Deborah Carthy-Deu of Puerto Rico was crowned by Yvonne Ryding of Sweden.

[2] This followed an unsuccessful attempt to host the Miss Universe 1984 pageant in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the previous year.

George Honchar, president of Miss Universe Inc., expressed disappointment at a lack of local support for the event, which cost the city $2 million.

[1] In April, 1985 the city of Miami requested that the Miss Universe organization insist that South Africa should not send a representative to pageant, due to the threat of demonstrations over her country's Apartheid policy.

[3] In mid May the nation announced that they would not send their titleholder, Andrea Steltzer, to the pageant because of fears for her safety.