April 24, 2025 • 39 mins
The reality star turned political aide turned New York Times best-selling author—who only needs to go by one name—joins Amy and T.J. on the podcast. Omarosa Manigault Newman talks about her new Hulu reality show, Got to Get Out, and reflects on the beginning of her career with Donald Trump. Omarosa compares the man she knew as her entertainment boss to the man who is now the President of the United States. Hear directly from “the woman America loved to hate” about being vilified—and you just might fall in love with her.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, the folks today, we are talking about the all
time greats. You know, those people in the world will
reached such a level of fame, such a level of accomplishment,
such a level of greatness that they just go by
one name. Yeah, so we're talking about the mononym of
folks out there in robes. We're gonna start this episode
a little different. Everybody knows these names. You give me
(00:24):
your reaction when I say Madonna.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, material girl, Shack, amazing basketball player, share, I mean,
could you get a better singer?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Zendaya?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, she's gorgeous in a phenomenal actress. Beyonce Yeah, I
mean enough, I mean, hello, she is Beyonce. Kobe Yeah,
shooting some hoops, sting. Yeah, he knows how to sing
as well. Bono Yeah, another great musician. Nelly, love him too.
I gets getting hot in here. Adele, Yes, she can
sing a few notes. Rihanna, Yeah, I love her. Mega
(00:57):
Eminem one of the greatest. Prince Yeah, hello, Oprah Wow, yes,
of course, Yeah, Lizzo, They're They're all incredible and we
know who they are immediately. Yeah, what do you want
me to say with that?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Folks? Welcome to this edition.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Amy, do you Jay Oh Baco battle can sing and
you're like, what do you want me to say?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You know what I'll tell I'll tell you a morosa
the word that came in my mind. And I know
it's going to piss you off because it would piss
me off. But villain, that is the word that came
to my mind. You have been vilified no matter what
you do, no matter what show you're in, no matter
what book you write, there's always a way to vilify you.
So yes, that word came to my head and I
(01:49):
didn't want to say it out loud, but I'll say it.
I'll say that is the word that came to my mind.
It's unfair, it's unfounded, but that that is how you
have been portrayed is.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
An unfair unfounded Do you welcome that label sometimes?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You know, I understand where it comes from. But you
guys have been vilified to you know, sometimes this is
fairly and unfairly. But I have leaned into the villain
persona at different times in my career. But twenty years later,
I'm a little surprised, right because you know, after twenty
years you kind of get to realize that reality TV
(02:23):
is what it is. But I lean into it. I
don't mind and speaking my name right on the check.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Okay, yeah, speaking of reality TV, Yes, let's backup and
introduce yes, mss Omerosa Manigault Newman, who, of course is
reality show reality competition show royalty in this Country, also
author of the book Unhinged Poses to Get That Right,
an insider's account of the Trump White House.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes and insider. Yes, she is a best selling authorber Welcome, Welcome, wealthy.
It is so good to see you.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
When when is y'alls book coming out?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we've talked about.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It, new's here today. When when is the book coming out?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay? I am not okay, we Morosa is so funny
you said this and Robes doesn't even know this yet.
But as we're recording this sixteen minutes ago, I got
a email from a book agent. I kid you not.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That is so weird that that just happens, same wavelength.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But we don't know when the book might be coming out.
But welcome, welcome. Why look, you've done a lot of
reality shows. Why this one now? On this new one?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
On?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Who help me with the title here? I got to
get out? Got to get Out is the title of it.
But why did this one appeal to you?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, first of all, thank you all for having me on. Sorry, Amy,
I didn't mean to get you know, on you so early.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No, no, it's not all right. You're living up to
your reputation. A morosa set it.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Off early in this interview. I'm celebrating twenty years in
this amazing business. I'm celebrating twenty years of doing what
I'd love to do and so so I kind of
challenged my agent, amazing Anthony DiBiase, to find something fun
for me to do to celebrate my twentieth year anniversary
(04:08):
and reality TV. And this pitch was so it was
so crazy and fun and exciting. The more he described it,
I was like, now tell me again, what do I
have to do? Just get out of the house for
a million dollars to sign me up? And it's an
amazing mansion, thirty five thousand square foot million dollar mansion
(04:29):
in Canada, And it was. It was incredible. It was
an incredible experience and I'm so happy that I did
it in order to give my fans exactly what they
wanted my twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Ah, I love that give the fans exactly what they wanted.
Do they expect you to be a villain, to be
you know, conniving, to be manipulated. I mean, you said
you leaned into it, but are you acting in a
way or are you just drawing on that side of
your personality? How do you go into a show like this?
Do you have a a persona in mind or almost
(05:02):
like a script in your head? Or is it truly
just you being authentically yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I mean, not to get too deep on this early morning,
but the reality is is that if a woman goes
into a competitive environment and she decides to play the
game just as tough, as strategic as the men, we
get the labels right. So there's a million dollars on
the line and I'm trying to find every twist, turn
(05:27):
up down strategy to get out of this house to win,
and instead of being labeled the hero for doing so,
then the title is the villain.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I like to win and from the first time that
you saw me on your TV screens, you knew that
I wanted to win, and still did everybody else. But
because I played the game my way, it was labeled
as a villainous approach, as opposed to some of the
other labels that people got, So that's fair. But the
truth of the matter is women trying to be competitive
(05:57):
in an environment like that, We're going to get every
single name that you can attach to women who are
strong and smart and strategic, as opposed to just calling
us what we are, which is fantastic, fabulous, go get
or women.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I love that, I mean, and it's funny. I even see,
like my daughters who are now young women, they actually
lean into the term boss bitch. I mean they own
it in a way like it's really bit right, like
that kind of like it's a compliment. It's not a negative.
But it's something that we've had to turn around as
women specifically, because yeah, when you're demonstrative, when you're when
(06:31):
you know what you want and you know how to
get it, suddenly you're a bad guy.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So both of y'all though, actually both you Robes and Morosa.
Has that changed? Has it changed Morosa since you were
on twenty years ago first started. Do we view women
differently in these environments or is it feel exactly the
same as always? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
No, it is not changed. Unfortunately, I would have loved
to say that the industry has evolved, or the persona
the perceptions have evolved for strong women, but it hasn't,
and we constantly have to defend decisions that we make
to advance our own interests. I'm tired of apologizing for
going out there and getting what I want, going after
(07:09):
what I want, and accomplishing my goals. Call me what
you want, but don't call me late for dinner, okay?
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And as to what you're saying, if you think about
even obviously not many people have the reality show experience
you've had, the New York Times best selling author of
experience you've had, and a political career on top of it,
And when you think about what we've seen from Hillary
Clinton to Kamala Harris, I mean, powerful women can't even
get elected by other women. I mean it really is true.
(07:38):
And you've seen the inside workings of politics and what
it's like behind the scenes. How are women treated in
the White House in that environment. Is it the same
as what you've experienced in reality shows or is it different?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well? I kind of feel like I mean that I've
had a chance to watch you go through your career
over the years, and I've seen how you've had to
fight for your career and fight for your position and
your stature. I think you could probably attest that we
have to work even harder than our male counterparts to
gain the type of respect that we want to get
(08:11):
to the levels that we want to get to. And
I do see it no matter what industry I'm in.
I've worked in politics, as you know, I've worked in entertainment,
I've worked in business, and I see the same dynamics
playing over and over again. And the one thing I
want to just say to any of the women that
are watching, stop apologizing for going after what you want.
(08:32):
Stop trying to get people to like you or to
get them to invite you into spaces that you're not welcome.
