██The Fall from Grace of Beauty Queens

[Qarlo]

In the life of beauty queens, the pressure of not jeopardizing their reputation is heavier than the crown they wore on their heads.The slightest mistake they make as they fumbled or as a single raunchy photo surfaces, the whole world knows about it right away. Others get away with it and others give up the crown. Either way, their reign is short-lived and it is only the reputation that they would need to keep until and after being involved in a scandal or two.

Over the years, there had been countless stories that have been accounted for and I have summarized some of these stories on this thread.


The beauty queens back then in the Caribbean especially in the seventies are pretty much expected to adhere to a social order of marriage first before pregnancy. It was when Miss World 1976 Cindy Breakspeare got pregnant to Damian Marley, the son of reggae superstar Bob Marley. The pregnancy incited rabid reporters in the media that the controversy spread throughout London where the Miss World Org was based. Former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley as an admirer of beauty queens declared there will no longer be illegitimate children but all babies born in Jamaica should be equal. Bob Marley’s relationship to Cindy did not hurt his career and later on, his son Damian becomes a reggae superstar like his father.


Just recently another Jamaican beauty queen Yendi Phillips, first runner up in Miss Universe 2010, gave birth to the son of Chino McGregor, the son of reggae icon Freddy McGregor. Her pregnancy out of wedlock again spurred controversy and the comments on the local social media where rather severe on her suggesting that her pregnancy should have been permitted first by a majority of approval from the church and state. The beauty queen then believed in free will to make choices on her own as she is already a grown woman.


In 2007, Sara Lawrence, Miss World Jamaica who placed sixth at the 2006 Miss World and Miss World Queen of Caribbean, also relinquished her title because of unwed pregnancy as pageant winners are expected to be positive role models for the youth of Jamaica.


The baby-mama drama does not end as Jamaica’s neighboring country Trinidad and Tobago had controversies surrounding their 2nd Miss Universe, Wendy Fitzwilliam. Many were disappointed when she announced pregnancy out of being single. She refrained from naming the father at first as her baby shares a father to the child of a former Miss World, Lisa Hanna. Wendy confessed having a distressing relationship with the child’s father and was talked about from one controversy to another in rancor to Lisa Hanna.

[Qarlo]

Angie Sanclemente Valencia was crowned Colombia’s Queen of Coffee in 2000 – a step away from Srta. Colombia which might have given her the chance to compete for Miss Universe until she was stripped off her title when it was found out she was temporarily married to a business man about 10 years her senior. It became a scandal in the local newspapers but Angie says she wasn’t completely aware of the rules of the pageant. For her, beauty pageant was a dream for young Colombian girls but little did she know that criminal elements possibly surround it. Drug lords to some extent, sponsor pageant contestants to avoid entanglement with authorities. She had to earn a living and became a model and got involved with the trade.

She married a man actively involved in drug trade. They used women, preferably models to be used as couriers to charm customs officials. Later on, their operations were caught by officials when one of their girls was entrapped and Angie was pointed out as the group's ringleader. Dubbed as the “Narco Queen” Angie is now behind bars which ended her rather luxurious life in the shadows of drug trade.



Tia Shorts, Miss Maryland 2004, pled guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2009 obstructing a drug deal investigation. Police found the ex-beauty queen with drugs, ammunition and cash. She was initially charged with drug possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. She accepted a plea offer resulting to lesser charges. Her brother, mother and boyfriend were also arrested. She went from modeling swimsuits at the Miss USA pageant to pleading guilty to her drug case involving smack & cocaine.

[Qarlo]

Tara Conner who was Miss USA 2006, was almost stripped off her title after hard partying up the New York City club scene. She was said to have been engaged openly using cocaine, having sessions of inappropriate kissing with Katie Blair - Miss Teen USA 2006, and also heavy drinking.

