Born on January 5, 1966 in an urban district of Santurce in San Juan, Deborah Fátima Carthy-Deu became the second Puerto Rican to win the prestigious Miss Universe 1985. On July 15, 1985 at the Knight Center in Miami at the Florida State, Puerto Rico left another mark in beauty history by bringing home the Miss Universe crown.

Débora is the daughter of Ramón Carthy Sánchez and Vicky Sanz Deu. Her father is of white Irish and Puerto Rican descent and is a professional photographer and director, while her mother works as a modeling and ballet academy director at the Academy of Ballet and Modeling. She attended a Catholic school for her primary education and attended Commonwealth High School for her secondary education.

At the young age of thirteen, Deborah spent the summer taking dance classes in New York City in the United States. At thirteen, she too auditioned for and was accepted as a member of the Concert Ballet, a dance and theater company.

In her university days, she was crowned Miss San Juan 1985. The same year, on April 27, 1985, she won the title of Miss Puerto Rico, a title that made her the official representative of Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe 1985 pageant. On July 15, 1985, she won the Miss Universe crown in Miami, Florida, making her the second in her country to win the crown after fifteen years. The first Miss Universe title she won was in 1970 by Marisol Malaret. In fact, with the contributions of Deborah Fátima Carthy-Deu, she gave Puerto Rico a lot of pride.