The De-Crowning Moment
How long before you knew that your reign as Miss California was threatened?
November 29, I went to Keith Lewis home and he told me I did not win so it was four days from Sunday to Thursday. I was still Miss California in my mind and my families mind, friends mind and all the other contestants minds. I was still Miss California and then Thursday he said," I did not win."
When did you feel that something was amiss?
I did speak to Keith on Monday, so after I won I went home and it was late and I celebrated with my family. So the next day I called Keith and he was ecstatic, he said, "Hi Miss California, how are you feeling?” completely ready for me and what we're going to do for the year. I mean nothing, nothing about there could be possibly an accounting error, there could be possibly something wrong, nothing. So that was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I speak to Keith's assistants all those days, nothing, everything is great and dandy. They specifically called me on Thursday, "You need to come down today, you have to bring your parents, you're going to sign contracts." And I thought that was a little bizarre that they were very adamant about having my parents come with me. But I said, "Oh, well maybe they know that I'm very close to them or want them to be here to celebrate with me." So I went Thursday to Keith Lewis's house with the complete intention of signing a contract, look at the opportunities I'm going to have for the rest of the year, talking about me being Miss California USA and fulfilling my goals and duties as Miss California. And never would I have thought they were going to tell me you're not the real winner.
What happened when you were told you were dethroned?
My parents and I walked into Keith Lewis' house, and he just said "I don't know how to tell you this, you are not the real winner. Ms. Farce is the real winner, you did not place first runner up either. There was problems with ballots and an accounting error, judges came up to me, so I'm really really sorry and this is where we're at right now." So of course, I mean even being told that all, I literally started shaking and I just looked at my mom because I said "This can't be happening." I really was hoping that I was being punked, or that this was like "joke's on you!", I mean I really did. I mean, for probably a millisecond, I was like, please god, tell me Ashton Kutcher is going to pop out from somewhere and say "You've been punked!", you know?
Was there any booing when you were crowned Miss California?
"Booing, when I won?" And he said "yes" and we all said "no". Not once did we hear booing when I won.
Why did you so willingly give up the crown?
They said, you can continue or you can't, do what you want to do. We'll respect your decision if you want to stay Miss California USA fine, if you don't we'll still help you with your career, we'll do red carpet events with you, we'll help you with your hosting, we'll help you with this, that and the other. He said, what's your decision? I said, "I am going to be a woman of integrity and give the crown to Raquel." I called her, she was ecstatic and I just said, "Hi gorgeous, how are you? I got some good news for you, you're the real winner." She just started screaming, she was ecstatic, and who wouldn't be.
How did your family react when they found out about your crown being taken away?
We did not really even talk. I was crying and going “Mom”. We were speaking Spanish, English. I was praying. I was saying “God why are you doing this to me?" I mean it was so emotional. When I went home with my parents, we called close family members like my aunts, my uncle, my grandmother, my brothers and we sat in our living room and I told them what happened. And immediately all of them said, “No! No, no, no, no. No Christina. Why are you even talking to us? Why did you just tell us you are no longer the queen?"
When did you pursue legal representation?
Well, when I found out that night I was not the real winner, I said some things wrong. And when I went home my family and I got together and they said something's not right. The Sunday, that very Sunday, my mother called a family friend, Will Fredo, who is a great lawyer. We said can you help us out with this because this is a big deal. He said yeah I will help you out.
