Posted on 09/04/2002 9:57:15 AM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
September 4, 2002, 12:15 PM EDT
RALEIGH, N.C. --
The woman fighting to retain the Miss North Carolina crown testified Wednesday that the topless photos that initially cost her the title were taken against her will by a former boyfriend.
The testimony by Rebekah Revels disputed that of a pageant official, who said earlier that Revels had told him that the shots were taken during "an intimate situation" with no mention that she was an unwilling participant.
Revels testified Wednesday that the photos were taken as she was changing clothes.
"Of course I didn't want a picture taken of me," she testified under questioning by her attorney.
Revels, 24, resigned in July after Miss America officials received an e-mail from her ex-boyfriend, Tosh Welch, saying there were compromising photos of her. First runner-up Misty Clymer was crowned Miss North Carolina and held the title until last week, when a judge returned it to Revels.
Revels has since broken up with Welch and recently sued him.
Pageant executive director Alan Clouse testified Tuesday that Revels said she didn't see anything wrong with the topless photos because she intended at the time to marry Welch.
"When we asked her, she didn't indicate it was against her will at all," Clouse said.
Clouse said the photos showed Revels had lived with Welch in a one-bedroom apartment. The pictures and the cohabitation violated the pageant contract's morals clause, Clouse said.
Clouse said the state board was willing to allow Revels to continue representing North Carolina, but the Miss America pageant board didn't want her.
He said national officials feared another nude picture scandal like the one in 1984 that forced the resignation of Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America.
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On the Net:
Miss America: http://www.missamerica.org
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
Gotta love that name.
Please FRmail me if you want on or off this NC Ping List.
Tit for tat?
I'm sick of this whiny woman. She lied and now she wants the law to make her whole again.
End of story - you resigned - you quit. Live with it.
Sums it up for me.
If you were the Miss America people, would you want her up there? Heck, if she doesn't win the big one, she just might sue.
It seems that she resigned, and that she was breaking the cohabitation rule as well.
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