study in Switzerland at one of the top schools, Aiglon College. She eventually returned to America, settling down in El Paso, Texas and entered the world of beauty pageants. She won the title of Miss El Paso USA, and soon after, Miss Texas USA. In 1985 she became the first Hispanic to win the Miss USA crown. She is the first of Texas Aces. She went on to make the top 10 at the Miss Universe 1985 pageant.

Harring spent the next year traveling through Asia, exploring Europe and working as a social worker in India. It was in Europe that she was introduced to the world of nobility and, in 1987, she married Count Carl-Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen, great-great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck. While she retains the title of Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen, the couple divorced in 1989 but still remain friends. Harring studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts and is skilled in the Italian style of Commedia dell`arte, as well as in most of the Latin dances, including the Argentine Tango.

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