Carlina Durán: Miss Dominican Republic dethroned for being married

Carlina Durán, a 25-year-old model, had to hand over her Miss Dominican Republic crown after officials found out she violated pageant rules by hiding her marriage.

According to CNN, organizers of the pageant said Durán married in 2009 but told contest organizers she was single. They also said contestants in the pageant cannot be married or divorced.

Dominican newspaper Diario Libre obtained a marriage license showing Durán was married on June 6, 2009 to Emad Adl.

Durán, who competed against 37 other women for the title on April 17, has had to hand over her crown to 22-year-old runner-up Dulcita Lieggi, reported the Associated Press. Lieggi was given the crown at a news conference on Wednesday.

Though the dethroned beauty queen has not made a public comment, she did release a statement through her lawyer, Radhames Cornielle. "In my daily life, I remained like a single woman, without thinking of myself neither materially nor spiritually married," she wrote, according to the AP.

The statement also said the marriage was brief and was already on its way to being annulled. According to Fox News, Durán said she regretted keeping her marital status from pageant organizers and said it was due to "the fruit of my inexperience."

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