Tara & Katie
The media did not let this pass and was made to surefire controversy; Donald Trump, owner of Miss USA, decided to let Tara her keep her title after a public apology and for admitting herself to rehabilitation. She is now an ambassador for the rehab facility she was treated at in Caron Drug & Alcohol Treatment Centers in Pennsylvania. She also became a contestant in a country-singing competition and judged at the 2010 Miss USA pageant.



Kelli Mccarty might be one of the most celebrated wins in the Miss USA pageant as she won the Miss USA title in 1991 in her home state Kansas that also marked the first win of Kansas in the pageant’s history. She was a finalist in the Miss Universe Pageant. She became an actress and appeared on tv shows like Beverly Hills 90210, NBC’s Passions and Melrose Place and movies like The Stalker 2 and Polycarp. She made another buzz in 2009 as she stars in a hardcore adult film, Faithless which featured her in actual explicit sex scenes. Indeed every pornographer’s dream of having a beauty queen in everyone’s fantasies turned porn star. It is also said that she now has a porn site.

[Qarlo]

Carrie Prejean, Miss California 2009 stirred outrage when she opposed gay marriage in her final question and answer in the Miss USA pageant. The question was given by Perez Hilton, a well-known gay blogger who judged the Miss USA 2009 pageant. Amidst the controversy, topless photos of Carrie surfaced and was also sensationalized.

She was later on stripped off her Miss California title for reasons she had broken agreements on her contract. Prejean authored an inspirational book Still Standing which basically was all about the hate and political attacks she have encountered and gone through after airing her agenda in the Miss USA pageant. She is now married to the Oakland Raiders quarterback Kyle Boller and she gave birth to their baby Grace Christina.



You may want to think twice even if the check is written by a beauty queen. Mrs. New Jersey 2005, Heather Di Carlo was convicted writing a $70,000 in bad checks for an antique store back in 2007. She was sentenced to about a year imprisonment in 2009

[Qarlo]

Laura Zuniga, who was crowned Miss Hispanic America 2008, was arrested for drug trafficking and racketeering when she along with other friends were caught with a $35,000 cash and a cache of weapons. She is said to be a girlfriend of an influential Mexican drug lord. Zuniga was later on cleared of the case where she served 40 days in jail. She is now reportedly back in the runways of Mexico.




The 2008 Miss Teen USA Louisiana Lindsey Evans along with friends thought they can get away with a 46 dollar bill but Lindsey left her purse in the resto. Apparently, Lindsey wasn’t too bright in leaving her purse in the crime scene. She decided to go back and get her purse but as she returned, cops where already in the scene and she was arrested for theft. Making matters worse for the beauty queen, the cops did a search on her purse and found a bag of pot in it adding a charge of drug possession by Bossier City police along with her 3 friends. Evans later on posed for Playboy Magazine.

[Qarlo]

Ms. Puerto Rico 1994, Brenda Robles was removed of her title for being pregnant just before passing the crown to the now pageant director of Miss Puerto Rico, Desiree Lowry. In 2005, she spent time in jail for shoplifting clothes in the Universal Island of Adventure store in Orlando, Florida. She was sentenced to pay a $500 fine and serve 75 hours of community service after being guilty of 3rd degree grand theft. Robles was caught with a friend and they were arrested after an officer saw them hiding shop clothes in their stroller after removing it from the hangers.



Mary Leona Gage was Miss USA 1957. She is supposed to be the only woman to have captured the title for her state Maryland. After winning the Miss USA on 1957, rumors circulated that she is already married with children. She later confessed admitting the truth. Not only that she lied about her marital status but also her age. She said she was 18 when she is already 21 years old that time. She got married at 14 and had 2 children. Her mother and mother-in-law confirmed this to reporters. She admits to have lied in order to bag the title to support her family with the winnings. She returned the crown and the prizes and it was given to Charlotte Sheffield of Utah her first runner up. It was already too late though for Charlotte to participate in Miss Universe that year, since Gage already competed during the preliminary competition of Miss Universe and was already included in the top 15 semifinalist. Monica Lamas of Argentina, who placed the 16th spot replaced Gage as semifinalist in Miss Universe. After the scandal, she got married five more times and even became a show girl in Vegas.

