Young surfer takes the spotlight after shark attack

KILAUEA, Hawaii -- There's talk of a reality show and a clothing line, speaking appearances and a book -- a lot of attention for a 13-year-old girl who's never recorded a song or rehearsed a script.

Bethany Hamilton was known for her surfing skills on Kauai's North Shore, but now tragedy has made her one of the most in-demand teenagers in the national media. On Oct. 31, while she was on her surf board just off shore, a shark attacked her, biting off her left arm. Fellow surfers got her to shore with a surf leash as a tourniquet.

Hamilton made her national debut with a series of interviews last week. In one of the first, she told The Associated Press she will surf again despite her loss. "I can't change it," she said. "That was God's plan for my life and I'm going to go with it."

She's off to a busy start.

Her TV debut came Friday, when she appeared on "Good Morning America," "20/20" and "Inside Edition."

More is to follow: appearances with talk show hosts Jay Leno, David Letterman and Geraldo Rivera, plus stories expected in newspapers and magazines.

Hamilton said she doesn't like interviews, but she added that some good can come out of her story. She talked about how she was told that two young girls "came to know the Lord" because of her demonstration of faith during tragedy.

Still, interviews enhance the young surfer's image, fueling the possibility of profit from other endeavors.

"The bigger the scale of the tragedy, the larger the amount of money," said Robert Smith, author of "How To Be Famous in 90 Days."

But Sally Stewart, a former reporter and author of "Media Training 101," a guide to dealing with the press, said "many people caught in tragedies don't make a penny."

"The biggest beneficiaries," said Stewart, "are the media themselves."

Michael Sands, a Los Angeles publicist, said the media is just giving in to consumer desires.

"The reader gets involved in the person's life," he said. "It is a quick movie in five minutes -- a soap opera with real high drama."

At the expansive, borrowed Kauai estate where Hamilton gave her first interviews last week, her father explained his family's decision to go public.

"We're not into this for the money," said Tom Hamilton. "But the opportunities are there and people want to know the story."

------

On the Net:

Bethany Hamilton: http://www.bethanyhamilton.com/