Texas Beauty Queen Goes to Court to Keep Crown After Weight Gain

A 17-year-old Texas beauty pageant winner appeared in court this week, claiming she was unfairly stripped of her Miss San Antonio title after gaining weight.

Dominique Ramirez says pageant officials requested the former volleyball player and model "drop 13 pounds" before replacing her with the pageant's runner-up.

But the Miss Bexar County pageant claims the teen's weight was "absolutely not" a factor in the board's decision to dethrone Ramirez. Her consistent tardiness was "the main reason and really the only factor" the San Antonio beauty queen lost her title.

"I never made weight an issue," Linda Woods, a spokeswoman for the pageant board told Fox News.com. According to Woods, Ramirez "didn't take her responsibility seriously" and was sometimes a "no-show" at required public appearances. The young lady often arrived "over an hour late" to events, with "no makeup, a dirty sash and a broken crown," Woods added.

While Woods says weight was not the deciding factor in stripping Ramirez of her crown, the pageant board did encourage her to get on an "exercise program" to prepare for the Miss Texas competition, "just like any elite athlete," Woods said.

Until the legal case is settled, a Bexar County judge has issued an order preventing the pageant organization from taking away Ramirez's crown.

Fox News' Megyn Kelly weighed in on the case Wednesday: