On November 12, Kristhielee Caride won the Miss Universe Puerto Rico pageant. Photo courtesy of New York Daily News.
Summary: A dethroned beauty queen is fighting to get her title and prizes back.
A battle between a beauty queen and the organizers who took her crown is getting ugly. The dethroned woman wants her title back along with her plastic surgery prize, and she’s not afraid to sue to get it.
Kristhielee Caride. Photo courtesy of Instagram.
According to CBS News, former Miss Puerto Rico, Kristhielee Caride, filed a $3 million lawsuit this week, demanding contest organizers reinstate her title and give her the extravagant gifts she won which include a car and a cruise.
Additionally, one of the prizes is plastic surgery, a questionable gift to give someone who’s declared the most beautiful woman in the country.
Caride alleges breach of contract and wants contractual damages. She filed the suit against PR Crown Entertainment and pageant officials including Desiree Lowry, the national director of Miss Universe Puerto Rico.
Caride was stripped of her title a month ago after Miss Universe organizers accused her of having an attitude problem. According to pageant officials, Caride snubbed the press and said in interviews that she did not love cameras. Officials found that offensive for a public figure and deemed her shyness worthy of saying she had an attitude problem.
“That’s like an athlete saying, ‘I don’t like to train,'” Lowry’s attorney Antonio Sagardia said.
Lowry told the press that Caride did not apologize for her camera comments and that she canceled other appearances because of a doctor’s appointment that she refused to schedule. In the lawsuit, Caride said she underwent surgery and needed to rest for a month, and that she did go out in public once on Lowry’s orders but that she was not allowed to wear her post-surgery garments.
The lawsuit added that Caride was hospitalized for depression after her title was removed. Her lawyer did not return CBS News’ request for comment.
The title of Miss Puerto Rico has already been rewarded to the runner-up contestant, Brenda Jimenez, according to New York Daily News.
Source: CBS News