Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse is speaking publicly for the first time since losing her title, saying Friday that she believes her conservative politics and religious convictions may have contributed to the decision to take away her crown.
“I believe and think I was stripped from my title because of my political stance and my belief system as a conservative Christian woman,” Boltinhouse, 27, said in a new interview with the Carolina Journal.
Until now, Boltinhouse had largely stayed silent following her abrupt removal amid allegations involving racist posts on social media.
“I am proud of my faith — I am proud of my standards,” she said.
In the interview, Boltinhouse repeatedly pointed to her identity as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and described herself as a “God-fearing woman,” suggesting that her faith-centered worldview may have been a factor in the dispute.
“I believe we believe that we are a nation under god, and that’s who I am and that’s who my parents taught me to be — is a person who loves this country because this country has given me opportunity, and opportunity to show my religious beliefs, and I am proud of that,” she said.
Boltinhouse told the Carolina Journal that “all I can say is that I think and believe that my title was ripped from me because of my beliefs,” framing the controversy as a clash over values rather than simply a pageant disciplinary matter.
Still, she stopped short of saying whether conservative views generally place pageant contestants at a disadvantage.
“I won’t be judged for my past, and I won’t be judged at all because I am the woman I am today,” she explains.
For Boltinhouse, the sudden loss of the crown felt surreal: “It went from a dream to a nightmare, really fast.”
Considering herself a trailblazer for other conservative women, she purports that she is “glad” she is the subject of public ire instead of another pageant contestant with a weaker constitution.
“I’m glad it happened to me and not some other woman or little girl that could be going through something mentally so hard, but I’m able to handle it and I’m at peace with it,” she said, adding, “I also want to say I want to forgive the ones who are doing this to me as well.”
“I forgive them because that is what I was raised to do. My parents raised me to be that way,” she continued.
Boltinhouse says that her critics are not blessed with the same “wisdom and knowledge” she has to persevere in the face of adversity.
“I show a lot of grace, a lot of love, to those people, because I know they make mistakes too — I understand that they may not have the wisdom and knowledge that I do, but I forgive them, and I want you to know that.”
She was formally dethroned from the position on Wednesday after pageant organizers performed a “thorough review of recently surfaced information.”
The controversy surrounding the former beauty queen arose when she allegedly used the N-word multiple times and bizarrely referred to herself as “toxic” in resurfaced posts under the username ‘Sosa the Stallion.’”
The crown was handed over to runner-up Myla Hadley following Boltinhouse’s ouster.
While she maintains that she doesn’t know for certain if her conservative beliefs led to her dethronement, Boltinhouse asserts that expressing one’s political views and feelings is a constitutional right and that she remains committed to standing by her principles.
The Post has reached out to Miss North Carolina USA and A-Blaize Productions, which oversees the pageant, for a response to Boltinhouse’s comments.
Boltinhouse’s family reportedly slammed pageant organizers for “saving face” after she was stripped of her title.
“I think it’s important to put her truth out and have the proper narrative out versus a narrative that is saving the face [of] an organization,” a relative told the Daily Mail.
“As you can imagine, there’s a lot we would like to say but we are taking the time to be in prayer and unity and [will] respond in a manner [that] God calls us to,” the family member added.
The former beauty queen, who lives in Wilmington, allegedly used the N-word multiple times and called herself “toxic” in resurfaced social media posts under the alias ‘Sosa the Stallion’ between 2017 and 2019, according to the NC Beat.
