Cape Town - Tamaryn Green may wear the Miss South Africa crown, but to her doting dad, David, she’ll always be his little princess.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for the Green household since 23-year-old Tamaryn was crowned Miss SA on May 27, an accolade that’s seen her relocate to Joburg and away from her close-knit family.
But this week the Paarl beauty returned to the Mother City for a short stint, just in time for Father’s Day.
Weekend Argus chatted to the father and daughter duo about their close bond and how they’ve both been coping with Tamaryn’s newfound fame.
“Something told her that this was the year she should take part,” said a beaming David of his now-famous daughter, even though he had initially wanted his middle child to finish her medical studies before entering Miss SA. “We had always planned to do this next year so that she could first finish her studies.
“We went to the regional event this year just to see what was expected of her,” said David.
While it’s understandable for a dad to be overprotective of his child when she’s now the most beautiful woman in the land, David said he has always been supportive of Tamaryn’s beauty queen ambitions.
“I took her to her first pageant and she did very well and came second. I asked her in the car if she was disappointed, and she told me it wasn’t about winning it was about taking part.
“I knew then that I would be driving her to pageants all year long,” laughed David.
“She always thinks of others. When she won Funky Buddha there was a R10 000 prize and she gave it to me to contribute to her studies,” David said.
However, he remains insistent that despite the fame and accolades which await Tamaryn this year, the sixth year medical student at UCT will eventually complete her degree.
“She must finish. She’s never been one to leave something incomplete,” he said.
The doting father of three said while he never plays favourites with his kids, Tamaryn has been receiving most of his attention of late.
Her 26-year-old sister Lauren is a qualified physiotherapist, while her 19-year-old brother Dawson is a second year BA student.
Father’s Day has always had a set formula in the Green household.
“We would go to church then visit my grandparents and maybe my uncles. There was always lunch after that,” Tamaryn said.
This year the family will celebrate the day at a special luncheon at the Table Bay Hotel.
She’s quick to admit that buying presents for Father’s Day has always been a challenge: “We have to be creative because everything that you could buy for him he’d already have.”
Her most poignant memory of her dad, she says, is also her earliest memory of him.
“We had this little blue bible that had the Our Father prayer in it and I don’t know if he read from it but I remember he would always come into the bedroom at night, and we would say it together.
“That’s something that’s really stuck in my mind,” she said.
In the coming weeks, she will meet with Miss SA organisers to devise a plan for what she would like to achieve during her reign.
“Right now I want to do what I can as Miss SA and then go back next year to become a doctor.
“If I win Miss Universe that would be another year out but I am mentally preparing,” she said.
And she’ll continue to have dad, David, cheering her on.