22-year-old beauty queen announced her pregnancy. Now she's losing her crown for 'breach of contract.'
A Bolivian beauty queen was stripped of her title for a “breach of contract” after officials found out that she is pregnant.
Joyce Prado, 22, was crowned as Miss Bolivia Universe 2018 in June. But before making it to the end of her reign, she lost her titles as both Miss Bolivia and Miss Santa Cruz just days before she shared some personal news on Sunday.
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The modeling agency responsible for the pageants, Promociones Gloria, took to its Facebook page on Friday to announce the development and cite “reasons that are strictly related to contractual breach.”
The agency went on to say that it had to safeguard the confidentiality clause and didn’t include specific details about its decision to cut ties with the titleholder.
Two days later, however, Prado confirmed her pregnancy with her boyfriend of four months, Paraguayan model Rodrigo Giménez on Instagram.
“Becoming a father or mother may be the most important challenge that we present in life, but as it may be difficult, it can also become the most rewarding thing in the world,” Prado wrote in her post on Sunday. “I want to share with you that I am the happiest woman in the world because my life is full of love, because next to the man of my dreams we are starting to live the most beautiful stage of our lives.”
On the same day, Promociones Gloria shared a newspaper clipping on their Instagram with the headline, “Joyce Prado is left without a crown because of her pregnancy.”
Within the article for El Día Digital, Promociones Gloria’s executive, Tatiana Limpas, confirmed that Prado was relinquished of her titles because she is eight weeks pregnant. Still, Limpas shared, “We have a 5-year contract with Joyce. She will remain in the ranks of the agency as a model.”
According to Miss Universe guidelines, “contestants may not be married or pregnant.” They also cannot have previously been married or parented a child. As for titleholders, they are “required to remain unmarried throughout their reign.”
People took to Promociones Gloria’s Instagram to share their thoughts, including those who maintained that Prado was aware of the rules that she had to abide by.
“A son is a blessing, but she had a commitment to the country,” one commenter wrote. “She knew too well that during the reign she could not get pregnant.”
Many others, however, praised the young woman for being brave enough to speak out about her pregnancy and acknowledge that her baby is more important than the crown.
“A pregnant woman does not lose her beauty, in fact, is enriched with feelings of admiration from us men because we all came from a mother, so, with all due respect to its rules and legal conditions, it does not seem right to me to remove the crown,” one person wrote. Another said, “This queen is an admirable woman who decided to put her son first.”
Neither Prado nor Promociones Gloria responded to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
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