Miss America Pageant officials ruled Thursday that Miss New Jersey, Amy Polumbo, will be allowed to continue representing the Garden State and participate in the next Miss America pageant, despite photos released earlier in the day that show her acting "not in a ladylike manner."
"Obviously I'm very happy about this decision," Polombo said during an afternoon news conference where the decision was announced. "I want to apologize for all the trouble this has caused."
Polumbo went public with photos of herself that had been sent anonymously to Miss New Jersey pageant officials as part of an alleged blackmail scandal where the sender asked officials to strip her of her crown before the pictures be made public.
But Polumbo denied any wrongdoing and defended the photos, releasing them herself Thursday because other photos began coming into light that were purported to be hers, even though they weren't.
“I want to end this,” Polumbo said. “It’s time to reveal them.”
Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday, Polumbo showed the photos she initially wanted to keep private.
The pictures include one showing what Polumbo said was her boyfriend apparently biting her breast through her shirt, another of Polumbo in a limousine wearing jeans with her legs spread in the air and another of her in what appears to be a Halloween costume dress holding two small pumpkins up to her breasts.
“It’s not in a ladylike manner. I’m not a robot. I’m a human being,” Polumbo said. While she conceded the photos were embarrassing, she also said they were playful.
Speaking of her friends, many of whom can be seen in the pictures, she said: “We’re crazy. We act out SNL (Saturday Night Live) skits all the time.”
There also were photos of the beauty queen drinking, but Polumbo insisted she was of legal age when they were taken.
Polumbo said she did not think that the pictures should lead to the loss of her crown, but said other people might interpret the pictures differently.
“What I think is OK, someone else’s eyebrows could be raised,” she said.
Attorney Anthony Caruso said a person or persons claiming to be The Committee To Save Miss America, threatened to make the photos public unless Polumbo resigns her title.
The directors were forced to decide whether the photos violate a morals clause in the contract that Miss America hopefuls sign when entering the pageant or its state contests.
“Amy and I are very optimistic that the pageant committee will take the proper course and support her,” Caruso said.
The photos were taken from Polumbo’s former Facebook page, which has since been taken offline.
Polumbo described many of the photos as they were shown on the television screen. Of the shot of her boyfriend appearing to bite her breast, she said, “He’s being silly and immature. This was meant to be private. It was not accessible to the general public. It was supposed to be between my friends and I.”
Of the photo of her holding small pumpkins against her breasts, Polumbo said, “My friend was joking around, telling me I was flat-chested, and I decided to be a goofball and be funny.”
At least two of the board’s five directors said this week they do not consider the photos to be a big problem. One board member, Mark Soifer, described the photos as “kids having a good time at a party.”
Darlene Corrubia, one of Polumbo’s pageant coaches, said she hopes the board allows Polumbo to keep the $10,000 scholarship that came with winning the state title.
“She needs that for her tuition,” Corrubia said. “We don’t want them to take that away from her.”
The 22-year-old Howell Township woman has been singing and acting since she was 3 years old. At Howell High School, she was a cheerleading captain and prom queen.
Last year, she landed a role as Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” at a Disney theme park in Orlando.
Polumbo, who hopes to act on Broadway, won the only two pageants she had ever entered—the Miss Seashore Line pageant last year and Miss New Jersey last month.
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