"The treatment just kept getting worse and I kept thinking to
myself, 'Is it my fault?'" That's Miss America Cara Mund talking about
the alleged mistreatment she endured at the hands of two top officials at the pageant organization, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Alleged bully number one at Miss America, CEO Regina Hopper: "We were
walking down the hall and [Hopper] gave me some kind of compliment,"
says Mund. "And my response is typically like, 'Oh, that's so nice of
you.' And she turned around and she said, 'Oh, I'm not nice.'"
Later, responding to a Karl Lagerfield dress Mund wore, Hopper
supposedly said, "Yuck. You should burn that. Don't ever wear that
again."
Opening up about her alleged
mistreatment at the organization—which she claims left her silenced,
reduced, and marginalized—Mund says chairwoman Gretchen Carlson kept her
from public appearances that Miss America normally attends, like the
National Press Club luncheon in Washington, DC. "When we go in to get
sponsors or attend big events, they should bring Miss America because
I'm a product of the organization," she says. "I'm determined, I have an
opinion, I am well-spoken and educated." Now Mund has an ally: Former
Miss Denver Kayla Kline is breaking ties with her position in solidarity
with Mund, the Denver Channel reports. "Miss America deserves a voice," writes Kline on Instagram, "and if you can't hear her, I'll stand and shout with her." (Carlson says Mund's complaints have cost the organization $75,000.)