Create spaces for yourself, define for yourself who you are
and what you want to accomplish, and then go after it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I love what you just said. Omris we Robock and
I debated about should we start with some politics stuff,
should we do the reality show stuff first? And I'm
glad we've gone the direction we've gone. That is great,
great advice from someone who has seen it at many
different levels. What is it, though, that you find that
(09:05):
women struggle so hard with? Because because I've had that
said before, had some people say I've been in a room.
I've never said that to women, but I've been when
it's been said, and sometimes the reaction is wow, that
sounds so easy. But like, what is the butt to
try to get someone over that hump? Like that's easy
(09:25):
to say, and that's not my personality or I'm just
trying to play nice so I can get this job.
What is the butt to get people over that hump?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I think the butt is the freedom of defining your
own terms, laying out your own path. That's the freedom
that I have now. You know, I hear people when
you say the name a Morosa, you get these different reactions.
And at this point, I truly am free from what
people think of me. And the moment you get to
that point where you no longer care about other people's opinion,
(09:56):
it is a level of freedom that people you know,
aspire to to get to. And so I'm happy that
I am here at this point in my life and
that I can actually empower and inspire other women to
embrace that power as well.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
This is an absolute personal question. How long did it
take you to get there? I'm serious, that's so hard
for people like us. I think we're getting better about it,
but we aren't there yet. What did it take? How
long did it take for you to get to that?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
No, for TJ, I've known you long enough to know
that you have handled these situations with a lot of grace,
a lot of grace under fire from attacks that some
of them you just truly didn't deserve. So I appreciate
that you're still going through that storm, but I'm going
to tell you, at the end of that storm, the
only thing you have are the people that you truly
love and the things that are important to you change
(10:51):
over time, and you change because of those challenges and
those obstacles that you have to overcome. I know that
I've changed over the years. You've watched me through my
ups and downs, my battles, whether it was in the
White House, whether I was battling for positioning in Hollywood.
You've watched those changes. And I can tell you because
of those storms, I'm a better person. I'm a stronger person,
(11:12):
and I can absolutely tell you that I'm a wiser
person and act accordingly.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, all of our show was a therapy se.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Right, so tell us more. But it's funny because we
did get to probably one of our lowest points was
when everyone has said the worst possible things about you
that you could have never even imagined someone would print
about you. Once you get to that place, you're kind
of like, there is a freedom on the other side
(11:41):
of You're like, what else can they say? They've already
said it all. There's actually nothing else they could say
that would be worse than that, And so there is freedom.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
When you start looking at it through that lens. It's
a tough spot to be in, but it is perspective
that ultimately will give you peace and will set you free.
But you and I and TJ, we all know that
we're still potentially when you've got that background or someone
can google you and find.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Whatever your clickbait forever, Like, does the clickbait ever end?
Even when you're going through this new reality show and
you've got new adventures in new projects, you're still like
one of those people who will I don't know forever
be potentially clickbait. How do you deal with that?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Oh my gosh, the clickbait. The reason the clickbait bothers me,
And not all of it does, but the people who
I'm close to that causes those headlines, and some of
it is very innocent. One of my castmates who I
absolutely adore on this show. Her name is Susan. She's
from the Golden Bachelor, and I think quite innocently gave
an interview where she talked about her first encounter with me,
(12:48):
which was captured by the cameras and is a part
of the episode. I walk in, I say, Hi, Susan,
I'm omar Rosa. Nice to meet you. The headline says,
Susan and Omrosa have a huge spat, a huge arch
And I'm reading the article going, what art that we have?
This is a person who I adore, who every morning
I woke up and had incredible breakfast for. But there
(13:09):
was one line in her interview where she talked about
saying I don't watch reality TV, and I said to her,
you might want to change your tune since you are
in fact shooting a reality show like right now.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's good advice.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That was the headline that came out of it, that
we had some huge fats. So when it's people that
I care about, people who are in my inner circle,
and they become kind of caught up in this web
of clickbait, that does in fact bother me. But for
the most part. The other stuff, I just kind of
throw it away. It doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I felt. And you talked about Susan Knowles, who we love,
we adore her, and I told her you were going
to be on the show, and I don't think she
will mind me saying this, but she flat out wrote
she is a sweetheart. She knows her shit. Oh that
is what she wrote about you.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
But no one will print that headline because it's kind,
because it's nice, because it's women supporting women, and that's annoying.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It is. It is quite annoying. But then, on the
other hand, I had another pastmate and he sent me
a text and said, I'm doing an interview and I'm
going to just tell them how we had such a
great time on the show and how much of sweetheart
you were. The next headline I'm telling you twenty four
hours later was the Daily Mail saying that this housemate said,
you will never believe what Omerosa did in my bed.
(14:27):
I said, what, I'm happily married. We went to a
pastor for eight years. What do you talk about what
I said of it? I put a one of the
props in his bed. It was a rat, like a
rat heead and I put it in his bed walked away.
It was a practical joke. But for the headline to
say you will never believe what she did in my bed,
as if I did something lascidious in his bed, it was.
(14:51):
That was one of those things where I was like, Okay,
this is taking clickbait way too far. He instantly corrected it.
But those are the moments where they're like your friends
and people that you you care about, and they get
caught into that deception. And the deception is click here,
read the story. But the story has nothing to do
with the headlines.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We knew that intellectually when we were a journalists, but
until it happens to you, you can't actually really know
what it's like and the impact it has. To the
point now, TJ and I have made a pact between
us when we're researching from morning run and doing you know,
we have to click on a lot of articles to
get all the information we need when we see something
(15:32):
that we know has to be clickbait, and it's so
temping because you're thinking, really, what, we will not click
on it just for the principle of the matter. Yeah,
I will read the link and say is that clickbait, Yes,
do not click it. Go to make a point like
we won't give them one more click, and we can
help it.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
With all the Megan Marco stuff, you know, any mean
Marco star, ninety nine point nine percent of the time,
it's going to be clickbait, like none of it is real,
and some of it is so tempting, you know, because
I adore her, I interacted with her when I was
out here in Hollywood, wonderful, her mother is wonderful, She's
a great person. So you're you care about her, so
(16:09):
you want to read if there is something happening. But
ninety nine point of everything written about her is in
fact clickbait.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
What would you say, so far, o Morosa in this interview?
What is what do we give people that they're going
to pluck out and make a negative headline about? Have
we blown it already?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Probably?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Well no, I will. I will, however, say that the
idea that you all are writing this amazing book is
a headline I just or you and I'm so happy
I'm a part of this because I'll get the first
copy and you'll have to autograph it. But breaking news,
Amy and Day are writing a tell all book. And
(17:01):
it'll be on your bookshelves in time for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Boy, she knows the game.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I was just gonna say, she knows what she's doing.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, speaking of that, when I saw that you were
going to be on this new reality show, celebrity reality
competition show, I immediately thought, that's unfair. Obviously she's gonna win.
She has an advantage of Do you feel like that?
When I look at you and the people you were
up against, I'm like, that's not fair. She's gonna wipe
the floor with these folks, right, But.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I have a built in disadvantage because they know everything.
If you want to know anything about how I've played
in these competitive games going all the way back from
The Apprentice, Brother, Fear Factor, Girls, Behavior, you name it,
you can watch how I've competed. So they kind of
know my strategy. And a lot of them, particularly the
folks who are movies, that's what they call them, movies,
(17:50):
they didn't want to work with me. They're like, oh,
I don't want to team up with her, so they
would team up with people who just were completely ineffective.
So they would rather lose with somebody who was ineffective.
