Monday, March 8, 2004 Updated: March 10, 1:29 PM ET
10 Burning Questions: Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth
By Miki Turner Page 3 staff
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- Out of all the folks who've been fired by Donald Trump on NBC's hit reality show "The Apprentice," Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth was the one most viewers wanted to see gone from the beginning.
So she's been called lazy, obnoxious and stubborn. Fired "Apprentice" Omarosa plans to be the next big O.
The 29-year-old political consultant was often described as "a lazy, belligerent, obnoxious, stubborn, selfish, and uncooperative be-atch."
Wow. That just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
But according to Manigault-Stallworth, who attended the recent 35th NAACP Annual Image Awards, it doesn't really matter what people thought of her on the show. Girlfriend, who was fired in last Thursday's episode, is about to be paid -- or so she thinks.
When Page 3 caught up with the former reality show star on the red carpet, she told us all about her plan to be the next Oprah and much, much more!
1. What did you do on the day you got fired?Manigault-Stallworth: I called my friend Jacque Reid from BET and told her I wanted some grits. So we went up to Ann Ruth's in New York, and we had grits, catfish and scrambled eggs. We worked it out!
2. That sounds like some serious food.
It was one of those meals that was good for your soul.
3. How was it being on the show despite what happened?
First of all, I was honored to be selected to be on the show. Just by virtue of being chosen, it was a winning situation for me.
4. What was it like working for The Donald?
The opportunity to learn from Donald Trump was invaluable. There was so much information that I gathered from him. We would have these sessions where there was so much information to extract, if you were wise. So I observed everything he did, and I took mental notes of every single way that he executed in business.
5. Even though you were the person people loved to hate, you might very well be the most remembered person on "The Apprentice." How has the response from the public been?
It's amazing. The amount of love I've been getting from the public is incredible. After I did the "Today" show, I spent hours taking pictures and signing autographs and those kinds of things.
You can learn a lot from The Donald, like that crazy "You're Fired" hand move and how not to wear your hair.
6. What about the response from women. Did they appreciate how bold you were?
I think that there needs to be a new paradigm for women in corporate America. We need to start empowering ourselves with the ability to verbalize our position and where we want to go in our fields and go after it without any regrets.
7. How did you feel about the way you were presented on the show?
Well, we're 10 years into reality television, and every African American woman on reality television is portrayed the same way.
What is that?
I look at my little sister Camille who is also at Howard University. She's angry, and she's got a chip on her shoulder. How can you portray ever African American woman the same way on every single reality show? There has to be some creativity at some point. I actually want to challenge the producers of every reality show to re-examine their characterization of African American women and how they frame us in this new genre.
8. What would you like to see?
There are other sides to us. We're dynamic, we're spontaneous, caring and loving and you never see that side of us, and it's unfortunate.
9. So what's up next for you?
I learned a lot from Trump and one of those lessons was branding. You're going to see a line of Omarosa business suits and business accessories. You're going to see a couple of book deals that I'm cutting, and I'm also negotiating a talk show. You're going to see a whole lot from me. In the last two days, the calls have not stopped so there may be even more on the horizon.
When can we expect to see all this good stuff?
Well, first we have to get through the finale. The show is doing a live finale on April 15 on NBC and after that, that will sort of be the beginning for the launch of all the products that I'm doing.
10. Who wins?
Donald Trump. He has made so much money off of all of us, he can be the only winner in this situation.
Miki Turner is a day and night laborer in L.A. She can be reached at dmiki@aol.com.
