Rock of Love 2’s Catherine is an “extremely confident 45-year-old woman,” and she doesn’t care who knows it. Below, we talk more about her age, breakfast in bed and how she keeps haters from getting her down.

I’m sad to see you go.

You knew it was coming down. Those competitions were brutal. They were killing me. How do you lose that many times? I’m an extremely competitive person.

By the end, you were pushed to tears.

Well, yeah, the horse thing. I grew up in Montana and they gave me a mule. The other horse was a great horse, and I went to grab it, and the cowboy made me get off. He told me I had to take the mule because Ambre was really afraid of the horses. I still beat her to the pig pen. I can’t believe I just said that.

You were really resourceful when you made time with Bret, by serving him breakfast in bed.

Yeah. It wasn’t masterminded by me, it was an idea given to me, and the way it was portrayed was a little bizarre, because it made it look like I just barged in his room at 5 a.m., when it was really 10. Also, we actually ended up hanging out for two hours. I think Big John put it best: it was too little too late. But I certainly did not go stomping into his bedroom, like, “Wake up! Eat! Talk to me!”

In general, what did you think of your portrayal on the show?

I think I was portrayed correctly in the way that I was real. What you see is what you get. I was who I was. They didn’t show the whole story on my time with Bret, and that was difficult. It looked like we didn’t have a connection, but we did, to a degree. I wasn’t the sex kitten, but I do have a sexy side. It’s just that I have two 16-year-old sons at home, and that was always in the back of my mind. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything to embarrass them. But even if I didn’t have sons, I am who I am. I couldn’t go in there and be something I wasn’t.

Do your sons watch the show?

They didn’t, but they do now. They’re extremely proud of me, and thank god for that. They’re in high school and that’s a hard time in life, anyway, so to have your mom go on TV and embarrass you, it wasn’t going to happen.

Did you bond with any of the girls in the house?

Absolutely. Kristy Joe and I ended up extremely close. There were comments that we both made in the first few days, but after that, we became extremely close. But also, Aubry, Peyton, who’s one of the coolest chicks I’ve ever met in my life, Roxy, Nikki, Ambre. In the house I got along with everyone. Coming out, there were some hurtful comments that were said, by one particular person that kind of blindsided me.

Megan, you mean?

Bingo!

Well, to touch on one of her most vicious insults, was age ever a concern to you, being in a house with so many girls who were younger than you?

I am an extremely confident 45-year-old woman. I threw my age out there from the get go, because I’m proud of my age. I’ve been told so many times that I don’t look my age, so maybe I’m even overconfident about it. I wasn’t intimidated by any of the girls at all, and looking back, it never could have gone down any other way. A lot of people on the Internet said I was too old for the show, and I think that’s completely lame. If society is condemning women who want to date men their own age, that’s pretty sad. I feel like I rock my age.

I guess maybe some of those critics could be speaking to the cliché of men going for younger women, if given the choice. Maybe their commentary has more to do with Bret than you?

I completely agree with that.

Did you sense that Bret preferred younger women?

I actually talked to Bret about that. Even when I auditioned the show, I asked if my age was going to be a factor, and I was told, “Absolutely not. You look better than most of the 20-year-olds who have walked in the door.” When I talked to Bret about it, he completely reassured me that there was no way. He said I was beautiful, he was attracted to me and that he was glad that I was there. The viewers didn’t get to see that, but I did, so my confidence was as high as it could possibly be.

You post a lot on your FamousVH1Friends.com blog. How is it interacting with the fans?

I love it. Everyone has been so supportive. I couldn’t ask for anything more. But you do see hurtful things. I’ve been so trashed over my hair. I mean, oh my god, give me a break. The comments were brutal and hurtful, but they weren’t something I didn’t already know. I live in the dessert, it was humid in the house, my hair kept getting bigger. I was doing everything I could, and finally Kristy Joe helped me with some products to tame it. I knew what was going on, so when I came home and saw comments that I was rocking ’80s hair that showed my age, I was just like, “Give me a break.” That’s happened to everybody at one time in their life. And, if the worst thing people can say about me is about my hair, that’s so fixable. It’s not like a physical feature that I can’t change.

That’s a great attitude to have. A lot of the negative comments, I notice, really destroy girls on these shows and I find myself constantly telling them, “DO NOT READ ABOUT YOURSELF ONLINE.”

You get a thick skin quick. It was funny, because it hurt the people who loved me more than it hurt me, honestly. My sons, for instance. I don’t know if I took it too personally because I was too busy telling my sons: “Listen. It’s a TV show. People sit back and watch and look for any reason to try to cut you down.” One thing I found is that confident women compliment other women. Insecure women do not. That’s how I learned to live with it.

One comparison to you that I thought was really on was Dolly Read from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Have you ever seen that movie?

I haven’t. I thought you were going to say the Elvira comment. I think Elvira’s a beautiful woman, so…and her hair’s about 10-feet high, so I didn’t take that personally.

I get the sense that you aren’t interested in the entertainment industry, unlike many of these girls.

Not at all. I was there to get to know Bret. I said on the show that I wasn’t there to make friends, I wasn’t there to make enemies. I didn’t try out for the show, it was a fluke. My friend did and they asked her if she had anyone she thought would be good for the show. She and I watched it together, so she gave them my number and they called me that night. I just figured, “What the hell,” it would be fun to go audition. Next thing I know, I had it. I said to them, “If it isn’t Bret, don’t call me back.” When they called me back to tell me that it was him, I was like, “OK. I’ll go.”

Were you always into him?

Oh yeah, absolutely. I think he’s hot and I think he’s cool. He made a point of telling us numerous times that during the first season, he’d just gotten out of a relationship and his head wasn’t quite in it, but it was this time. When I met him and talked to him, he’s so intense and he looks you in the eye and it seems like he really means what he says. I was sold, hook line and sinker.

What do you do now?

I was in sales. I’ve been self-employed my whole life: I owned a marketing company, but I sold it and I built a house and I’m just kind of kicking back.

Overall, was the show a good experience for you?

It was like boot camp. I’m so used to being in control and I had to relinquish that in the house, because they tell you when you can do this and do that. It was really good for me. It forever changed me for the better. There’s no question about it. And the people who are positive, they make my day everyday. And going out, and getting recognized, nothing could have prepared me for that. I mean, it’s just been so positive, so that’s just kind of what I’ve focused on.

Keep up with Catherine via her FamousVH1Friends.com profile and her MySpace.

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