Rebekah, you need to sue the Miss America contest for not standing up for your right to be a part of their contest. They have validated extortion. They should be sued, and you should do it.

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Premium Video: Former Miss North Carolina Rebekah Revels was forced to give up her dreams over topless photos.


Miss North Carolina, Rebekah Revels, dropped out of the Miss America pageant after an ex-boyfriend sent a troubling e-mail to pageant officials. (ABCNEWS.com)
Goodbye to a Dream

Fearing Scandal, N.C. Beauty Queen Resigns

July 29 ? Miss North Carolina said she dropped out of the race for Miss America after her ex-boyfriend wrote to pageant officials suggesting they ask her about two photographs in which she appeared nude.



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Rebekah Revels, a 24-year-old woman who was crowned Miss North Carolina a month ago, resigned last Tuesday.

She submitted her resignation to state pageant officials after learning that a former boyfriend made defaming remarks about her character in an e-mail to the Miss America organization. Miss America pageant officials said that Revels resigned of her own free will, but she described it as sort of a pre-emptive strike. She felt that the pageant would not have let her compete because of what they perceived as a breach of the contract's moral clause.

"My ex-boyfriend e-mailed the Miss America Organization with some (suggestion of) questionable character, specifically dealing with a photo that he had taken," Revels said."But it was a bad relationship. It was something that I have grown from and have overcome that obstacle with him, but he really used that against me to defame my character."

A Bad Break-Up

Her former boyfriend had surprised her by taking the photos while she was changing, Revels said. The photos depicted her nude from the waist up, and showed her breasts and her face. She and her former boyfriend had a bad break-up, Revels said.

"We dated for quite some time, and I trusted him," Revels said. "And he used this (photo) against me at the point where he knew it was my breaking point, something to take away from me, something I had worked for my whole life because I hurt him."

Revels, who is Lumbee Indian, would have had a shot at becoming the first Native American to ever win Miss America.

Officials from the Miss America Organization said that Revels voluntarily chose to resign from her position. Her situation was discussed at a meeting of the organization's national Board of Directors, where it was revealed that the photographs had been taken, and could be made public.

The pageant's board of directors told the Miss North Carolina officials that if the photographs existed and put her in violation of the contestant contract then she would be ineligible to compete at the national level.

The contract prohibits contestants from "engaging in any activity that could reasonably be characterized as dishonest, immoral or indecent and from conducting themselves in any manner that is inconsistent with the standards and dignity of the Miss America Program," a statement from the Miss America Organization said.

Not Like Williams' Case

After North Carolina pageant officials relayed the national organization's stance to Revels, she resigned.

In 1984, Vanessa Williams, the first African-American to ever win the Miss America crown, resigned from the post, after nude photos that had been taken several years before she became Miss America surfaced. Revels said her situation is different from that of Williams, who had posed for the nude photos.

In regards to the morality clause in the Miss America contract, Revels said the contract is subjective. She doesn't condone the photos, and admits that they were a mistake from her past.

"I think that they did what they thought was best," Revels said. "I signed that contract with honesty and integrity that I have now as a person. I had no idea that this guy would do this to me. I had no idea that the pictures even still existed. And I would have never signed the contract if I did not think that I was honest and moral and a good person."

Revels, who was Miss Fayetteville, sang a Puccini aria to win Miss North Carolina. She was a high school English teacher and planned to use the $12,000 scholarship from the NC title to pursue advanced degrees. She still plans to continue with her plan to seek a master's degree.

After competing in beauty contests since she was 2 years old, her choice to drop out was not easy.

"It was a very hard decision," Revels said. "But I wanted to save my family and myself from going through a bad situation."

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