CNN’s Larry King, in Las Vegas on Thursday to emcee the “Rock for the Cure” fundraiser at The Mirage, said Carrie Prejean, former Miss California USA, “really hurt herself” with her actions on his show Wednesday.

During her book-promoting appearance, Prejean repeatedly invoked the word “inappropriate” when King asked what motivated her settlement of a lawsuit with Miss USA beauty pageant officials.

Prejean believes she lost her Miss California USA crown because of her opposition to gay marriage, but pageant organizers said she was skipping official events.

King said he was trying to be respectful of the terms of her settlement. But “I’ve been doing this for lot of years, and others have said, ‘I settled because I just wanted to put it behind me.’”

In a bizarre response that played out on national television, Prejean eventually removed her ear plugs and placed them in front of her and appeared to be seeking advice from a handler off camera.

“She could have said any number of things,” King told me. “She hurt herself.”

On another front, when King was asked for wife Shawn‘s reaction to Marie Osmond‘s recent firing of her father, Karl Engemann, as her manager, King said, “She’s really hurt. She’s devastated. She and Marie were close for years. Karl represented Marie for 35 years. Shawn is devastated.”

Shawn King, who was in Nashville working on an album, was asked to comment but did not respond by deadline.