Another Beauty Queen Busted for Drugs

Life has certainly changed for a Maryland beauty queen, now busted on drug charges. Police arrested Tia Shorts, Miss Maryland USA 2004, last Wednesday at her home in Germantown. Police say she and her boyfriend were dealing drugs from their apartment. She's now charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana. "I guess something must have gone wrong, or I mean obviously we didn't know what was going on with them. There was more than meets the eye I guess." said neighbor Rebecca Straus. It all went down at Shorts' apartment on Pickering Court. Police staked out the place Tuesday night after getting a tip from a source that her boyfriend, Joey King, had heroin. Court documents say they spotted King leaving the apartment and pulled him over a short distance away. Officers say he had heroin, crack cocaine and large amounts of cash on him.

The next day, police kept the apartment under surveillance. Police say King's brother and mother showed up at the apartment. When they left, officers pulled the car over. Court documents say the pair had cocaine, a gun and more cash. Police say King's mother stuffed some of the cocaine into her bra. Inside the apartment, police say they found 29-year old Shorts and more drugs, including marijuana. "It's shameful. It is, because it's not a good example for the kids or the community." said Pamela, a mother who was playing with her children outside the apartment complex. When told about the arrest, the Miss Maryland USA pageant coordinator, Angela Shealy said "It's sad to hear the news for her. It troubles me and I am saddened to hear that. She's always been a very lovely lady."

Just a few years ago Shorts seemed to have everything, a place in the national spotlight. Now she's a beauty queen disgraced. "You can be glamorous and never know what you're doing undercover... anybody can live a double life," said neighbor Shirletta Reynolds who had heard about Shorts' pageant title. She was released on 10-thousand dollars bond. No one answered the door at her apartment today. Miss Maryland USA organizers say they lost touch with Shorts after she ended her term. The onetime beauty queen was also named Miss Amity, the equivalent of the Miss Congeniality Award. (From Criticalbeauty)

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Beauty queen almost 'tanned herself to death because of sunbed addiction'

A former beauty queen became so obsessed staying attractive she nearly tanned herself to death after becoming addicted to sunbeds as a teenager. 

Brittany Lietz, crowned Miss Marlyand in 2007, spent all her time perfecting her appearance for pageants, which included two and half hours per week on tanning machines.

But after developing stage two melanoma at 19, she had to undergo 30 operations to remove cancerous moles.

Miss Lietz admitted she nearly lost her life due to her obsession with beauty pageants.

The 22-year-old, now married and expecting her first child, said: "I always had pale skin and wasn't really into sunbathing.

"But after I'd done a couple of pageants, I noticed all the girls there did indoor tanning.

"I didn't think I'd look attractive enough for the swimwear round if I was really pale."

She added: "At the time there weren't any laws or restrictions in Maryland as to how old you had to be to go on a sunbed.

"I told my mum and she wasn't happy about me going. She warned me not to do it but I didn't listen to her."

The former pageant queen, who is training to be anurse, started tanning for just eight minutes a session but she wasn't happy with the results and thought she wasn't brown enough.

"I started going once or twice a week and I loved the way I looked," she admitted.

"I thought I looked healthier and I thought other people would think so too.

"But the more I did it, the more I needed it. I got addicted very quickly.

"Within two years I was going five or six times a week for 30 minutes a time.

"I was so dark that I don't think I could have got any darker. I was officially a tanorexic."

She later went away to college where no-one was aware how often she was using sunbeds.

But on one visit her anxious mum insisted on checking a mole on her daughter's back.

"I'd had a mole on my back since I was about 11 and I really hadn't paid much attention to it," said Brittany.

Her mum took the photograph to show a dermatologist who urged her to bring her daughter in for treatment immediately.

Now she is left with scars all over her body and warns other young girls about the dangers of sunbeds and skin cancer.

She said: "The mole removed on my back left me with the biggest scar. It is seven inches long." (telegraph.co.uk)

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