Miss World 2011 Winner: Former Welsh Miss World Returns to See Miss Venezuela Take Crown (PHOTOS)
Former Miss World winner Helen Morgan who won the title for Wales in 1974, was reported to be back to watch the competition in London today, almost 40 years after she gave up her crown following a media controversy.
Just days after winning the title in 1974, tabloids reported that she was an unmarried mother and had an affair with a married man. She denied those allegations and resigned, becoming the first Miss World to quit.
Morgan told the Independent: “I was very naive. I thought everything you read in the paper was true. That was the biggest shock to me, the way that the media worked. It was a bit of a circus.”
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She continued: “I was exhausted, and felt physically ill. When something like that happens you'd rather go away for a while, dig a little hole and jump into it.”
She told the Independent how she had talks with the contest’s organizers Eric and Julia Morley: “I went into the Miss World office and we all came to the conclusion that it was better if I quit.”
After her resignation, she laid low and met her future husband Ronny Lamb and had two children aged 25 and 23. She had not told her friends about her title.
"It does stick a label on you and it does make people look at you and maybe you feel you're being judged."
But she said: "People always find out in the end. I never ever tell anybody, but my kids have got a big mouth, and so has my husband."
She continued: “It was a shame what happened, but it happened and I have no regrets. I had no idea Miss World was on until you called. I contacted them and got an email from Julia Morley saying she'd love me to come along. It will be quite interesting to see what it's like now.”
