Mrs Sri Lanka injured after rival steals her crown on stage
The shocking moment
took place after a previous winner believed the new winner wasn’t deserving of the title and should
be disqualified.
Beauty pageants are usually elegant affairs where women put out the best version of themselves in a bid to woo audiences with charm, beauty, and grace.
This, however, was certainly not the case at the recent Mrs Sri Lanka pageant which took place earlier this week after a brawl broke out on stage.
Pushpika De Silva claimed the title of Mrs Sri Lanka on Sunday but suffered head injuries during the live ceremony after a fight broke out on stage when the pageant’s 2019 winner and current Mrs World titleholder, Caroline Jurie, seized the crown claiming that Pushpika should be disqualified because she was divorced.
The crown has since been returned to Pushpika after organisers confirmed that she was, in fact, not a divorcee.
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"There is a rule that prevents women who have already been married and are divorced, so I am taking steps to make the crown go to second place," Caroline told the audience during the shocking moment. She then went on to place the crown onto the head of the runner-up, which led Pushpika to run off stage in tears.
Organisers at the pageant have since apologised to Pushpika, who admitted that while she is separated, she is not divorced.
In a statement on her Facebook page, the winner says that she had to go to hospital to be treated for head injuries and says that she plans on taking legal action for the "unreasonable and insulting" way she was treated during her crowning moment.
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"There are a lot of single mums like me today who are suffering in Sri Lanka," Pushpika says. "This crown is dedicated to those women, those single mums who are suffering to raise their kids alone."
Meanwhile, the national director of Mrs Sri Lanka World, Chandimal Jayasinghe, told the BBC that the crown has been returned to Mrs De Silva. "We are disappointed," he said. "It was a disgrace how Caroline Jurie behaved on the stage and the Mrs World organisation has already begun an investigation on the matter."
Image courtesy: Mrs Sri Lanka