Carlina Duran, a Dominican model who won the national crown of Miss Dominican Republic 2012, has been forced to relinquish her crown after pageant officials discovered that she is already married.

According to reports, 25-year-old Carlina Duran has been dethroned for violating a rule which requires all contestants vying for the crown to be single. Magaly Febles, director of the Miss Dominican Republic contest, said that the model got married in 2009.

Carlina Duran said in a statement read at a Wednesday night news conference that she had never lived with her husband and the marriage was never consummated.

“In my daily life, I remained like a single woman, without thinking of myself neither materially nor spiritually married,” said the statement, read by her lawyer, Radhames Cornielle.

Duran’s statement also said that her marriage was short-lived, and that she and her husband had begun annulment proceedings. The statement, however, didn’t specify if the annulment was finalized. The statement of the dethroned Miss Dominican Republic called her decision to hide her marriage from the contest organizers the “fruit of my inexperience.”

Carlina Duran gave up the crown as Miss Dominican Republic to first runner-up, 24-year-old Dulcita Lieggi, at a news conference.

The model, who owns a spa in Santo Domingo, was crowned Miss Dominican Republic on April 17 and was to represent her country at the Miss Universe contest.