Then you know, team up with me, so I had
to evolve my game and it was okay. I didn't
take it personal. Actually I leaned into it. You try
to get intel good information, and it worked quite well
(18:15):
for me, I believe. But yes, the disadvantage is that
everybody knows a lot about me. The advantages A lot
of people know a lot about me and they know
I like to win. So if you want to be
able to winner, you know, sign up with me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Now, Homer, have you been able to watch the season
all the way through yet? How far have you watched
on your own?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I watched it with my my, my dear husband, and
what he did was not prepared for was that I
had that encounter with Spencer in our primary bathroom.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
We haven't made it to that yet.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh okay, okay, I don't want to ruin for the viewers,
but I will give you this little tippet. Kim Zaziak
and Cynthia Bailey from the House Vibes my roommates. I
was very blessed to have them because it was just
such a good time in our room. But we did
kidnap a life size bear from a girl from the Bachelor.
I know this sounds like crazy town, from a girl
(19:12):
from the Bachelor who I just love. Her name is Demmy.
We stole her bear as a part of a clue
to get almost six hundred thousand dollars. I'm just gonna
preview that for you, and it all held broke loose.
It was the craziest episode of the entire show. You
see me running through the house with a bear. You'll
see Kim hiding the bear and us trying to disguise
(19:32):
this life size bear. When I tell you, it's the
most fun that I've had in a very long time.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I mean, it was just I'm an adrenaline junkie. I
got all my fix from the adrenaline because they're race
cars and Lamborghinis and clues and big money at stakes
and runs and a lot of laughs. So it was good.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Omros, we heard a kidnap bear. That sounds like a
funny enough prank. So what in all that scenario did
your husband particularly have an issue with and didn't like
so much? In that episode?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
She thought she was like getting around that and not
actually having to directly answer that we were podcaster.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I've forgotten big pros. Y'all were not going to allow me,
so in order to not film in the bathroom, a
person cannot be in a state of undress. That's a
rule on reality TV. They the cameras just can't come
into the room. Spencer comes with his big camera crew.
They're following him behind as an action scene. We're trying
(20:33):
to hide this bear. There's hundreds of thousand on the line.
And he starts to walk into our bathroom. Says Spencer,
I'm changing cloths, I'm getting a trust and I start
to pull down my pants.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Okay, got it, got it. Start to though that that's
the phrase.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Where you saw you know, uh, you know a little more.
But no, to my surprise, my husband thought it was
so funny. He thought it was hilarious. No, he's got
such a good sense of humor. And thank god, Heidi
thought it was funny. Spencer's lovely one to I adore
it was a it was a very and the moment
(21:12):
I went to start doing it, he turned around. It
wasn't a big thing. But yes, there's a bear. There's housewives,
there's bachelors, there's apprentices, there's big breath. It's all in
this house. And that's kind of the whole fun of
the show.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's experience. She's smart enough to I wouldn't have known
that little nugget. Then if I pull HI up, the
camera crew can't come in here. If I am undressing
in someone correct, that is brilliant.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
All I have to do is really unbutton a button.
I mean, I could have just unbuttoned a button, but
I'll always take it to the extreme. Okay, why not
another level?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Why not? It's good entertainment value. So it's it's funny.
I was doing a deep dive about all your reality
shows and I came across one that I had never
heard of and that I had never seen. You know
what I want to call say, the Ultimate Merger. I
was like, is this show? And so I started telling TJ.
(22:04):
I was like, oh my gosh, she teamed up with
now President Trump, and it says reality star Omerosa looks
for love among twelve bachelors chosen by Donald Trump. I
was like, can we find this and watch this immediately? What?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
What?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
How did I miss this? A Morosa?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah? How did you miss that? Only a consummate journalist
would take a deep dive and find in the revel
of all of my IMBB listings. Okay, So I had
shifted to producing, and Donald Trump had a production company.
This was a part of the development deal that I
signed after the third season of The Apprentice. I did
(22:46):
remember I did Original Apprentice, Apprentice All Stars, and The
Celebrity Apprentice, and Donald and I entered into a development deal.
And at the time, the Bachelor had never had a
black bachelorette. I don't know if you all remember this tremp.
There was never a black bachelor at that point, and
there had never been a black bachelorette, and it didn't
look like it was ever going to happen, and so
(23:07):
I wanted to change that. I thought there should be
a black bachelorette. Black women date, black women have fun,
Black women are attractive and desirable, and so I wanted
to do my version of the Bachelorette. And Donald liked
the idea so much he slapped his name on it,
and it was It went from being called the Ultimate
Merger to Donald Trump Presents the Ultimate Merger.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Did he pick? I can't imagine. Did he pick? Did
he really hand pick all of these guys?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
I guess in TV land you can say he did.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I guess because he didn't think. Did he pick good guy?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I was like, how'd that go?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know, you know the casting process. I'm sure they
narrowed it down and then they put the folks in
front of him. Donald is good at casting. I will
say that he chose people who were hilarious, who you
knew I would never choose, and then he chose some
folks that were right, you know, well my type. They
were absolutely my type. They were tall, dark, and handsome,
you know, a very successful, affluent African American men. And
(24:09):
that's that's that's my type. I like a handsome brother. Right.
So they were on the show and we did all
these crazy things, from horseback writing to them having to
create perfumes, to them having to cook for me and
all of that. And we shot it at Trump's hotel
in Las Vegas. So it was crazy. I can't believe
(24:32):
he's found that Amy.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was so fun. I am going to find it
and I'm going to watch it. I assure you that
is happening. I'm curious, was Donald how was How would
you compare Donald Trump as your boss in the entertainment
world versus Donald Trump as your boss as president of
the United States? Was he any different in either of
those roles?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Oh? Yes, quite different. In the entertainment world, it was
all about ratings and he did not care. There was
no limit to him winning that ratings race. I'm sure
you saw all the interviews over the year where Donald
would talk about, well, I had the best ratings, we
had the best ratings. He had the biggest ratings, the
best show, the bestest and so that was kind of
(25:14):
his drive, was always about winning the ratings race. Moving
into the political realm, there were bigger things that were
at stakes. In fact, Americans' lives were at stakes, their livelihood, jobs,
policies that impact their healthcare, to infrastructure, to national defense.
(25:35):
So there were higher stakes and bigger consequences to decisions
that he made. And so I saw him move from
being this entertainer to having to now lead the country,
and I realized that he was not equipped to do that,
and I write a lot about that and Unhinged in
my book.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Do you see a difference in I know you're on
the outside now, but does the Trump presidency when you
worked with him in the first term and from what
you've seen at least from this second term, these seem
like two totally different Donald Trump's and two totally different
things or this is about a continuation of what you
saw firstter.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
You know, the first term I think was Wow, I
can't believe we got here to this second term, which is,
I think just revenge. I think that he wants to
exact revenge on every single person who ever wronged him,
whether it's the universities, the law firms, the agencies, I mean,
(26:34):
you name it. No one has been spared in this
particular term. And I haven't subscribed to this season of
the White House because I've been in law school. So
I will read the news, but I don't watch it,
that twenty four hour news cycle because you know, I
let my subscription.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Congratulations, congratulations on earning your lottery. That is an amazing feed.
I love that, even you know I've I've thought about that,
but like you think, oh, I'm in my fifties, I
love that you're doing it. That's such an amazing inspiration
to any woman of any age. So congratulations.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I think it's a goal that I actually was going
to go to law school before the first season of
The Apprentice back in two thousand and two, two thousand
and three, That's where I was headed before I auditioned
for The Apprentice. And I still had that goal on
my vision board. It was something that I still wanted
to accomplish. So when COVID happened and everything shut down,
the world shut down, I started studying for the LSAT,
(27:33):
got accepted into the dream schools that I wanted, and
I'm graduating from law school next month. And I'm very
very proud of that.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Truly. Congratulations. That is congratulate that I just got chilled.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I that is amazing. That is amazing. Wow, So you
could also you can start suing people now, are just
defending the lawsuits.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Don't forget. I went through four years of little there
you go Trump, Thank God, I want but it was scary.
