Mrs. World Caroline Jurie arrested after pulling crown off Mrs. Sri Lanka winner Pushpika De Silva

The Sri Lankan Police arrested the current queen of the Mrs World beauty pageant, Caroline Jurie, and a former model for forcibly removing the crown from the winner of the “Mrs Sri Lanka 2021” pageant in the middle of the coronation ceremony. 

Jurie alleged last Sunday that the Sri Lankan Pushpika De Silva was divorced and therefore did not comply with the regulations of the "Mrs. Sri Lanka" beauty pageant, which requires the participants to be married, and proceeded to grab De Silva's crown on stage. 

Jurie then gave the crown to the first-runner up, declaring she was the winner. 

Mrs. World Caroline Jurie Arrested

Jurie, also the winner of the Mrs Sri Lanka pageant in 2019, was arrested along with the former model Chula Padmendra in Colombo on charges of “simple hurt and criminal force” and were later released on bail. The two women have been ordered to appear in court on April 19. 

Jurie declined to comment as she left the police station.

 

De Silva also issued a statement saying that she and her husband are now separated but not divorced. “Living separately and divorce are completely different things.” 

Mrs. Sri Lanka Pushpika De Silva

The winner of Mrs Sri Lanka 2021 explained that Jurie took the crown from her head during the ceremony, causing injuries and a subsequent faint for which she had to go to the hospital. 

De Silva told reporters on Thursday that she was ready to drop the charges against Jurie if she issued a public apology. 

"I tried to end this out of court, but she has refused," de Silva said. "I can forgive, but not forget." 

The "Mrs. Sri Lanka" contest is a franchise of the "Mrs. World", the first international beauty pageant created in 1984 only for married women in which Jurie was crowned in 2020, during a ceremony in Las Vegas. 

In fact, the first winner of the “Mrs. World” is none other than the current Colombo Mayor, Rosy Senanayake. 

It is therefore a popular event in the country, and several videos of the moment in which the crown is snatched by the beauty queen to fall on the head of another contestant quickly went viral. 

Mrs. Sri Lanka Pushpika De Silva

De Silva was crowned again last Tuesday in a smaller ceremony after event organizers, who have called the incident unpleasant, apologized to her and restored her title.