IN A sea of curlers and rhinestones, one star was supposed to shine brighter than the rest.
But Eden Wood, the pint-sized US beauty pageant princess, withdrew from the Universal Royalty Pageant, held in Melbourne yesterday, after her mother expressed fears for her safety.
The children's beauty pageant has attracted a blaze of publicity, with protesters concerned that the US-style competition sexualises children. Police were even on standby in case the protests turned ugly.
But the war between rival current affairs shows threatened to overshadow the event. Channel Seven's Today Tonight had secured exclusive access to Eden and her mother, while Channel Nine had stitched up the event for an exclusive story on A Current Affair.
In the media frenzy and the concern about protesters, Eden's mother and manager, Mickie Wood, withdrew her daughter from the contest.
Ms Wood said her daughter, 6, who featured in the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras, had received threats on Facebook including ''go shoot yourself'' after the pageant, run by Texas-based Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, was announced.
Universal Royalty's Melbourne contest Facebook page had spruiked Eden's appearance as a key attraction of the show, ''in her full rhinestone glamour taking photos, signing autographs''.
Yesterday, the protesters chose a nearby park to voice their opposition to the pageant.
A small group carried signs saying ''Babies are not Barbies'' and ''Sandpits not glitz''.
Maya Wright, 5, held up the slogan: ''Keep tiaras off our toddlers.''
She shrugged when asked what was wrong with children's beauty pageants. ''I don't think she really knows,'' her mother said.
Anti-pageant protester Catherine Manning, from the community organisation Pull the Pin on Beauty Pageants for Children, called for new laws to ban children aged under 16 from beauty pageants.
She said performing and competition are important for children, but not when it is based on physical beauty:''We are very concerned that … there are little girls who have been primped and preened, and waxed and spray-tanned to look like Vegas showgirls being paraded in front of a panel of judges, to potentially be told they're not good enough, they're not hot enough, they're not pretty enough.''
The Victorian Minister for Children, Wendy Lovell, asked the Child Safety Commissioner, Bernie Geary, to investigate whether the event exploited children.
Ms Lovell said any regulation of beauty pageants would need to exempt ''innocent'' events, such as kindergarten baby show fundraisers.
''I would never enter a child into a pageant myself, but I think we have to trust parents to make the right decision for their children''.
Ms Lovell said she had met pageant organisers on Friday to ensure the event complied ''with Victoria's regulatory framework''.
''We were assured in the meeting that it's not a 'toddler and tiaras' type of event, that there will be limited use of make-up and it is far more subdued than what we see on TV.''
Mr Geary declined to comment on what he observed at the event. The decision by Ms Wood to withdraw Eden from the event left many of her fans disappointed after they had paid $50 to have their photo taken with the young starlet. Entrants were reportedly told they could cash in their money for other event merchandise.
While Eden was whisked away , the daughter of another high-profile couple stayed. Dakhota Williams, daughter of gangland killer Carl and former wife Roberta, was one of 150 girls who paid $295 to compete for the crown.
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