Ashley, one of the finalists from Charm School 3, is speaking out about her Charm School experience. In this new interview with VH1, Ashley does a complete 180 from what we saw during the show’s finale.
She says neither Risky or Marcia deserved to win the $100,000 cash prize. She also admits that she faked a lot of her “changes” in order to win the cash. She finally lets us know she feels like a douchebag for crying during the finale.
Below are some excerpts from the interview –
I pretty much know how you’re going to answer this, but how was your time on the show?
I just think Charm School sucked. I really do. I think that they might have put people like me and Farrah on there knowing we would never win, but because we were entertaining. So many of the girls on there were boring. I don’t think there’s a whole lot about me that needs to change. Yeah, maybe I’m mean to some people, but the people that I’m mean to ask for it. Brittaney Starr asks for it. The only one I regret a little bit is Bubbles. I think she’s a nice girl, but she really did get on my nerves. I lived with her for a month. I don’t pretend to be a genius. I know my role, but Bubbles thinks that she is Professor Bubbles. It’s like, why are you here if you know everything?
You say that you don’t need to change much. What about the thing you said about not wanting your son to be ashamed of his stripper mom? Was that just for TV?
A lot of the things that I said on the show were to win the show, but everything I said about my son was real. I wouldn’t use him to win a show. I really don’t want him to grow up and when everyone’s like, “My mom’s a doctor,” “My mom’s a lawyer,” he’ll have to say, “My mom’s a stripper.” Obviously, I don’t want that for my kid. I don’t want him to have to be embarrassed by other kids for what they might say to him. I had him when I was 19, and I was in a position where I had to make money to support my child, and that is how I did it. I don’t regret that, but I am going back to school. I have two years left. I went to college for two years until I had my son, and I chose to stop going, because I didn’t want to put him in daycare. When he’s in regular school, I’ll go back, but until then, that’s kinda my life. I didn’t win Charm School.
So you’re still stripping?
Yeah. Well, I’ve danced three times since Charm School. It’s when I don’t have appearances and I’m in town for the weekend, then yeah, I will. But I do three appearances a week, and I make good money doing that. It’s not stripping money, but it’s enough.
Is dealing with the added stress of traveling tough when it comes to seeing your son?
No. I travel on the weekends, and he’s with his dad on the weekends anyhow. I’ve turned down plenty of jobs because I will not leave Monday through Thursday. He knows that he’s with his mom during the week.
Where are you with James? Are you together again?
James and I…it’s difficult. I’ve been with James for four years and I have a baby with him. I love him to death. I’ll always love him. We’re not living together, but I want to work things out with him. We’re kind of just working on things as friends first. That’s kind of beating around the bush. I wouldn’t say he’s my boyfriend, but he’s the closest person to me, my best friend.
What about Matsuflex?
Oh god, what about him?
Are you together?
No, we’re not together. We never were together.
Really? There are pictures of you guys kissing all over the Internet.
Yeah, sometimes you kiss people. There are also pictures of me kissing Farrah and Brittanya. Whatever. I like to kiss people.
Did you think that you deserved to win?
Probably not, but I don’t think that Risky and Marcia deserved to win, either. I kinda always knew that I wasn’t going to win. Nobody wants to see me win. They needed a nice girl like Risky to win, because that’s the only way people would have been happy with giving someone $100,000. Yeah, I have a lot of fans, but so many people would have been like, “Ashley doesn’t deserve the money because she’s such a bitch.” I think I deserved it more than anyone because I have a kid. Brittanya deserved it too, because she has so much s*** going on, and she has a kid.
Why didn’t Risky deserve to win?
I don’t think she ever needed to be in Charm School. I like her. I think she’s a nice girl, but that’s the thing: she was always a nice girl. What changed about her? I’m not bitter. I’m glad she won because I’m certainly glad Marcia didn’t win. If she would have won, it would have been the biggest mistake ever?
You didn’t think her progress with alcohol was impressive?
No! She’s the biggest alcoholic to this day. I knew it was fake. I live in Vegas. Every time I go to a nightclub, she’s there wasted. She didn’t change. That money would have gone straight to alcohol, because let me tell you: whenever I start drinking, I’ll spend $500 on alcohol.
How was it dealing with the Real Chance girls besides Risky?
Oh my god. I think you saw how it was. I can’t tell you even one of them that I liked. I guess Risky was always nice. The problem was that those girls were on TV trying to date two guys who were not even famous. They were trying to date the Stallionaires. I’m sorry, what is that? Rock of Love is huge. That show will always be huge, and they wanted to figure out a way to outshine us, because it was obvious that the attention was going to be on us. That’s why they were screaming the whole time: to get attention. Obviously, it didn’t work because everything I ever read about it was like, “God, tell them to shut up.” I would never put myself in that situation again. And if I’d known I was going on the show with Real Chance of Love girls – because we had no idea beforehand – never would I have gone on there.
Do you have any regrets about crying and showing your vulnerability on the finale?
Yeah, I totally do. I feel like a douchebag.
What about when you said that you were being mean to make up for your lack of self-esteem? Was that a line?
Yeah. I just made my speech so that it would seem like I should win. It was stupid, I don’t know.
You have never struck me as suffering from low self-esteem.
Yeah, I’m not. I needed to use anything I could at that point to get the judges on my side. My self-esteem is awesome. I just looked in the mirror and I think I look really awesome today.
Why are you embarrassed?
Watching it is almost painful. I think it was corny. I think it wasn’t me. People like me for who I am, I think. A lot of this show was me not being myself to try to win. I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with how I am, and I think they were really trying to make me feel bad about the kind of person that I am. I feel really stupid for acting like I was going to change just because I wanted the money. Duh. Of course I wanted the money. And of course I said things I didn’t mean and acted ways that weren’t myself. That’s a lot of money that could have changed my life or anyone’s life. But like Farrah said when she was eliminated, we’ll go make $100,000 this year. And that’s fine. Besides Brittanya, none of those other girls could have done that.
