Shannon LaRhea Marketic (born January 14, 1971) is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss California USA Miss California USA is the beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. The pageant is directed by Crown Diva Productions. California's mos ...

1992 and Miss USA 1992.

Biography

Pageants

Marketic was crowned Miss Arizona Teen USA 1989 but held the title for only a week and a half after it was discovered an error had been made and she had actually placed first runner-up. A few years later, Marketic won the

1992 title after being crowned Miss Malibu USA 1992, and went on to represent

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the Miss USA 1992 pageant, which was broadcast live from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

in February of that year. She placed

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

in semifinal interview, sixth in

swimsuit A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types and styles may be worn ...

and

evening gown An evening gown, evening dress or gown is a long dress usually worn at formal occasions. The drop ranges from Ballerina skirt, ballerina (mid-calf to just above the ankles), Tea length, tea (above the ankles), to Skirt length, full-length. S ...

, which allowed her to advance as one of the Top 6 finalists of the competition with the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

highest semi-finals average score. After answering the judges' questions, she went into the final 3 in

place, eventually winning the Miss Photogenic award and the Miss USA title. Marketic went on to compete in the 1992

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant held in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

on May 8 and was one of 10 semifinalists who competed for the title. She eventually placed 8th overall.

Sultan of Brunei incident

In 1997 Marketic sued Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei, claiming that she and other women were hired for promotional work but instead held as a "virtual prisoner", drugged and sexually abused. The Sultan denied the claims. Marketic's lawsuit named Miss USA 1997 Brandi Sherwood as also being a victim, however Sherwood declined to file her own lawsuit. After 18 months of litigation, a judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that the Sultan had sovereign immunity as

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marketic, Shannon 1971 births Crime in Brunei Female models from Arizona Female models from California 1997 in Brunei Living people Miss Photogenic at Miss USA Miss Universe 1992 contestants Miss USA 1992 delegates Miss USA winners People from Greater Los Angeles People from Phoenix, Arizona 21st-century American women