6-Year-Old Beauty Queen Eden Wood Retires
She's "following in the footsteps of Oprah," mother says.
July 13, 2011 -- At just 6-years-old, Eden Wood is a pioneer of the pageant world with 300 wins, but she is hanging up her crown, at least for now, and just made her final appearance on the hit show "Toddlers and Tiaras."
"I think she's following in the footsteps of some pretty big people who have done pageants, like Oprah Winfrey," said Micki Wood, Eden's mom.
But Eden and her manager-mother aren't finished with show business, they're just trading in pageants for a bigger piece of the pie, hoping to build a mini Eden empire, from the Eden Wood Princess Canopy Bed Collection to her own showgirl action figure to a memoir, "From Cradle to Crown." All of this is from a girl who hasn't even learned cursive yet.
But her mother says she's not teaching Eden that what's important in life is to be famous.
PHOTOS: Eden Wood's Pageant History
"No, because so much of her life has nothing to do with that," Wood said. "As long as she enjoys what we're doing, Mama's going to keep doing it. If it leads to the Miley Cyrus status or Selena Gomez, so be it. If it doesn't, that's fine, too."
"I would like to think that Micki and I have created a manual that people would want to emulate in the future," said Heather Ryan, Eden's agent. "It's like nothing else anybody has ever done. So I hope that we haven't messed it up so much that people go, 'Oh my gosh, I would love to do that for my child.' It's astounding how far she's come in such little time."
Eden did a Midwest mall tour, "Eden Wood and the Glamour Girls," a variety show with her former competitors, pageant queens Jasmine Webb and Dianely Noesi. The tour is a chance for Eden to perform new songs off her upcoming album after making almost $1,000 from her first single, "Cutie Patootie."
Eden performed "Cutie Patootie" live on the CBS talk show "The Talk," and received glares from the show's hosts.
"I couldn't believe the disgust and the disdain," Wood said. "If you want to attack someone, attack me. I am a big girl, I can handle it."
When ABC News asked Wood what she would say if she could speak directly to Sharon Osborne, Wood responded, "What's up Sharon? Come on, you have a performance family. Come on, my kid's no different."
Wood retaliated with a song directed at Osborne called "Underpuppy."
But Osborne seems like a puppy after seeing some of the comments Eden has received on her Facebook page, which include death threats over an upcoming appearance in Australia.
"Go shoot yourself now," one person wrote.
"We don't want your type of American trash here," wrote another.
"It's not any different from a lot of the controversy over here, it's just so new to them and it's shocking. They pick the most sensational parts of 'Toddlers and Tiaras,'" Wood said.
Eden has been working hard, and her mother admits that at times it is too much for a little girl.
"I think this is too much for a child this young," Wood said. "If I push her too hard, I will destroy my child."
But does Wood think all of her pushing will have paid off if Eden makes it big?
"Why not see if we can't have a Hollywood contract, a reality show, a spot on a Disney program. It's the American dream. It's her destiny," Wood said.