Omarose Onee Manigault-Newman (born February 5, 1974), often referred to mononymously as Omarosa, is an American reality television show participant and former political aide who is best known for her appearances as a contestant on The Apprentice and its sister programs The Celebrity Apprentice and All-Star Celebrity Apprentice as well as for serving as the Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the White House during the Trump administration. After exiting the Trump administration, she competed on Celebrity Big Brother and made it to the final five of the season while also garnering headline news for her bombshell objections expressed against Donald Trump and his administration.
TV Guide included her in its 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest TV Villains of All Time.
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Early life and career
Omarosa was born in Ohio, the daughter of Theresa Marie (née Walker) and Jack Thomas Manigault Sr. Omarosa's father was murdered when she was seven years old. After graduating from The Rayen School in Youngstown, she earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism in 1996 at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. She later moved to Washington, DC, to attend Howard University, where she earned a master's degree and worked toward a doctorate in communication but did not finish. Omarosa has also received biblical studies training at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio.
In the 1990s, Omarosa worked in the office of Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. She later stated the job had been "a very difficult environment, because they don't believe in training. They just kind of throw you in the fire." She was later transferred to the Commerce Department via the White House personnel office.
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Reality television career
First and seventh seasons of The Apprentice and The Ultimate Merger
Omarosa first came to public attention in 2004 after becoming a participant on the first season of NBC's reality television series, The Apprentice, starring business mogul Donald Trump. Stemming from her controversial, blindsiding, alienating, dog-eat-dog, in-your-face and acrimonious tactics teamed with her eloquence and craftiness of game play on The Apprentice (particularly in its boardroom segments), she soon became the "woman America loved to hate" and was named by E! as reality TV's number one bad girl. Through surprise attacks, cogency, refinement and strategy, she often proves herself a formidable competitor in reality television game shows, such as Celebrity Big Brother. Omarosa has disagreed with the "villain" label, rather believing herself to be "a shrewd businesswoman," asserting that when a male takes on such characteristics, it is always seen as strong, but when a woman takes them on, it is seen negatively. Omarosa has also claimed the show's producers have manipulated footage of her to make her look like the villain. She was fired in week 9
In January 2008, Omarosa was invited to the first season of The Apprentice's sequel show, Celebrity Apprentice; she became the only former Apprentice participant to be invited back to the series. On Celebrity Apprentice, she quickly became embroiled in a personal feud with Piers Morgan. She was eventually fired in the 10th episode, after serving as the project manager of the team that, according to Trump, suffered "the biggest slaughter in the history of The Apprentice" in a challenge to sell artwork against a team led by Morgan. She raised $49,000 in total for her charity.
In June 2010, Omarosa and Trump collaborated again to create a new dating show called The Ultimate Merger in which twelve men competed for Omarosa's affections. The show aired on TV One.
Thirteenth season of The Apprentice
In February 2013, Omarosa returned to television and The Apprentice, appearing on Trump's All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. Omarosa quickly marshalled her team to an early victory on the show, winning a task involving the creation of a photo booth at Universal Orlando. In a later episode, Lil Jon's Team was brought back to the boardroom after they lost. Piers Morgan remarked "my argument against you has always been that you're not a celebrity... and you don't have star power." which led to a heated argument that resulted in Trump firing Omarosa. On Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, when asked by Jimmy Fallon whether or not she felt the show set her up by having Piers Morgan act as one of the judges, Omarosa answered, "I felt like I was competing against Piers, as well as the other contestants." Omarosa also noted that when she sees Morgan's show canceled in a year, it will be "the best revenge".
Controversy
On The Oprah Winfrey Show, Omarosa accused fellow Apprentice participant Ereka Vetrini of calling her the "n-word", a claim Vetrini has denied. Shortly after that appearance, Omarosa failed to show up for a scheduled appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show after she reportedly objected upon seeing a polygraph machine.
Following her stint on Celebrity Apprentice: All Stars, Omarosa lashed out at La Toya Jackson over Jackson's remarks that insinuated that Omarosa had murdered her fiancé, Michael Clarke Duncan. Jackson made the remarks in Celebrity Apprentice confessionals and in following media interviews. Omarosa said:
I've been in reality TV for a very long time, and I think that those were probably some of the most disgusting, despicable statements I've ever heard. And it will go down as some of the ugliest comments ever spoken on reality TV, but I have an incredible legal team who I've handed that all over to, and I'm sure they will handle her accordingly.
Celebrity Big Brother
Omarosa appeared on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of the Big Brother series. The show aired on the CBS network, February 7 to February 25, 2018. Omarosa remained in the game throughout that time, surviving elimination and winning multiple competitions right up until the finale, where she was one of the last five contestants standing. At one point, host Julie Chen speculated that Omarosa could win the entire season. Throughout the season, she expressed her objections to working with Donald Trump and his administration as well as exposing truths about her White House experience. Many of these political revelations garnered significant media attention and headline news. She placed fifth.