Charlotte Sheffield cries after an emotional confession by Mary Gage before turning over the crown to her.

[Qarlo]

Apart from the pole dancing pictures that surfaced after she won Miss USA in 2010, Rima Fakih got herself into another controversy yet again. She got arrested in December last year because of drunk driving in Highland Park, Michigan. She was convicted for up to six months probation, 20 hours community service and a $600 fine in May of this year


A 16-year-old teen beauty queen Alicia Guastaferro was a break-out star on a reality tv show Wife Swap which embodied a character of a self-centered blond bimbo which everyone hated. In 2008, she was arrested for being an outright princess off the New York State prostitution strip. She was rather, very detailed in giving out details about her fabulous life as princess. During her reality tv stint, she provoked audiences with her lines "I do feel sorry for people that are not gorgeous people" and that she lived a life of Christmas year-round since her parents would shower her presents everyday just by being a wonderful and beautiful kid. Now what was known as a self-confessed pleasurable child on tv showered by gifts has now been pleasuring men for their money. Guastaferro was charged with prostitution, possession of controlled substance and criminal impersonation.

[Qarlo]

Vanessa Williams was crowned Miss America in 1983 but months after winning the title, Penthouse published her nude photos that were taken before she won Miss America. She resigned right away after the scandal but went on to having a successful recording career in the 90’s and an acting career until the present. She is a well-known star in the series Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives, apart from her countless ad campaigns and endorsements throughout the years.



Nicole Houde was a former Miss New Hampshire 2010, She attacked and bit her boyfriend and was charged with assault. The 26-year-old beauty queen had an argument with her boyfriend Scott Nickerson which turned violent when Nicole started punching, scratching, kicking and biting Nickerson. The argument started when Nicole accused her boyfriend of having an affair.

[Qarlo]

Peggy Sue Thomas competed as Miss Washington in the Miss U.S. Continental Pageant in Las Vegas back in 2000, was arrested in New Mexico in connection to the 2003 slaying of Russel Douglas – a mobile phone company manager, in Whidbey Island. Around 8 years after, Peggy was tracked down by the police due to evidence of having been involved in the murder of Douglas. She was taken in custody along with another chief suspect James Huden, a guitarist of the band Buck Naked and The Xhibitionists, who was then Peggy’s lover. Huden confided the murder of Douglas to someone which later on told the authorities about the murder involving the two. Peggy was said to have helped Huden in murdering the mobile phone company owner. Just before Peggy was held into custody, she was living in a hundred-thousand worth house boat which she named "Off the Hook". Or so she thought! Peggy was charged of first degree murder and was on a 5 million dollar bail.


Katie Rees was Miss Nevada USA 2007. She got herself in predicament after acting wild inside a club. She was exposing herself and groping and kissing other women in a Florida nightclub. Her pictures were also seen on an escort service website.


She was revoked of her title afterwards. In 2008, she was arrested in assaulting a police officer which was featured on a reality tv show which was about people acting shady trying to get through the customs office.

[Qarlo]

Miss El Paso USA in 2008 Lorena Tavera, who finished 5th runner up in the 2008 Miss Texas USA pageant got arrested for shoplifting in August of 2011. To what everybody sees as a porcelain doll-faced beauty queen was an inconceivable petty thief as well. She slipped a $69-worth top inside her shopping bag then quickly exited the store not knowing the store employees were already eying on her and followed her outside. Tavera denied stealing the shirt. She told tv station reports that her story was misapprehended and blown out of proportion and that she needed to consult a lawyer. It then turns out that the beauty queen also has two more traffic court warrants up her sleeve.


Alma Concepcion, Semifinalist and Miss Friendship in Miss International 1994, was detained by Guam security officials in 1998 after the airport inspectors said to have found amphetamine inside the beauty queen's purse. She was charged importing and possession of a controlled substance on board an aircraft in Guam which are all counted as felony.

