NYC — Even before she was blinded by the lights of her rhinestone tiara and Manhattan, Tara Conner, Miss USA, loved the nightlife, former schoolmates in Kentucky told The Post.

“When we heard she’d won the title, everyone here was surprised, especially because of what she had been doing in high school,” said Jarred Harrell, 17.

He said that, like many teens in Russell Springs (pop. 2,399), Conner was known as a partier.

Her former boss at Brooke and Buc’s roadhouse restaurant said she also liked to hang with a fast crowd.

“These kids she hung around with, they get hold of OxyContin and paint thinners. It’s a small town, and they don’t got much to do,” the woman said.

But she insisted that Conner worked hard and was a pleasure to be around. Clubgoers here might agree. She has been spotted regularly whooping it up at Manhattan hot spots.

“She failed a drug test,” a source said. “She tested positive for cocaine.”

Pageant officials stress that Connor has not been stripped of her crown – yet. She is to be hauled up to Trump Tower for a meeting with her benefactor, Donald Trump, on Tuesday, sources said. From there, The Donald, who owns the pageant, will decide her fate.

“It’s very important to me to be very careful with our selection of Miss USA,” Trump said yesterday.