Carrie Prejean claimed in the lawsuit she was wrongly fired over her religious beliefs after declaiming gay marriage at the Miss USA California pageant and at various speaking engagements while she was still wearing the crown. Pageant officials responded with a counter-lawsuit claiming Prejean failed to live up to the requirements of her contract, skipping scheduled events and making unauthorized appearances without permission.

The mutual lawsuits were abruptly settled recently, with Miss USA California agreeing to pay Prejean’s legal fees, but giving no cash to the former pageant queen herself. That’s when rumors surfaced Carrie Prejean had been confronted with a copy of an X-rated video tape she’d made, forcing her to settle to keep the video under wraps. Tabloid site TMZ.com claimed they had actually seen the tape, featuring Carrie Prejean pleasuring herself in front of a camera.

On Tuesday, Carrie Prejean finally spoke publicly about making the steamy tape and said it was the worst mistake she’d ever made. She claims she filmed the tape for an ex-boyfriend when she was 17. “I was a teenager,” she said in an interview with the Today Show. “I cared about him. I trusted him. I think now they call it ‘sexting.’”

“Did I think it would come back now and haunt me? No. But I think that a log of young people can learn from this. Nothing is private anymore.”
 

As for accusations her ‘family values’ and Christian morals speeches ring false after such a revelation, Prejean says “If people want to call me a hypocrite, that’s their prerogative.” Prejean, however, would not discuss why she suddenly dropped her lawsuit against Miss California USA or if the so-called sex tape was involved in the settlement.

>> Latest: Carrie Prejean Threatens to Sue Porn Company If They Release Sex Tape