There has been nothing but confusion and apologies since Saturday night's selection of Canada’s Miss Universe. It seems pageant officials somehow crowned the wrong beauty queen.
This morning, Miss Universe Canada for a day Denise Garrido and the newly named Miss Universe Canada 2013 Riza Santos join “Starting Point” to discuss the mix-up.
Allyn Rose was Miss Washington D.C, and she is on 'Starting Point' talking with Zoraida Sambolin about her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy after losing her mother to breast cancer. At only 24-years-old her announcement was shocking to many in the pageant community.
At first Rose was hesitant to get the surgery, however after losing her mother, grandmother and great aunt Rose's father encouraged her to consider the procedure. Rose was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal disease that may predispose her to breast cancer. She thought having a preventive double mastectomy was 'radical,' but after doing research she decided it was a ‘good decision’ for her given her strong hereditary link to breast cancer and chromosomal abnormality. She made the decision because she realized she did not want to ‘run the risk of this happening to her.’
In an interview on "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien," Miss USA 2012 Olivia Culpo tells Soledad she doesn't think the contest is rigged, and says Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin's claims sound 'kind of funny.'
In a written statement, Monnin says she "witnessed another contestant who said she saw the list of the top five before the show ever started."
Culpo says the list in question was confirmed to be the rehearsal list, not a final top five list. She adds that the story didn't seem to stand up to scrutiny.
"It was just kind of funny because originally, Sheena had resigned because she didn't agree with the transgender community now being part of the Miss Universe organization community,” Culpo says. “Then, the story changed that it was rigged when she saw a rehearsal list. So, it’s kind of iffy.”
When asked if the recent accusations have stolen the thunder from her win, Culpo says it doesn’t get her worked up. "I'm not very dramatic...I know that it’s not rigged so I'm happy and it’s not taking away anything from me," she says.
Culpo tells the "Starting Point" team she looks forward to working towards increasing breast and ovarian cancer awareness, and hopes to use her cello skills to help music education programs in New York City.
Multiple grammy-nominated singer Ledisi is loved by her fans not just for her music, but for her honesty and inspiration.
In her music video, "Bravo," she applauds people who reject negative stereotypes and celebrate positive self-images, singing:
"Stand up for yourself. Celebrate life. It don't matter who you are. You've been working hard. Give yourself a round of applause. Clap for yourself now."
Now she's taken that message and written about it in a new book called "Better Than Alright: Finding peace, love and power" which was written in collaboration with "Essence" magazine. She talks with Soledad about the book and shares her thoughts on the current standards of beauty.
Dr. Alastair Carruthers & Dr. Jean Carruthers explain how they discovered that Botox could be used to treat wrinkles, and how this discovery has changed the 'face' of beauty and fashion.