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By Miriam Raftery
November 4, 2009 (San Diego) – A settlement agreement has been reached in two lawsuits between pageant officials and Carrie Prejean, a senior at San Diego Christian College in EL Cajon who lost her Miss California USA crown. The website TMZ claimed that revelation of a sex video made by Prejean prompted a hasty settlement.
TMZ’s editor has said he obtained a copy of the video, which TMZ characterized as “extremely graphic” and too racy to post. He also suggested that Prejean performed solo in the video. Today, CNN reports, “The source with knowledge of the settlement talks told CNN those details were accurate.”
Prejean first sparked controversy when she voiced opposition to gay marriage in response to a question posed by a pageant official. Pageant owner Donald Trump initially defended Prejean, even after semi-nude photographs of her surfaced on the Internet. She was fired in June, however, after pagent officials claimed she failed to represent the pageant at numerous events. As East County Magazine previously reported. Prejean sued pageant officials, claiming her firing was due to religious discrimination over her Christian beliefs. Pageant officials filed a countersuit in October, demanding that Prejean repay $5,200 in pageant money spent on her breast augmentation surgery.
Settlement details are confidential. However TMZ has reported that Prejean will receive none of the settlement money, which will be used to cover legal costs. Both sides agreed to drop legal claims.
Prejean has written a book about her experiences which is slated to hit book stores next week. The pageant reportedly agreed to drop pursuit of rights to anything she wrote.
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