Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Miss USA's Vegas b'day bash pulled! The party is Over!



The party is over for disgraced Miss USA Tara Conner. Tonight's birthday bash for the martini-swizzling belle - who turned 21 yesterday - was canceled as she awaits word on whether she'll be dethroned. Instead of prepping for a chic fete at Caesars Palace club Pure in Las Vegas, Conner returned to New York last night in preparation for this morning's private chat with pageant owner Donald Trump. He'll announce whether she'll be stripped of her title later today.

"Her people canceled for personal reasons this past Saturday," according to Pure spokesman Craig Nyman. The Kentucky-bred beauty recently tested positive for cocaine and has been spotted boozing in Chelsea clubs, bad-girl behavior that has put her crown in peril. She may have to hand over her $17,500 Mikimoto pearl-dotted tiara, according to pageant officials, who are still deciding if she can keep it.

On Friday night, Conner crammed her costly crown into her purse while she sipped martinis with a friend at the Algonquin Hotel's Blue Bar on W. 44th St., sources said. If Trump dumps her from his West Side apartment, she may end up in a Penthouse. The magazine was trying to reach Conner's agent and manager yesterday about the possibility of doing a photo spread. "In the case that she was dethroned, there is the possibility that we would offer her a pictorial," said Penthouse spokeswoman Kathleen Berzon. "We all know that it worked out well for Vanessa Williams."

Williams was the first African-American to win the Miss America title, but was forced to resign when nude pictures she had taken before her beauty contest career surfaced in Penthouse. Williams went on to become a singing sensation and Broadway star, and is currently starring in "Ugly Betty."

One agent predicted Conner could "certainly fetch something in the high six figures" for the deal. Conner has been caught in a sizzling smooch with Miss Teen USA Katie Blair, an 18-year-old who partied with Conner at Chelsea club Ultra on Dec. 8. The two share a Trump Place pad with Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera on the upper West Side. Blair's crown appears to be safe, but her role as a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving may not be. "We have reached out to the folks at the Miss Teen USA association to try and get more information," said MADD spokeswoman Heidi Castle. "My understanding is they are still looking into it....Obviously, it is something we are very concerned about."

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