Trump presidential campaign and administration
During the Republican National Convention in July 2016, Omarosa announced that she had been named Director of African-American Outreach for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. In September 2016, she said in an interview with Frontline: "Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It's everyone who's ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe." Shortly after Donald Trump won the election, Omarosa stated that Donald Trump has an "enemies" list of Republicans who voted against him in the presidential election.
In December 2016, Omarosa was announced as one of the nine members to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team. In December 2016, Omarosa accompanied former NFL stars Ray Lewis and Jim Brown to meet with President-elect Trump at Trump Tower.
On January 3, 2017, it was reported that Omarosa would join Trump's White House staff, focusing on public engagement. Her specific title was made public the next day as Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison. In her first interview after being named to the Trump White House, she told Megyn Kelly that she was a "Trumplican" and had switched her political affiliation to the Republican Party. She hopes more African Americans will follow her lead and do the same, given how she believes Democrats take African American voters for granted, making empty promises to them.
In June 2017 Omarosa invited the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to visit the White House, signing the invitation as "the Honorable Omarosa Manigault". Some members of the CBC took exception to her use of the title, which is neither customary for political aides nor typically self-applied. The CBC ultimately declined the invitation. In August 2017, Omarosa was on a panel about losing loved ones to violence at National Association of Black Journalists convention in New Orleans. She got into a shouting match with moderator and fellow panelist Ed Gordon because his questions to her focused on Trump's policies and not her personal history with losing family members to violence.
Departure
On December 13, 2017 the resignation of Omarosa was announced by the White House, effective January 20, 2018. The United States Secret Service did not deny reports that Omarosa had been forcibly removed from the White House grounds on December 12, but stated the agency was not involved in the termination process or escorting/removing Omarosa from the complex. The Secret Service's only involvement in the matter was to deactivate Omarosa's access pass. CNN White House correspondent April Ryan reported that White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly fired Omarosa, but Omarosa disputed the account, stating that she resigned.
In February 2018, Omarosa publicly criticized the Trump administration on the reality television program Celebrity Big Brother, and stated that she would not vote for Trump again.
Personal life
Omarosa had an older brother, Jack Thomas Manigault Jr., who was murdered in 2011.
In 2000, Omarosa married Aaron Stallworth and changed her last name to Manigault-Stallworth. They separated in 2005 and divorced later that year. She reverted to her surname, but eventually started using her first name mononymously.
In August 2009, Omarosa enrolled at the United Theological Seminary in Ohio to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree. She received a preacher's license in February 2011 from her church (Weller Street Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California) and was formally ordained on February 27, 2012. In February 2012, she was working on finishing her degree at Payne Theological Seminary. Omarosa said on Oprah: Where Are They Now? that she is an ordained Baptist minister. In the segment, Omarosa said that she was brought to the decision after traveling to West Africa, where she found herself alone in an orphanage with a little girl dying of AIDS. Omarosa said, of her interaction with the little girl,
It was at that moment, looking into the face, in the eyes of this dying child that I received my call to the ministry. Upon returning to the United States, I put reality television on hold. I put everything on hold and returned to seminary full-time ...
There were people who felt like because I had done the show so many years ago that maybe that disqualified me from the ministry. I'm not really certain. But boy did I hear from the critics, and to them I have to say that they underestimate the power of God's ability to transform a person's life.
On August 13, 2010, Omarosa confirmed that she was dating actor Michael Clarke Duncan, whom she had met in the produce section of a Whole Foods supermarket. In July 2012, she found Duncan in cardiac arrest and performed CPR. Though Omarosa was able to resuscitate him, he never fully recovered from the heart attack and died on September 3, 2012, after two months in hospital.
On the April 2, 2013, episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, Omarosa spoke about the night Duncan had the heart attack. Omarosa reported that she usually went to bed later than Duncan. At some point during one evening while she was still up and Duncan was in bed, Omarosa reported overhearing Duncan laboring to breathe. "And then I didn't hear anything," she recalled. When she realized Duncan wasn't breathing, Omarosa "started doing CPR and trying to get 911 on the phone." In the midst of the frightening chaos, Omarosa stated she also turned to God for support: "I just started praying. I prayed like I have never prayed before", she said. The paramedics were able to get Duncan's heart started again and rushed him to the hospital. "He fought", Omarosa said, "but after two months of fighting, he passed away."
Omarosa married John Allen Newman on April 8, 2017, at Trump's Washington, DC, hotel, in the Presidential Ballroom of the Old Post Office Pavilion. Newman is the Senior Pastor of The Sanctuary at Mt. Calvary, a church in Jacksonville, Florida. After the wedding, Omarosa took her bridal party to do a photo shoot in the White House, but she was unable to post her photos because of concerns over ethics and security.
Television
Notes
References
External links
- Omarosa Manigault on IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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