Five women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants were changing; some of the girls were as young as 15-years-old.

“I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,’” said Mariah Billado, the former Miss Vermont Teen USA.  She recalled Trump saying something like, “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.”

“It was certainly the most inappropriate time to meet us all for the first time,” said Victoria Hughes, the former Miss New Mexico Teen USA, in an email. “The youngest girl was 15, and I was the eldest at 19.”

“We actually never once saw him during the two-week period until he came into the dressing room prior to the show,” said Hughes, referring to the two weeks of rehearsals leading up to the pageant. In a subsequent email, she elaborated: “I was the eldest delegate at age 19 and was in the very back of the large dressing room. I recall chaperones saying that we had a visitor and to get covered up,” she wrote. “The black curtains opened and in walks Mr. Trump smiling. He wished us all good luck, did not stay very long and left. As teenagers, it no doubt caught us off guard, as the timing of the entrance could’ve been better and less awkward for us all.”

Three other women, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of getting immersed in a media firestorm, said they also remembered Trump entering the dressing room while the girls were changing. Two of the girls said they rushed to cover their bodies, with one calling it “shocking” and “creepy.” The third said she was clothed and introduced herself to Trump.

Eleven of that year's contestants were contacted as well but did not recall seeing Trump in the dressing room. Some said it was possible that it happened while they weren’t in the room or that they didn’t notice, but most were dubious or dismissed the possibility that it could happen.

“There were so many chaperones I can’t even fathom him doing so," said Jessica Granata, the former Miss Massachusetts Teen USA. “It was very secure.”

Allison Bowman, former Miss Wisconsin Teen USA, cast doubt on whether it happened. “These were teenage girls,” Bowman said. “If anything inappropriate had gone on, the gossip would have flown.”

“There was way too much security,” said Crystal Hughes, the former Miss Maine Teen USA. “If that was something he did, then everybody would have noticed.”  When asked why some of her fellow contestants said he did enter the changing room, Hughes responded, “They’re probably lying because they are voting for Hillary Clinton.”

Trump, who owned the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants from 1996 until last year, has publicly bragged about invading beauty queen dressing rooms, calling it one of his advantages of ownership.

“I’ll tell you the funniest is that I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed,” Trump told Howard Stern in recordings released Saturday by CNN. “No men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. … ‘Is everyone OK?’ You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. ‘Is everybody OK?’ And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.”

He appeared to be talking about adult contestants.  Until now it was never alleged that this behavior extended to the teen pageant, in which contestants can be as old as 19 or as young as 14.

Last week, a 2005 tape was leaked in which Trump boasted about being able to do anything to women when you're rich and famous, "when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y," he was heard saying. Trump dismissed his comments as "locker room talk," but it has put his treatment of women under the microscope, and numerous women have come forward with allegations that the Republican nominee had subjected them to unwanted sexual contact.

Source: buzzfeed.com