Caroline Michelle "Carrie" Prejean Boller (; born 1987) is an American model, former Miss California USA 2009, and Miss USA 2009 first runner-up. Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA crown for alleged breaches of contract. Litigation between Prejean and the Miss California USA organization was settled in November 2009. Later that month, Prejean released a book relating events from her point of view. Early years Prejean was born in San Diego, California, to Francine (Coppola) and Wilbert Prejean. Her mother is an Italian American, and her father is of French descent. She was raised in an evangelical household in Vista, California. In 1996, Prejean's parents separated and subsequently started divorce proceedings. According to her autobiography, Prejean considered the divorce a "trauma that irrevocably shaped the rest of my life". The divorce was a bitter one with accusations of poor behavior and homosexuality on both sides, and custody proceedings lasted an entire decade, by which time Prejean and her sister were already grown up. Prejean stated in her autobiography that her parents "were being selfish" when they broke up the family and that the divorce "put distance between me and my parents". She also explained that the divorce took a severe financial toll on the family, tarnished her childhood, and motivated her to provide her own children with a stable home. Prejean graduated in 2005 from Vista High School. She studied at San Diego Christian College, an evangelical private school located in El Cajon, California, and attends the Rock Church, where she volunteers with their outreach ministries, including JC's Girls. Prejean also volunteers with Luv-em-Up Ministries in El Cajon, where she works with children with developmental disabilities. She studied to become a special education teacher. Modeling Prejean has modeled for Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, and Nordstrom. She has also appeared in Bliss magazine, as a model for E! Entertainment Television, and in an interactive model search competition for the NBC game show Deal or No Deal. Prejean has been an ambassador for the San Diego Padres as a member of the Pad Squad since 2006. Beauty pageants In 2007, she competed in the Miss California USA 2008 beauty pageant and was first runner-up. Prejean returned the following year and won the Miss California USA 2009 title, succeeding Raquel Beezley as California's representative to the Miss USA pageant. Prejean competed at the nationally televised Miss USA 2009 pageant in