Dethroned Miss Nevada USA Peeved by Miss California "Double Standard"

Katie Rees, who lost her crown due to racy underage pics, criticizes Carrie Prejean for not owning up to her behavior when trying out for Miss California

By Natalie Finn, Ashley Fultz May 13, 2009 1:21 AMTags
Katie Rees, Carrie PrejeanDenise Truscello/Getty Images, Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

There once was a beauty queen who took naughty pictures and, some years later, did not get to keep her crown.

Despite the magnanimity shown to Miss California Carrie Prejean, Katie Rees—Miss Nevada USA 2007—was out of luck when racy pics of her showed up after she won her title.

And she's none too happy about what she perceives to be a "huge double standard."

"Semi-nude photos are semi-nude photos," she told E! News, comparing the topless lingerie pics of Prejean with her own shots, which featured a 17-year-old Rees baring a breast, flashing her thong and doing her best Katy Perry impression.

Miss Universe Organization honcho Donald Trump deemed the photos inappropriate and stripped Rees of her Miss Nevada USA title in December 2006.

And this isn't the first time since that Rees has spoken out in opposition to the less harsh treatment doled out to some of her pageant peers.

She called it "unfair" when Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner was allowed to keep her title after the then-underage beauty queen was spotted drinking in various NYC bars and, at one point, kissing one of her gal-pals.

Rees said today that she and Prejean both signed contracts swearing that there were no nude or semi-nude photographs of them in existence.

And they both broke the contract, Rees added, but she is the only one who had to pay so harshly for her mistake. She asked for a chance to reclaim her title, but was denied.

"I don't know why I am the only one who was punished for their behavior," she said. "I was only 19 when those photos were taken of me, and it was me in my personal life, far before I was crowned Miss Nevada. Carrie actually posed for these professional semi-nude photos.

"I think that's worse."

Last week, after the blogosphere was already ablaze with Prejean's anti-gay marriage comments, a racy pic of the Miss USA runner-up was posted on TheDirty.com. Prejean later admitted to having posed for that and other shots when she was only 17, having been convinced "in her naiveté" to do so by the photographer.

Earlier today, Trump ruled that Prejean will remain Miss California.

Rees, who says that she has never actually met Trump, thinks the real-estate tycoon made a mistake by giving her the ax.

"I have been scrutinized in the press and have tried to move on with my life, but it's hard," she told E! News. "Everywhere you go, people judge you on these photos and already think they know the type of person you are."

But despite everything, she said, Rees is proud of the way she has handled the aftermath of her own pageant debacle.

"At least when those pictures of me came out, I admitted I was wrong and told young women in America how big of a mistake it was and to be careful because everything can affect your future," she said. "That's more than Carrie has done. She has lied about her age when she took the photos, lied about how many there were and hasn't acknowledged that she was wrong by breaking the contract. I don't think that is a good role model and I hope young women recognize that."

—Additional reporting by Giuliana Rancic