[Qarlo]

Miss Colombia 2005 Valerie Dominguez who was in the top 10 of Miss Universe 2006 comes from a family of successful jewelry designers which the family’s wealth may have come from. But in 2011, she was involved in a scandal of corruption in Colombia. She was said to be one of the twenty wealthy people in Colombia involved in receiving money coming from funds financing projects for the less fortunate as form of incentive for agriculture or known as the Agro Ingreso Seguro. She would have gone to jail for allegedly receiving part of the agricultural subsidy intended for the poor farmers. Apart from Valerie, other former government officials were also investigated and were accused of corrupting the said process redirecting funds to well-off land owners, political allies and also beauty queens. Just recently, Valerie was proclaimed innocent and was said to have just been instrument to her ex-boyfriend’s scheme in order for his family not to lose grants which have come from corruption.

[Qarlo]

Amy Polumbo - Miss New Jersey 2007 was victim to a blackmailer who threatened to release personal photos of her if she would not give up her crown as Miss New Jersey. The incident was perceived to be just a publicity stunt since the photos turned out to be less-controversial than what was expected. She now works at a school for deaf children and was also reported to be part-time waitress.


The Alleged Photo


Miss Kentucky Latina 2010 - Daniela Gaskie, 22, was stripped off her title when pageant officials learned of her arrest after beating up the lady pharmacist and stabbing a male attendant in the neck at a gas station in Richard, Kentucky. Police says Daniela got infuriated at the gas station attendant and stabbed a pen in the attendant’s neck. It is still unclear what provoked the attack. After her encounter with the attendant, Daniela ran across the street to a drugstore parking lot and started beating a car owned by the pharmacist in the drugstore. As the lady pharmacist approached Daniela, the rage of the beauty queen went to the pharmacist kicking her in the abdomen, ripping her neck and scratching the poor lady’s face causing her to fall down her feet on the pavement. The police responded quickly and as the beauty queen was taken to the police car, she was blowing kisses at the victim and the bystanders still bewildered of what just happened so quickly before their very eyes.

[Qarlo]

Miss South Mekong 2009 Vo Thi My Xuan was detained by Police Officers of Ho Chi Minh Vietnam for her involvement in running a high-class prostitution ring. The arrest was done after the police carried out a surprise raid in a hotel within the district that caught high-class prostitutes engaged in sexual acts that involved models, actresses, beauty titlist and students. This incident back in June spurred controversy not only in local Vietnamese showbiz circuit but the global media. Miss My Xuam was said to have been lured into doing high-class prostitution by another well-known actress who was also a beauty queen and from then on she pimped other girls and admittedly organized a prostitution ring for herself in her private home and bribed thousands of dollars to beautiful young girls and models to participate giving service to rich men and tourists coming in the country for holidays or business trips. It is also said that they have catered clients which are well-known personalities.



A former Miss Arizona contestant Kumari Fulbright was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2010 for heading the kidnapping and torturing her ex-boyfriend. The former law student and beauty queen got six years probation pleading guilty to plotting aggravated assault charges and to kidnap her ex-boyfriend. The beauty queen’s fall from grace was in 2007 when she got arrested along with three other men she conspired with in brutally attacking her ex-boyfriend who just managed to escape from his captors.

[Qarlo]

Sharmaine Ruffa Gutierrez, 1993 Miss World 2nd princess seem to always have been lying face down to controversies and scandals just within the decade she was crowned 2nd runner up in Miss World. After the Manila Film Fest scandal Ruffa along with other actresses in the Philippines were supposedly paid lump sum of money and gold in exchange of entertaining the Sultan's brothers in the Kingdom of Brunei. The scandal raised hullabaloo on both citizens and feminist groups alike and the case was taken up by the Senate of the Philippines in aid of legislation on human trafficking and prostitution. Eventually, the controversy ceased to exist due to lack of evidence and due to fading interest of the public on this controversy but it gave way to a law enacted against human trafficking especially on women. Ruffa is now a celebrity in the Philippines and a mother to two beautiful daughters.