So now I'm equipped to defend myself.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
That's amazing. That's got to feel pretty good. Has anything
done so everyone seems so shocked by all of these
decisions that Trump is making, from the tariffs to the
cleaning house to Elon Musk YadA, YadA, YadA, Has anything
he's done that you've read about? Surprised you surprised.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Me, no, but disappointed me absolutely? Yes. I think that
the country deserves a leader that keeps this nation's fabric,
the fabric of this nation. Our democracy is really built
on some of the constitutional principles that we hold near
and dear. So any dismantling of those things, not only
is it is disappointing, but it also should concerns every
(28:50):
American in this country. Due processes at the very core
of who we are. And so to see that disregarded,
it's concerning.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Is it policies more so than the other stuff?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Right?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
If he was just a matter of not going after
people in the Justice Department, not going after a you know,
revenge presidency, as you say, is it more so if
he just stuck to his policies? Do you think most
people would have issue with that? And even you take
a lot of issue with that. It really is the
extra curriculars, the stuff we're not used to seeing when
we're president, with whether it's DEI or firing everybody or
(29:33):
having elon And it's the extra stuff or is it
policies as well?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
For you? You know, I think what we're seeing is
a nation that is going through a transformation, and I
think that every one of us need to have a
say as to how this nation evolves. Right, And so
when you talk about the other stuff. The other stuff
really comes down to who we want to be moving
(30:00):
into this next chapter as a country. I mean, do
we want to be a country that is divided or
do we want to be a country it still stands
on the ideals that you can really truly live the
American dream. A lot of what people are watching right
now is the complete opposite of that. And so that's
why I've had to just keep my head in my
(30:22):
books and not get caught up into just every single day.
There's a new headline every single day, there's a new
executive order, every single day, there's new outrage and concerno,
and I have to protect my peace, and so I've
kind of disengaged from all of the madness just to
protect my peace. And I encourage you to protect your
(30:45):
piece ups and downs, you know what I mean. You
have to protect your peace in the midst of all
of this chaos.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'm curious Omroussa, because you obviously know him in a
way that none of us do. What do you think
his motivation is with all of this? Do you think
it is to make America great again? Why is he
doing what he's doing?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Are you asking me Amy to go into the mind
of Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm saying, you know him better than anyone.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I thing that you have ever asked me to want
to do. I'm sorry I have to draw the line here.
No in his brain, and I would not even dare
to try to figure it out. I'm sure that there
are some great doctors, psychologists, experts who could probably do
(31:38):
a better dive. I will tell you that when I
first encountered him way back in two thousand and three,
when we were first taping The Apprentice, that is not
the person that I came to know, that I came
to work with. And so watching this transformation and to
watch him be supported by so many people who want
(31:59):
to continue to see the chaos that's coming out of there.
At some point, at some point, we have to choose
ourselves and our peas and our sanity over what we're
watching happen inside the Beltway.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Remember the last you remember, the last time you talked
to him, or even if not that, I mean we
all end up in some circles. Have you bumped him
to him anywhere?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Have you even tried to read my book?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Yes, she actually reminded me of that passage phone call.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Wait a minute, now, she has a recorded phone call
as redulous to see if you had had. I poured
my heart into the book into Unhinged, because at the
time that I wrote it, I wanted to warn people
as to what I observed, right. I wanted them to
know how decisions were being made that impacted your lives.
(32:54):
I wanted people to know that if he did get
re elected, this is what you would get. I then,
throughout the summer of last year, try to spread the
word about why Kama Harris would be a better choice.
Right I was campaigning, I used my platform as much
as I possibly could. And so now we have this
(33:15):
outcome and people are going through the type of pain
and angst that they have gotten with this administration, and
it's hard for me to watch. It's hard for me
to watch people suffer. It's really hard for me to
even imagine that we have. We have not even reached
the first one hundred days TJ. We haven't made it
to the one hundred day mark yet. So I can't
(33:39):
really inform folks as to what to expect in the
future because this is not the person that I met
twenty years ago. It's not even person that I met
twenty years ago. So I can't even draw on those
experiences that I had with them, because this is this
is something that I've never seen before. Have you you've
(33:59):
been coverment politics longer than me. Have you two seen
anything like this.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I have never seen anyone do exactly what they say
they're going to do and then people be surprised by it. Right,
This wasn't just scary. Stop. He said what he was
going to do, so the only surprise is that he
did it. So and I heard you talk about it
as well. He said it. You warned folks, and maybe
they didn't like the messenger, but you warned folks. When
(34:26):
he says this.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Take him at his word. He's saying it. They're like,
he really do this. I'm like, take Donald Trump at
his word. If he says he's going to get rid
of the Department of Education, he's going to get rid
of the Department of Education. If he says he's going
to fire all the heads of the military of this
that he's going to do it, take him at his word.
(34:49):
That should be my next book.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, and police people need to be reminded. You said
all this on the record before he was inaugurated January
twenty last year.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes, right, And TJ actually showed that to me this morning.
He said, look at this. Alma Rosa called it. I said, wait,
when did she post that? He said in November, And
like to the letter, you predicted everything that's happened in
the last few months that everyone is so shocked by.
You literally warned them. It's kind of crazy. If you
(35:21):
go back and look it up, you nailed it. I mean,
I know no one wants to like be You don't
want to say I told you so, but you kind
of told us so well.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
I think the result for me is just I had
a girlfriend who's worked at the Department of Justice for
at least twenty three years or is very near to retiring,
and was dismissed for cause saying that she didn't perform
and all of her performance reviews were you know, outstanding.
And to watch her now and try to figure out
what she's going to do and scrambling, you know, to
(35:56):
pay her child's tuition or to you know, make ends
meet after she served this country for so very long,
that is very hard for me. So no, I would
never say that like, oh, I told you know. These
are the things that I share with you because of
how much it's impacting people very close to me and
even people I don't know. I've watched a press conference
(36:17):
about farmers. You know, these these farmers who are begging
for release, and they begging for help, you know, and
they're not getting a relief that they deserve, or veterans
who are suffering. So, I mean, I don't know. Like
I said, I just hope that we can find a
way as a nation to come together to make sure
that we hold on to the core of who we
(36:38):
are right and that we do not allow this to
divide us in a way that we can never recover from.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Very very well said, we can't wait to see what
you do with this law degree. That is a really
fun and exciting or in that bathroom or in that bathroom,
we want to get to that episode.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, you went from the show is fun? Eat it
some fun? After you know, three years in law school,
I wanted to do something fun. And the relationships that I.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Who's calling is as your husband, I'd like to talk
to him.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Oh no, let me tell you something by the husband lotto.
He's so no, he really is. And I mean I
think you can attest it when you find this type
of love. You hold on to it, you fight for it,
you protect it. It's worth fighting for. Honey, You're on life.
Forgive me for doing this. Say hi to TJ and Amy?
(37:38):
Did you say?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
He's like, what is happening right now?
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, listen, whenever my husband calls, I take it, but
I want him to say hi to you.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Do that. Take that call. We will let you know.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Don't don't go right back, all right, you're back. Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
It's actually that's a really cool thing. Every time my
husband calls, no matter where I am, no matter what
I'm doing, I take his call. That's very sweet. I
love hearing her say that. Now, a Morosa, thank you
so much for I mean, we covered the gamut of topics,
but who better to do it with than you. You
have done so much, been somebody places has You've earned
(38:22):
so much wisdom through all of these experiences that we're
even taking notes from. So thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you for sharing all of that with us and
your time. And we want to make sure you get
back to your hobby soon, so we'll let you go.
