Miss Dominican Republic Carlina Duran Loses Crown For Being Married

Miss Dominican Republic Carlina Duran (WorldShowbiz)

Carlina Duran, who was named Miss Dominican Republic 2012, was asked to relinquish her crown after the organizers found out that she is married.

It is being stipulated in the pageant's rules that a contestant should be single before she could compete. But Duran hid her civil status because according to her, she had never lived with her husband and that she has begun the annulment proceedings with him.

"In my daily life, I remained like a single woman, without thinking of myself neither materially nor spiritually married," the 25-year-old beauty said in a statement released on Wednesday.

She added that the decision of hiding her 2009 marriage from the contest organizers was the "fruit of my inexperience."

Duran, who won the pageant on April 17, has officially handed the crown to first runner-up, 24-year-old Dulcita Lieggi, on Wednesday. Lieggi will be the one to represent Dominican Republic in Miss Universe 2012.