In 2010, Anna Malova, Miss Russia and Semifinalist in Miss Universe 1998, stole the prescription pad of her doctor. She used this to write prescription for narcotic painkillers to herself. Anna is a doctor in Russia but she does not have the license to practice medicine in the US. She has been arrested in New York for forgery and illegal possession of narcotics and in impersonating a physician. Even after the streak of arrest, she continued filling fake prescriptions of painkillers. Because of this, she was considered for a program for rehabilitation of addicted offenders for treatment instead of going to jail. Just last year, she was again caught for another crime, stealing a quilt hat and pair of sandals in a store in New York.


Thank you for reading!

[kurtij]

Tegucigalpa – Call it the case of the beauty queen who should have elaborated on her answer to the question.
Honduran police say they have arrested Miss Honduras 2009 on money laundering charges for failing to declare the equivalent of $47,000 when entering the country.
Special services police spokesman Alex Madrid said 25-year-old Belgica Suárez was arrested with euros and British pounds on a Honduran highway near the Nicaraguan border.
Madrid said the beauty queen failed to declare the money when she crossed the border from Esteli, Nicaragua.
"She claimed she had earned the money working as a model in Europe," Madrid told The Associated Press.
According to Honduran law, travelers must declare to customs that they are carrying more than $10,000. Suárez was arrested along with a Nicaraguan driver.

[kurtij]

Probably not since Lindsay Lohan's pair of slutty booking photos have we seen a mug shot this damn hot. Raelene Aguilar, who's Miss New Mexico USA 2008, was arrested after driving drunk in El Paso, Texas, yesterday at 3:48 a.m.

Raelene was busted after the cops originally pulled her over for speeding. Always a good way to keep the attention away from yourself. They gave her a a field sobriety test, which she failed. She was booked into county jail at 6:00 a.m.

Aguilar went before a judge and was eventually bailed out for $600, but not before showcasing her natural good looks in the booking photo below ...


The president of the Miss Universe Organization Paula Shugart, a bigwig at Miss USA, reportedly said of Raelene Aguilar, "She has our deepest sympathies and we're hoping she can make it through this difficult time. She's a good person."

As Tara Conner will attest, those Miss USA folks are a forgiving bunch.

Aguilar, whose reign as Miss New Mexico USA came to a close at the end of 2008, said through her attorney that she is innocent and will contest these charges.

[Qarlo]

Thank you, m_cronin

[Beta]

It's so sad to see how much some of these beauties have faded...

Another great thread, Qarlo!

[MISS_TWIX]

Nice thread Qarlo, youre really doing a great job as a pageant historian..

[novemberRain]

nice read Qarlo

[Jedi]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[jawwad]

its real information and fun to read this .... i like ur articles cuz
they are very much intresting

[chenouzhi]

Very informative...

[ccccc]

MY OH MY ... THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW SENSIBLE ARTICLES THAT I HAVE COME ACROSS HERE IN MISSO......MORE OF THIS KIND AND CONGRATS TO THE TS FOR CREATING A VERY INTERESTING THREAD....

[terese23]

Job well done, Another wonderful thread! You never seem to disappoint us. keep it up

[Latination]

this is a treasure. Your hard work shows putting every single info in one thread is commendable.

[demisemiquaver]

long but worth it read. Katie Blair Miss Teen USA took over Alyssa Campanella's place as Miss California when Alyssa won the Miss USA crown in 2011. It would have been nice to see Katie competing in the Miss USA pageant. She had good chance of winning like Alyssa.

[jhom]

Nice Thread...

[Angelea]

a very compact thread! Just in time as we surround ourselves with another controversy on dethronement of Urvacshi

[KUKULKÁN]

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