But thank you, Morosa.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Y'all look happy and that makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
I love love, Oh, thank you so much for that
a morosa. I'm going to do better. We haven't talked
in a while, I haven't seen you in a while,
but I promise that's not going to continue. I've learned
a lot of lessons and when people are on your mind,
you always reach out.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
So we'll get a mail. You guys get to meet
my husband and I wish you well and congratulations on
this amazing podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Thank you so much to us the Alaship. We will
see you later, all right, weleon co Abode
Hey, the folks today, we are talking about the all
time greats. You know, those people in the world will
reached such a level of fame, such a level of accomplishment,
such a level of greatness that they just go by
one name. Yeah, so we're talking about the mononym of
folks out there in robes. We're gonna start this episode
a little different. Everybody knows these names. You give me
(00:24):
your reaction when I say Madonna.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, material girl, Shack, amazing basketball player, share, I mean,
could you get a better singer?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Zendaya?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, she's gorgeous in a phenomenal actress. Beyonce Yeah, I
mean enough, I mean, hello, she is Beyonce. Kobe Yeah,
shooting some hoops, sting. Yeah, he knows how to sing
as well. Bono Yeah, another great musician. Nelly, love him too.
I gets getting hot in here. Adele, Yes, she can
sing a few notes. Rihanna, Yeah, I love her. Mega
(00:57):
Eminem one of the greatest. Prince Yeah, hello, Oprah Wow, yes,
of course, Yeah, Lizzo, They're They're all incredible and we
know who they are immediately. Yeah, what do you want
me to say with that?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Folks? Welcome to this edition.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Amy, do you Jay Oh Baco battle can sing and
you're like, what do you want me to say?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You know what I'll tell I'll tell you a morosa
the word that came in my mind. And I know
it's going to piss you off because it would piss
me off. But villain, that is the word that came
to my mind. You have been vilified no matter what
you do, no matter what show you're in, no matter
what book you write, there's always a way to vilify you.
So yes, that word came to my head and I
(01:49):
didn't want to say it out loud, but I'll say it.
I'll say that is the word that came to my mind.
It's unfair, it's unfounded, but that that is how you
have been portrayed is.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
An unfair unfounded Do you welcome that label sometimes?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You know, I understand where it comes from. But you
guys have been vilified to you know, sometimes this is
fairly and unfairly. But I have leaned into the villain
persona at different times in my career. But twenty years later,
I'm a little surprised, right because you know, after twenty
years you kind of get to realize that reality TV
(02:23):
is what it is. But I lean into it. I
don't mind and speaking my name right on the check.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Okay, yeah, speaking of reality TV, Yes, let's backup and
introduce yes, mss Omerosa Manigault Newman, who, of course is
reality show reality competition show royalty in this Country, also
author of the book Unhinged Poses to Get That Right,
an insider's account of the Trump White House.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes and insider. Yes, she is a best selling authorber Welcome, Welcome, wealthy.
It is so good to see you.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
When when is y'alls book coming out?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we've talked about.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It, new's here today. When when is the book coming out?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay? I am not okay, we Morosa is so funny
you said this and Robes doesn't even know this yet.
But as we're recording this sixteen minutes ago, I got
a email from a book agent. I kid you not.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That is so weird that that just happens, same wavelength.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But we don't know when the book might be coming out.
But welcome, welcome. Why look, you've done a lot of
reality shows. Why this one now? On this new one?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
On?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Who help me with the title here? I got to
get out? Got to get Out is the title of it.
But why did this one appeal to you?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, first of all, thank you all for having me on. Sorry, Amy,
I didn't mean to get you know, on you so early.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No, no, it's not all right. You're living up to
your reputation. A morosa set it.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Off early in this interview. I'm celebrating twenty years in
this amazing business. I'm celebrating twenty years of doing what
I'd love to do and so so I kind of
challenged my agent, amazing Anthony DiBiase, to find something fun
for me to do to celebrate my twentieth year anniversary
(04:08):
and reality TV. And this pitch was so it was
so crazy and fun and exciting. The more he described it,
I was like, now tell me again, what do I
have to do? Just get out of the house for
a million dollars to sign me up? And it's an
amazing mansion, thirty five thousand square foot million dollar mansion
(04:29):
in Canada, And it was. It was incredible. It was
an incredible experience and I'm so happy that I did
it in order to give my fans exactly what they
wanted my twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Ah, I love that give the fans exactly what they wanted.
Do they expect you to be a villain, to be
you know, conniving, to be manipulated. I mean, you said
you leaned into it, but are you acting in a
way or are you just drawing on that side of
your personality? How do you go into a show like this?
Do you have a a persona in mind or almost
(05:02):
like a script in your head? Or is it truly
just you being authentically yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I mean, not to get too deep on this early morning,
but the reality is is that if a woman goes
into a competitive environment and she decides to play the
game just as tough, as strategic as the men, we
get the labels right. So there's a million dollars on
the line and I'm trying to find every twist, turn
(05:27):
up down strategy to get out of this house to win,
and instead of being labeled the hero for doing so,
then the title is the villain.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I like to win and from the first time that
you saw me on your TV screens, you knew that
I wanted to win, and still did everybody else. But
because I played the game my way, it was labeled
as a villainous approach, as opposed to some of the
other labels that people got, So that's fair. But the
truth of the matter is women trying to be competitive
(05:57):
in an environment like that, We're going to get every
single name that you can attach to women who are
strong and smart and strategic, as opposed to just calling
us what we are, which is fantastic, fabulous, go get
or women.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I love that, I mean, and it's funny. I even see,
like my daughters who are now young women, they actually
lean into the term boss bitch. I mean they own
it in a way like it's really bit right, like
that kind of like it's a compliment. It's not a negative.
But it's something that we've had to turn around as
women specifically, because yeah, when you're demonstrative, when you're when
(06:31):
you know what you want and you know how to
get it, suddenly you're a bad guy.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So both of y'all though, actually both you Robes and Morosa.
Has that changed? Has it changed Morosa since you were
on twenty years ago first started. Do we view women
differently in these environments or is it feel exactly the
same as always? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
No, it is not changed. Unfortunately, I would have loved
to say that the industry has evolved, or the persona
the perceptions have evolved for strong women, but it hasn't,
and we constantly have to defend decisions that we make
to advance our own interests. I'm tired of apologizing for
going out there and getting what I want, going after
(07:09):
what I want, and accomplishing my goals. Call me what
you want, but don't call me late for dinner, okay?
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And as to what you're saying, if you think about
even obviously not many people have the reality show experience
you've had, the New York Times best selling author of
experience you've had, and a political career on top of it,
And when you think about what we've seen from Hillary
Clinton to Kamala Harris, I mean, powerful women can't even
get elected by other women. I mean it really is true.
(07:38):
And you've seen the inside workings of politics and what
it's like behind the scenes. How are women treated in
the White House in that environment. Is it the same
as what you've experienced in reality shows or is it different?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well? I kind of feel like I mean that I've
had a chance to watch you go through your career
over the years, and I've seen how you've had to
fight for your career and fight for your position and
your stature. I think you could probably attest that we
have to work even harder than our male counterparts to
gain the type of respect that we want to get
(08:11):
to the levels that we want to get to. And
I do see it no matter what industry I'm in.
I've worked in politics, as you know, I've worked in entertainment,
I've worked in business, and I see the same dynamics
playing over and over again. And the one thing I
want to just say to any of the women that
are watching, stop apologizing for going after what you want.
(08:32):
Stop trying to get people to like you or to
get them to invite you into spaces that you're not welcome.
Create spaces for yourself, define for yourself who you are
and what you want to accomplish, and then go after it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I love what you just said. Omris we Robock and
I debated about should we start with some politics stuff,
should we do the reality show stuff first? And I'm
glad we've gone the direction we've gone. That is great,
great advice from someone who has seen it at many
different levels. What is it, though, that you find that
(09:05):
women struggle so hard with? Because because I've had that
said before, had some people say I've been in a room.
