Letter: Leadership bullied, manipulated, silenced me
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.» The reigning Miss America says she has been bullied, manipulated and silenced by the pageant’s leadership, including Gretchen Carlson.
In a letter sent Friday to former Miss Americas, Cara Mund says she decided to speak out despite the risk of punishment.
Her letter is reminiscent of the movie “Mean Girls,” in which characters Gretchen and Regina bully the heroine and make her life miserable. That’s what happened to her in real life, Mund wrote. Carlson is chairwoman of the Miss America Organization; Regina Hopper is its CEO.
“Let me be blunt: I strongly believe that my voice is not heard nor wanted by our current leadership; nor do they have any interest in knowing who I am and how my experiences relate to positioning the organization for the future,” Mund wrote. “Our chair and CEO have systematically silenced me, reduced me, marginalized me, and essentially erased me in my role as Miss America in subtle and not-so-subtle ways on a daily basis. After a while, the patterns have clearly emerged, and the sheer accumulation of the disrespect, passive-aggressive behavior, belittlement,
and outright exclusion has taken a serious toll.”
The Miss America Organization said it would reach out to her directly.
“The Miss America Organization supports Cara,” the group said in a statement. “It is disappointing that she chose to air her grievances publicly, not privately. Her letter contains mischaracterizations and many unfounded accusations.”
This year’s competition will not include swimsuits, and pageant officials from at least 19 states have called for the leadership to resign.
Mund said she was given three talking points to be made at every appearance: “Miss America is relevant. The #MeToo movement started with a Miss America, Gretchen Carlson. Gretchen Carlson went to Stanford.”
“Right away, the new leadership delivered an important message: There will be only one Miss America at a time, and she isn’t me,” Mund wrote.
She cites examples of mistreatment including being excluded from the nationally televised announcement that swimsuits were being eliminated.
She says pageant handlers ridiculed her clothing choices and chided her for wearing the same outfits too often. When she reached out to former Miss Americas to see if they had been treated similarly, “I was reprimanded by Regina, who told me that problems and concerns had to be kept ‘in the family.’ ”