Epilogue
Shortly after the first airing of this documentary, Shane and Michael's home was burned to the ground. Noone was present in the house that night.
After the loss of her mother Swan went to live with her father in Alaska with her brother Devon.Unfortunately, Swan's dad passed away from cancer in February 2005.Swan and Devon have now lost both their parents. It is unknown at this time if they will stay in Alaska and reside with their stepmother however this seems unlikely, since Robin's sister wanted custody of the kids 2 years ago when Robin died. Swan is now 9 years old and the memories of her pageant days with her mother are not sad ones.She is still in touch with many of her pageant friends.
Shane has now retired from pageants.He lives in the South with his new partner.They have adopted a baby daughter named Kingsley. Shane has no plan to get back in pageantry any time soon.
Michael is still involved in pageants.He now works on his own as a hair and make up artist, and photographer.
Leslie has retired from pageants when she was 10 years old.She is active in cheerleading and gymnastics.She lives with her father and her grandmother in Alabama.
Many of the children shown in the documentary are still involved in pageants. They are happy, well adjusted children who just happen to dress up on weekends.
In November 2004, Angie Payne, a 42 year old dressmaker, was killed in a fire. After helping her husband (who had just been through knee surgery), Angie went back into the burning house to make sure her daughter Rebekah, who was pregnant at the time, had escaped. She had, but Angie was not that lucky. Moms donated their time, children donated their toys, directors and vendors got together... Within a week of Angie's passing, the pageant community had raised over $15,000 to help Angie's family.
Don't judge a book on its cover, and dont judge an entire community on one documentary.