Hi, this is Brittany Kaplan from Showbiz Tonight– as you may have heard, Shanna Moakler resigned from her post as the Co-Executive Director of Miss California USA.  It didn’t come as much of a shock to me when I heard her announcement since I had spoken to her earlier in the week and she shared her growing concerns with me.

 Shanna Moakler told me that her frustrations with Carrie Prejean began the day she was crowned Miss California.  “You know, we've always had a little bit of a problem with Carrie from the beginning. You know, she's a very strong willed girl and she has her opinions and she, you know, is who she is. We always had a little bit of problems before Miss USA but it was something that we were working through…”

When I asked Moakler, who is vocal about her support of same sex marriage, what her initial thoughts were after Prejean gave her controversial answer during the pageant she told me: “I don't knock her for answering the question, she didn't do anything wrong, she answered the question, it was her belief, it was her opinion. I can't lie and say I as a person wasn't hurt. You know, a lot of our sponsors are openly gay. They're the ones who helped her get onto that Miss USA stage so that she could voice her opinion.”

Moakler told me that she tried very hard to be supportive; she even called Prejean that night after the pageant.  “You know I was very honest. I told her I was very proud of her. I said congratulations, you stayed true to yourself, you're first runner up that's a great honor, but at the same time, you know, you hurt a lot of people who are very close to you and who care about you immensely. I was very honest with her. I always am.” 

As we were wrapping up she told me this; “I wanted to give back to the system that helped me, not to destroy a young girl, not to ruin her image, or to sit back and watch another organization do it to someone that we were initially helping.”

Shanna Moakler will be joining us tonight on Showbiz Tonight– don’t miss it, 11pm Eastern and Pacific on HLN.