I've never said that to women, but I've been when
it's been said, and sometimes the reaction is wow, that
sounds so easy. But like, what is the butt to
try to get someone over that hump? Like that's easy
(09:25):
to say, and that's not my personality or I'm just
trying to play nice so I can get this job.
What is the butt to get people over that hump?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I think the butt is the freedom of defining your
own terms, laying out your own path. That's the freedom
that I have now. You know, I hear people when
you say the name a Morosa, you get these different reactions.
And at this point, I truly am free from what
people think of me. And the moment you get to
that point where you no longer care about other people's opinion,
(09:56):
it is a level of freedom that people you know,
aspire to to get to. And so I'm happy that
I am here at this point in my life and
that I can actually empower and inspire other women to
embrace that power as well.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
This is an absolute personal question. How long did it
take you to get there? I'm serious, that's so hard
for people like us. I think we're getting better about it,
but we aren't there yet. What did it take? How
long did it take for you to get to that?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
No, for TJ, I've known you long enough to know
that you have handled these situations with a lot of grace,
a lot of grace under fire from attacks that some
of them you just truly didn't deserve. So I appreciate
that you're still going through that storm, but I'm going
to tell you, at the end of that storm, the
only thing you have are the people that you truly
love and the things that are important to you change
(10:51):
over time, and you change because of those challenges and
those obstacles that you have to overcome. I know that
I've changed over the years. You've watched me through my
ups and downs, my battles, whether it was in the
White House, whether I was battling for positioning in Hollywood.
You've watched those changes. And I can tell you because
of those storms, I'm a better person. I'm a stronger person,
(11:12):
and I can absolutely tell you that I'm a wiser
person and act accordingly.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, all of our show was a therapy se.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Right, so tell us more. But it's funny because we
did get to probably one of our lowest points was
when everyone has said the worst possible things about you
that you could have never even imagined someone would print
about you. Once you get to that place, you're kind
of like, there is a freedom on the other side
(11:41):
of You're like, what else can they say? They've already
said it all. There's actually nothing else they could say
that would be worse than that, And so there is freedom.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
When you start looking at it through that lens. It's
a tough spot to be in, but it is perspective
that ultimately will give you peace and will set you free.
But you and I and TJ, we all know that
we're still potentially when you've got that background or someone
can google you and find.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Whatever your clickbait forever, Like, does the clickbait ever end?
Even when you're going through this new reality show and
you've got new adventures in new projects, you're still like
one of those people who will I don't know forever
be potentially clickbait. How do you deal with that?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Oh my gosh, the clickbait. The reason the clickbait bothers me,
And not all of it does, but the people who
I'm close to that causes those headlines, and some of
it is very innocent. One of my castmates who I
absolutely adore on this show. Her name is Susan. She's
from the Golden Bachelor, and I think quite innocently gave
an interview where she talked about her first encounter with me,
(12:48):
which was captured by the cameras and is a part
of the episode. I walk in, I say, Hi, Susan,
I'm omar Rosa. Nice to meet you. The headline says,
Susan and Omrosa have a huge spat, a huge arch
And I'm reading the article going, what art that we have?
This is a person who I adore, who every morning
I woke up and had incredible breakfast for. But there
(13:09):
was one line in her interview where she talked about
saying I don't watch reality TV, and I said to her,
you might want to change your tune since you are
in fact shooting a reality show like right now.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's good advice.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That was the headline that came out of it, that
we had some huge fats. So when it's people that
I care about, people who are in my inner circle,
and they become kind of caught up in this web
of clickbait, that does in fact bother me. But for
the most part. The other stuff, I just kind of
throw it away. It doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I felt. And you talked about Susan Knowles, who we love,
we adore her, and I told her you were going
to be on the show, and I don't think she
will mind me saying this, but she flat out wrote
she is a sweetheart. She knows her shit. Oh that
is what she wrote about you.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
But no one will print that headline because it's kind,
because it's nice, because it's women supporting women, and that's annoying.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It is. It is quite annoying. But then, on the
other hand, I had another pastmate and he sent me
a text and said, I'm doing an interview and I'm
going to just tell them how we had such a
great time on the show and how much of sweetheart
you were. The next headline I'm telling you twenty four
hours later was the Daily Mail saying that this housemate said,
you will never believe what Omerosa did in my bed.
(14:27):
I said, what, I'm happily married. We went to a
pastor for eight years. What do you talk about what
I said of it? I put a one of the
props in his bed. It was a rat, like a
rat heead and I put it in his bed walked away.
It was a practical joke. But for the headline to
say you will never believe what she did in my bed,
as if I did something lascidious in his bed, it was.
(14:51):
That was one of those things where I was like, Okay,
this is taking clickbait way too far. He instantly corrected it.
But those are the moments where they're like your friends
and people that you you care about, and they get
caught into that deception. And the deception is click here,
read the story. But the story has nothing to do
with the headlines.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We knew that intellectually when we were a journalists, but
until it happens to you, you can't actually really know
what it's like and the impact it has. To the
point now, TJ and I have made a pact between
us when we're researching from morning run and doing you know,
we have to click on a lot of articles to
get all the information we need when we see something
(15:32):
that we know has to be clickbait, and it's so
temping because you're thinking, really, what, we will not click
on it just for the principle of the matter. Yeah,
I will read the link and say is that clickbait, Yes,
do not click it. Go to make a point like
we won't give them one more click, and we can
help it.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
With all the Megan Marco stuff, you know, any mean
Marco star, ninety nine point nine percent of the time,
it's going to be clickbait, like none of it is real,
and some of it is so tempting, you know, because
I adore her, I interacted with her when I was
out here in Hollywood, wonderful, her mother is wonderful, She's
a great person. So you're you care about her, so
(16:09):
you want to read if there is something happening. But
ninety nine point of everything written about her is in
fact clickbait.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
What would you say, so far, o Morosa in this interview?
What is what do we give people that they're going
to pluck out and make a negative headline about? Have
we blown it already?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Probably?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Well no, I will. I will, however, say that the
idea that you all are writing this amazing book is
a headline I just or you and I'm so happy
I'm a part of this because I'll get the first
copy and you'll have to autograph it. But breaking news,
Amy and Day are writing a tell all book. And
(17:01):
it'll be on your bookshelves in time for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Boy, she knows the game.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I was just gonna say, she knows what she's doing.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, speaking of that, when I saw that you were
going to be on this new reality show, celebrity reality
competition show, I immediately thought, that's unfair. Obviously she's gonna win.
She has an advantage of Do you feel like that?
When I look at you and the people you were
up against, I'm like, that's not fair. She's gonna wipe
the floor with these folks, right, But.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I have a built in disadvantage because they know everything.
If you want to know anything about how I've played
in these competitive games going all the way back from
The Apprentice, Brother, Fear Factor, Girls, Behavior, you name it,
you can watch how I've competed. So they kind of
know my strategy. And a lot of them, particularly the
folks who are movies, that's what they call them, movies,
(17:50):
they didn't want to work with me. They're like, oh,
I don't want to team up with her, so they
would team up with people who just were completely ineffective.
So they would rather lose with somebody who was ineffective.
Then you know, team up with me, so I had
to evolve my game and it was okay. I didn't
take it personal. Actually I leaned into it. You try
to get intel good information, and it worked quite well
(18:15):
for me, I believe. But yes, the disadvantage is that
everybody knows a lot about me. The advantages A lot
of people know a lot about me and they know
I like to win. So if you want to be
able to winner, you know, sign up with me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Now, Homer, have you been able to watch the season
all the way through yet? How far have you watched
on your own?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I watched it with my my, my dear husband, and
what he did was not prepared for was that I
had that encounter with Spencer in our primary bathroom.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
We haven't made it to that yet.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh okay, okay, I don't want to ruin for the viewers,
but I will give you this little tippet. Kim Zaziak
and Cynthia Bailey from the House Vibes my roommates. I
was very blessed to have them because it was just
such a good time in our room. But we did
kidnap a life size bear from a girl from the Bachelor.
