the one sentence summary: Confirmed pic of Carrie Prejean at age 17 suggests that she really is jailbait in the reported noodz.
ETA 5/11: Scroll to the bottom for updated information.
Original Post: One of the biggest meaningless news stories of the week is that topless pictures of Miss "I fear the gayz" California Carrie Prejean have emerged. Carrie, however, has stated that she was 17 when these pictures were taken, as TMZ and other sources are citing. So only one partially nude sideboob pic has emerged to date, as first posted by gossip site The Dirty. (And I'm already feeling a bit dirty writing about this subject...)
Many others, however, doubt the underage claim, and think it may be a ploy to prevent release of the other pics, which are promised to be more revealing. These people cite the eternal defense of statutory rapists ("she told me she was 18 when i picked her up at the middle school"), believing there is no way she was under 18.
Carrie turned 18 on May 13, 2005. Apparently Victoria's Secret first said that the pink undies in the released pic were not made by them before 2006, but then backed down and said they couldn't confirm who manufactured said undergarments. So the debate continues.
It appears that Carrie's first pageant appearance was at the Miss Vista (California) pageant on April 16, 2005 - a month before she became street legal -- where she was 2nd runner up. (Grijalva crowned Miss Vista 2005 - North County Times, April 18, 2005). I am sure pics of that exist somewhere, but I haven't found any. (I mean, if a beauty pageant happens and no one takes pics, did it really happen?)
However, the local Vista, CA paper ran a story on Prejean on December 4, 2004 -- five months before her 18th birthday -- about a food drive she did. With a picture. See the comparison:
While this isn't definitive, I'd say they are a pretty good match. The confirmed pic of 17-year old Carrie does look a lot like Sideboob Carrie, so her claim that these pics are underage could well be true. Plus, her hair is much blonder in recent pics. And I don't think that you can tell from the sideboob pic that it was taken after her recently installed fake boobs, as some have argued. I do wonder if she was really a "model" when the topless pic was taken though, it doesn't look professional at all.
What does all of this have to do with Prejean's ill-fated statement at the Miss USA pageant? Beats me. Its just another example of the modern internet rule that when someone gets famous (conservative or liberal), the dirty laundry is coming right around the corner.
ETA 5/11/09 7am PDT: There is a report on TMZ this morning that questions the under-18 claim made by prejean. It an anonymous tip from one of her "former pageant sponsors" (what's that? a sugar daddy?) that says Carrie sent him one of the topless pics after Jan 6, 2009 asking "if she was in good enough shape for the Miss USA Pageant." Jan 6 is the day Carrie apparently got her boobs done.
The information on TMZ is too sketchy to evaluate. I think the last few days have shown that Prejean and/or her handlers are not afraid to make stupid claims (like that the second sideboob pic released is not really her body but a photoshop job? COME ON!), so her claim that she was 17 when the pics were taken is still up for debate. But how did Prejean "send" this pic to her "former pageant sponsor"? Do kids send pics by any way these days other than email? And if so, where's the email? TMZ hedges on giving out too many details.
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ETA: Dec 11, 2009: In light of the revelations last month that Carrie Prejean was age 20 when the nude videos about her were made, where she again insisted she was 17, I think that casts great doubt on my suggestion above that she really may have been 17 when the semi-nude photos were snapped. Its still possible, but Prejean cannot be seen as credible on pretty much anything at this point.
