Some context: Shandi Ren Finnessey (born June 9, 1978) is an American actress, model, TV host and beauty queen. She is best known for winning the Miss USA title, as Miss Missouri USA. She previously held the title of Miss Missouri 2002 and competed in Miss America, where she won a preliminary award. She placed as first runner-up at the Miss Universe 2004 competition.
Her parents are Patrick and Linda Finnessey. She has three brothers (Shane, Damion, and Paul), and her grandmothers' names are Mildred Finnessey and Fern Miller.  According to the press release issued at the time of her first public appearance as Miss USA on April 17, 2004 in New York City, she plays both the violin and piano. She also practices yoga, meditation and performs knitting and abstract painting. In 2003, she dated August Busch IV and has also dated Italo Zanzi. She is a Republican, and during her Miss USA reign, she attended the Commander-in-Chief's Ball at the Second inauguration of George W. Bush.  Her Miss USA press release also notes that she began her professional modelling career at the age of 6. She modeled with Ford Models in Chicago and Talent Plus in St. Louis. According to the Miss USA website at the time of her reign, her modelling experience included television commercials, runway modelling, newspaper and magazine ads as well as upscale fashion store experience. She claims to have once wrestled a greased pig. As of 2011, her parents still lived in the house that she grew up in Florissant.  In 2013, Finnessey became a contestant on Ready for Love where she competed for the attention of Ernesto Arguello. She won Arguello's heart on the show, but the relationship was short-lived in real life. Later that year, she posed nude for a PETA anti-fur campaign opposing the distribution of fur coats as prizes during beauty pageants. On September 24, 2014, Finnessey announced on Twitter that she became engaged to businessman Ben Higgins. They were married on July 11, 2015, according to another autobiographical tweet. Finnessey announced the June 10, 2016 home birth of her son Finn Arthur Higgins via Instagram.
Does she have a supportive family?
A: her parents still lived in the house that she grew up in Florissant.

Some context: Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 - 11 April 1890), often incorrectly called John Merrick, was an English man with very severe face and body deformities who was first exhibited at a freak show as the "Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital after he met Frederick Treves, subsequently becoming well known in London society. Merrick was born in Leicester, and began to develop abnormally during the first few years of his life: his skin appeared thick and lumpy, he developed enlarged lips, a bony lump grew on his forehead, one of his arms and both of his feet became enlarged and at some point during his childhood he fell and damaged his hip, resulting in permanent lameness. When he was 9, his mother died from bronchopneumonia, and his father soon remarried. Merrick left school at the age of 13 and had difficulty finding employment.
Merrick left school aged 13, which was usual for the time. His home-life was now "a perfect misery", and neither his father nor his stepmother demonstrated affection towards him. He ran away "two or three" times, but was brought back by his father each time. At 13, he found work rolling cigars in a factory, but after three years, his right hand deformity had worsened and he no longer had the dexterity required for the job. Now unemployed, he spent his days wandering the streets, looking for work and avoiding his stepmother's taunts.  Merrick was becoming a greater financial burden on his family, and eventually his father secured him a hawker's licence which enabled him to earn money selling items from the haberdashery shop, door to door. This endeavour was unsuccessful, since Merrick's facial deformities rendered his speech increasingly unintelligible and prospective customers reacted with horror to his physical appearance. Housewives refused to open doors for him and now people not only stared at him but began to follow him out of curiosity. Merrick failed to make enough money as a hawker to support himself. On returning home one day in 1877, he was severely beaten by his father and he left home for good.  Merrick was now homeless on the streets of Leicester. His uncle, a barber named Charles Merrick, heard of his nephew's situation, sought him out and offered him accommodation in his home. Merrick continued to hawk around Leicester for the next two years but his efforts to earn a living met with little more success than before. Eventually, his disfigurement drew such negative attention from members of the public that the Commissioners for Hackney Carriages withdrew his licence when it came up for renewal. With young children to provide for, Charles could no longer afford to support his nephew. In late December 1879, now 17 years old, Merrick entered the Leicester Union Workhouse.  Merrick became one of 1,180 residents in the workhouse. Joseph was given a classification to determine his place of accommodation. The class system determined which department or ward he would reside as well as the amounts of food he would receive. Joseph was classed as class one for able bodied males and females. On 22 March 1880, only 12 weeks after entering, Merrick signed himself out of the workhouse and spent two days looking for work. With no more success than before, he found himself with no option but to return to the workhouse. This time he stayed for four years. Around 1882, Merrick underwent surgery on his face. The protrusion from his mouth had grown to 8-9 inches and severely inhibited his speech and made it difficult to eat. He was operated on in the Workhouse Infirmary under the direction of Dr Clement Frederick Bryan and had a large part of the mass removed.
Did his first job involve his deformities?
A:
he found work rolling cigars in a factory,