I know this sounds like crazy town, from a girl
(19:12):
from the Bachelor who I just love. Her name is Demmy.
We stole her bear as a part of a clue
to get almost six hundred thousand dollars. I'm just gonna
preview that for you, and it all held broke loose.
It was the craziest episode of the entire show. You
see me running through the house with a bear. You'll
see Kim hiding the bear and us trying to disguise
(19:32):
this life size bear. When I tell you, it's the
most fun that I've had in a very long time.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I mean, it was just I'm an adrenaline junkie. I
got all my fix from the adrenaline because they're race
cars and Lamborghinis and clues and big money at stakes
and runs and a lot of laughs. So it was good.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Omros, we heard a kidnap bear. That sounds like a
funny enough prank. So what in all that scenario did
your husband particularly have an issue with and didn't like
so much? In that episode?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
She thought she was like getting around that and not
actually having to directly answer that we were podcaster.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I've forgotten big pros. Y'all were not going to allow me,
so in order to not film in the bathroom, a
person cannot be in a state of undress. That's a
rule on reality TV. They the cameras just can't come
into the room. Spencer comes with his big camera crew.
They're following him behind as an action scene. We're trying
(20:33):
to hide this bear. There's hundreds of thousand on the line.
And he starts to walk into our bathroom. Says Spencer,
I'm changing cloths, I'm getting a trust and I start
to pull down my pants.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Okay, got it, got it. Start to though that that's
the phrase.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Where you saw you know, uh, you know a little more.
But no, to my surprise, my husband thought it was
so funny. He thought it was hilarious. No, he's got
such a good sense of humor. And thank god, Heidi
thought it was funny. Spencer's lovely one to I adore
it was a it was a very and the moment
(21:12):
I went to start doing it, he turned around. It
wasn't a big thing. But yes, there's a bear. There's housewives,
there's bachelors, there's apprentices, there's big breath. It's all in
this house. And that's kind of the whole fun of
the show.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's experience. She's smart enough to I wouldn't have known
that little nugget. Then if I pull HI up, the
camera crew can't come in here. If I am undressing
in someone correct, that is brilliant.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
All I have to do is really unbutton a button.
I mean, I could have just unbuttoned a button, but
I'll always take it to the extreme. Okay, why not
another level?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Why not? It's good entertainment value. So it's it's funny.
I was doing a deep dive about all your reality
shows and I came across one that I had never
heard of and that I had never seen. You know
what I want to call say, the Ultimate Merger. I
was like, is this show? And so I started telling TJ.
(22:04):
I was like, oh my gosh, she teamed up with
now President Trump, and it says reality star Omerosa looks
for love among twelve bachelors chosen by Donald Trump. I
was like, can we find this and watch this immediately? What?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
What?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
How did I miss this? A Morosa?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah? How did you miss that? Only a consummate journalist
would take a deep dive and find in the revel
of all of my IMBB listings. Okay, So I had
shifted to producing, and Donald Trump had a production company.
This was a part of the development deal that I
signed after the third season of The Apprentice. I did
(22:46):
remember I did Original Apprentice, Apprentice All Stars, and The
Celebrity Apprentice, and Donald and I entered into a development deal.
And at the time, the Bachelor had never had a
black bachelorette. I don't know if you all remember this tremp.
There was never a black bachelor at that point, and
there had never been a black bachelorette, and it didn't
look like it was ever going to happen, and so
(23:07):
I wanted to change that. I thought there should be
a black bachelorette. Black women date, black women have fun,
Black women are attractive and desirable, and so I wanted
to do my version of the Bachelorette. And Donald liked
the idea so much he slapped his name on it,
and it was It went from being called the Ultimate
Merger to Donald Trump Presents the Ultimate Merger.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Did he pick? I can't imagine. Did he pick? Did
he really hand pick all of these guys?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
I guess in TV land you can say he did.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I guess because he didn't think. Did he pick good guy?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I was like, how'd that go?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know, you know the casting process. I'm sure they
narrowed it down and then they put the folks in
front of him. Donald is good at casting. I will
say that he chose people who were hilarious, who you
knew I would never choose, and then he chose some
folks that were right, you know, well my type. They
were absolutely my type. They were tall, dark, and handsome,
you know, a very successful, affluent African American men. And
(24:09):
that's that's that's my type. I like a handsome brother. Right.
So they were on the show and we did all
these crazy things, from horseback writing to them having to
create perfumes, to them having to cook for me and
all of that. And we shot it at Trump's hotel
in Las Vegas. So it was crazy. I can't believe
(24:32):
he's found that Amy.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was so fun. I am going to find it
and I'm going to watch it. I assure you that
is happening. I'm curious, was Donald how was How would
you compare Donald Trump as your boss in the entertainment
world versus Donald Trump as your boss as president of
the United States? Was he any different in either of
those roles?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Oh? Yes, quite different. In the entertainment world, it was
all about ratings and he did not care. There was
no limit to him winning that ratings race. I'm sure
you saw all the interviews over the year where Donald
would talk about, well, I had the best ratings, we
had the best ratings. He had the biggest ratings, the
best show, the bestest and so that was kind of
(25:14):
his drive, was always about winning the ratings race. Moving
into the political realm, there were bigger things that were
at stakes. In fact, Americans' lives were at stakes, their livelihood, jobs,
policies that impact their healthcare, to infrastructure, to national defense.
(25:35):
So there were higher stakes and bigger consequences to decisions
that he made. And so I saw him move from
being this entertainer to having to now lead the country,
and I realized that he was not equipped to do that,
and I write a lot about that and Unhinged in
my book.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Do you see a difference in I know you're on
the outside now, but does the Trump presidency when you
worked with him in the first term and from what
you've seen at least from this second term, these seem
like two totally different Donald Trump's and two totally different
things or this is about a continuation of what you
saw firstter.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
You know, the first term I think was Wow, I
can't believe we got here to this second term, which is,
I think just revenge. I think that he wants to
exact revenge on every single person who ever wronged him,
whether it's the universities, the law firms, the agencies, I mean,
(26:34):
you name it. No one has been spared in this
particular term. And I haven't subscribed to this season of
the White House because I've been in law school. So
I will read the news, but I don't watch it,
that twenty four hour news cycle because you know, I
let my subscription.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Congratulations, congratulations on earning your lottery. That is an amazing feed.
I love that, even you know I've I've thought about that,
but like you think, oh, I'm in my fifties, I
love that you're doing it. That's such an amazing inspiration
to any woman of any age. So congratulations.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I think it's a goal that I actually was going
to go to law school before the first season of
The Apprentice back in two thousand and two, two thousand
and three, That's where I was headed before I auditioned
for The Apprentice. And I still had that goal on
my vision board. It was something that I still wanted
to accomplish. So when COVID happened and everything shut down,
the world shut down, I started studying for the LSAT,
(27:33):
got accepted into the dream schools that I wanted, and
I'm graduating from law school next month. And I'm very
very proud of that.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Truly. Congratulations. That is congratulate that I just got chilled.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I that is amazing. That is amazing. Wow, So you
could also you can start suing people now, are just
defending the lawsuits.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Don't forget. I went through four years of little there
you go Trump, Thank God, I want but it was scary.
