Here’s a classic: After winning Miss USA in 1957, Mary Leona Gage was discovered to be 18, not 21 as she claimed, and had twice been married (once at age 14) with two kids, all violations of the ironclad rules of pageantry. After losing the crown, Gage made forays into the acting world and attempted a life as a Hollywood showgirl. Since then, her life has been marred with multiple divorces, accusations of child abuse, and attempted suicides.

At the center of the most high-profile beauty-queen scandal, Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, was asked to step down in 1984 when a 10-page spread for Penthouse emerged 10 months into her reign. Five million copies of the magazine were sold, and the then-21-year-old Williams went on to a wildly successful career in Hollywood, including her current role on Ugly Betty.

This year the reigning Miss Mexico, Laura Zuniga, was stripped of her Miss Hispanoamerican Queen title after being detained along with seven men suspected of drug trafficking. They were found in a vehicle with $53,000, weapons, and ammunition. Her defense: She was going shopping. The Miss Mexico Pageant is still waiting for the outcome of the arrest to determine if Zuniga can compete in the 2009 Miss International Pageant.

Lindsey Evans, Miss Teen Louisiana 2008, was dethroned (after placing third runner-up at Miss Teen USA) when she was arrested for theft and possession of marijuana. The bag of weed was found after she skipped out on a dinner check and accidentally left her purse behind.

credit: dailybeast

Tags: Beauty Queens Gone wild, Laura Zuniga, Lindsey Evans, Mary Leona Gage, Miss Teen Louisiana, Vanessa Williams

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 2:30 am and is filed under Events, Unfortunate Situations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.