So now I'm equipped to defend myself.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
That's amazing. That's got to feel pretty good. Has anything
done so everyone seems so shocked by all of these
decisions that Trump is making, from the tariffs to the
cleaning house to Elon Musk YadA, YadA, YadA, Has anything
he's done that you've read about? Surprised you surprised.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Me, no, but disappointed me absolutely? Yes. I think that
the country deserves a leader that keeps this nation's fabric,
the fabric of this nation. Our democracy is really built
on some of the constitutional principles that we hold near
and dear. So any dismantling of those things, not only
is it is disappointing, but it also should concerns every
(28:50):
American in this country. Due processes at the very core
of who we are. And so to see that disregarded,
it's concerning.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Is it policies more so than the other stuff?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Right?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
If he was just a matter of not going after
people in the Justice Department, not going after a you know,
revenge presidency, as you say, is it more so if
he just stuck to his policies? Do you think most
people would have issue with that? And even you take
a lot of issue with that. It really is the
extra curriculars, the stuff we're not used to seeing when
we're president, with whether it's DEI or firing everybody or
(29:33):
having elon And it's the extra stuff or is it
policies as well?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
For you? You know, I think what we're seeing is
a nation that is going through a transformation, and I
think that every one of us need to have a
say as to how this nation evolves. Right, And so
when you talk about the other stuff. The other stuff
really comes down to who we want to be moving
(30:00):
into this next chapter as a country. I mean, do
we want to be a country that is divided or
do we want to be a country it still stands
on the ideals that you can really truly live the
American dream. A lot of what people are watching right
now is the complete opposite of that. And so that's
why I've had to just keep my head in my
(30:22):
books and not get caught up into just every single day.
There's a new headline every single day, there's a new
executive order, every single day, there's new outrage and concerno,
and I have to protect my peace, and so I've
kind of disengaged from all of the madness just to
protect my peace. And I encourage you to protect your
(30:45):
piece ups and downs, you know what I mean. You
have to protect your peace in the midst of all
of this chaos.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'm curious Omroussa, because you obviously know him in a
way that none of us do. What do you think
his motivation is with all of this? Do you think
it is to make America great again? Why is he
doing what he's doing?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Are you asking me Amy to go into the mind
of Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm saying, you know him better than anyone.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I thing that you have ever asked me to want
to do. I'm sorry I have to draw the line here.
No in his brain, and I would not even dare
to try to figure it out. I'm sure that there
are some great doctors, psychologists, experts who could probably do
(31:38):
a better dive. I will tell you that when I
first encountered him way back in two thousand and three,
when we were first taping The Apprentice, that is not
the person that I came to know, that I came
to work with. And so watching this transformation and to
watch him be supported by so many people who want
(31:59):
to continue to see the chaos that's coming out of there.
At some point, at some point, we have to choose
ourselves and our peas and our sanity over what we're
watching happen inside the Beltway.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Remember the last you remember, the last time you talked
to him, or even if not that, I mean we
all end up in some circles. Have you bumped him
to him anywhere?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Have you even tried to read my book?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Yes, she actually reminded me of that passage phone call.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Wait a minute, now, she has a recorded phone call
as redulous to see if you had had. I poured
my heart into the book into Unhinged, because at the
time that I wrote it, I wanted to warn people
as to what I observed, right. I wanted them to
know how decisions were being made that impacted your lives.
(32:54):
I wanted people to know that if he did get
re elected, this is what you would get. I then,
throughout the summer of last year, try to spread the
word about why Kama Harris would be a better choice.
Right I was campaigning, I used my platform as much
as I possibly could. And so now we have this
(33:15):
outcome and people are going through the type of pain
and angst that they have gotten with this administration, and
it's hard for me to watch. It's hard for me
to watch people suffer. It's really hard for me to
even imagine that we have. We have not even reached
the first one hundred days TJ. We haven't made it
to the one hundred day mark yet. So I can't
(33:39):
really inform folks as to what to expect in the
future because this is not the person that I met
twenty years ago. It's not even person that I met
twenty years ago. So I can't even draw on those
experiences that I had with them, because this is this
is something that I've never seen before. Have you you've
(33:59):
been coverment politics longer than me. Have you two seen
anything like this.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I have never seen anyone do exactly what they say
they're going to do and then people be surprised by it. Right,
This wasn't just scary. Stop. He said what he was
going to do, so the only surprise is that he
did it. So and I heard you talk about it
as well. He said it. You warned folks, and maybe
they didn't like the messenger, but you warned folks. When
(34:26):
he says this.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Take him at his word. He's saying it. They're like,
he really do this. I'm like, take Donald Trump at
his word. If he says he's going to get rid
of the Department of Education, he's going to get rid
of the Department of Education. If he says he's going
to fire all the heads of the military of this
that he's going to do it, take him at his word.
(34:49):
That should be my next book.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, and police people need to be reminded. You said
all this on the record before he was inaugurated January
twenty last year.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes, right, And TJ actually showed that to me this morning.
He said, look at this. Alma Rosa called it. I said, wait,
when did she post that? He said in November, And
like to the letter, you predicted everything that's happened in
the last few months that everyone is so shocked by.
You literally warned them. It's kind of crazy. If you
(35:21):
go back and look it up, you nailed it. I mean,
I know no one wants to like be You don't
want to say I told you so, but you kind
of told us so well.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
I think the result for me is just I had
a girlfriend who's worked at the Department of Justice for
at least twenty three years or is very near to retiring,
and was dismissed for cause saying that she didn't perform
and all of her performance reviews were you know, outstanding.
And to watch her now and try to figure out
what she's going to do and scrambling, you know, to
(35:56):
pay her child's tuition or to you know, make ends
meet after she served this country for so very long,
that is very hard for me. So no, I would
never say that like, oh, I told you know. These
are the things that I share with you because of
how much it's impacting people very close to me and
even people I don't know. I've watched a press conference
(36:17):
about farmers. You know, these these farmers who are begging
for release, and they begging for help, you know, and
they're not getting a relief that they deserve, or veterans
who are suffering. So, I mean, I don't know. Like
I said, I just hope that we can find a
way as a nation to come together to make sure
that we hold on to the core of who we
(36:38):
are right and that we do not allow this to
divide us in a way that we can never recover from.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Very very well said, we can't wait to see what
you do with this law degree. That is a really
fun and exciting or in that bathroom or in that bathroom,
we want to get to that episode.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, you went from the show is fun? Eat it
some fun? After you know, three years in law school,
I wanted to do something fun. And the relationships that I.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Who's calling is as your husband, I'd like to talk
to him.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Oh no, let me tell you something by the husband lotto.
He's so no, he really is. And I mean I
think you can attest it when you find this type
of love. You hold on to it, you fight for it,
you protect it. It's worth fighting for. Honey, You're on life.
Forgive me for doing this. Say hi to TJ and Amy?
(37:38):
Did you say?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
He's like, what is happening right now?
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, listen, whenever my husband calls, I take it, but
I want him to say hi to you.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Do that. Take that call. We will let you know.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Don't don't go right back, all right, you're back. Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
It's actually that's a really cool thing. Every time my
husband calls, no matter where I am, no matter what
I'm doing, I take his call. That's very sweet. I
love hearing her say that. Now, a Morosa, thank you
so much for I mean, we covered the gamut of topics,
but who better to do it with than you. You
have done so much, been somebody places has You've earned
(38:22):
so much wisdom through all of these experiences that we're
even taking notes from. So thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you for sharing all of that with us and
your time. And we want to make sure you get
back to your hobby soon, so we'll let you go.
But thank you, Morosa.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Y'all look happy and that makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
I love love, Oh, thank you so much for that
a morosa. I'm going to do better. We haven't talked
in a while, I haven't seen you in a while,
but I promise that's not going to continue. I've learned
a lot of lessons and when people are on your mind,
you always reach out.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
So we'll get a mail. You guys get to meet
my husband and I wish you well and congratulations on
this amazing podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Thank you so much to us the Alaship. We will
see you later, all right, weleon co Abode
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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