The Celebreality Interview - Lacey

“I probably wouldn’t like me either if I were watching from the other side,” admits Lacey on our chat with VH1’s perennial antagonist. Below, Rock of Love Charm School’s third-place contestant talks strategy, viewing the show as a psychological experiment, instigating Brandi C.’s oft-discussed spitting, Dallas, her “change,” and how, after all of this, she can still call herself a “humanitarian.”

In general, how was your experience on the show?

It was fun. I always have a great time doing these shows. To me, it’s a big human psychological experiment. In my real life, off-camera, I’m not so strategic for evil, but I’m always strategic. Whenever I’m faced with competition, a goal or a dilemma, I always sit down and figure my different angles. A situation like this is the best opportunity to think that way. The thing that always surprises me the most, though, is how easily people can be had. Especially when these girls all know me and they all know what I’m up to. If I were someone else dealing with me, all I would do is be like, “Screw you,” and walk away. If you’re playing tug of war with someone, and you know that they’re stronger than you and you keep pulling, you’re going to get pulled into the mud. When I play tug of war with someone who’s stronger than I am, I let go of the rope. None of the girls do that, and it always surprises me.

Kristy Joe says she was able to resist your manipulation.

She was, just like Samantha from Season 1. So it’s like, “S***, I got nothing. Next!” I can’t sit there and fight with myself. But then, there are girls that I really like a lot. I really like Brandi C., and Megan and Jessica. I like Kristy Joe and I actually like Destiney. It’s just a fun experience.

Do you feel like you really changed?

I definitely have two very clear sides. I’m a typical Gemini. I was born June 10, like right smack in the middle, and my enemies hate me and my friends love me. My friends never see Evil Lacey, my enemies never see the good side of me. As far as this show goes, maybe if I learned anything, it’s that there are ways to compete and get ahead without being so detrimental to the competition.

Have you applied that, or are you just speaking in theory?

It’s kind of theoretical. I’ve never been in a real-life position where I’ve had to claw my way to the top. If I were in this situation again, then yeah, I know there are some things I’d do differently. And I also know that I made it through this one on the skin of my teeth at times. At the same time, in a situation like this, a lot of my strategies are very effective. I guess the short version of a very long answer is that it’s important to find a balance.

You were often called to the carpet, but did you ever think you’d actually be eliminated, since you were the primary antagonist?

I always made it so that someone did something worse than I did. I always played my timing right. I got these girls to fall apart in front of Sharon, while I did it behind closed doors. I didn’t necessarily feel like I was mean to people; I created situations that allowed the worst in them to show. If they handled a situation by falling apart or freaking out, that’s on them. Oftentimes, it was their reaction that got them sent home.

So why are you so good at manipulation?

I don’t know! I think it’s because I’ve always been interested in psychology. I studied it in college. But you know, in real life, I’m not like this. If anyone’s going to dislike me in real life, it’s because I’m overly blunt. I don’t sugarcoat. People might think I’m rude or a bitch, but I don’t play head games in real life, because there’s no reason to. The other thing is that I’m, in general, really passionate, so when Dallas calls me out on animal rights, it’s going to set me off.

Do you see the disconnect between your behavior and your self-appointed “humanitarian” label?

Yes, I do. It’s very true. It’s kind of hard to justify, but here’s what I think: none of these girls are suffering. They have complete control over the situation. I can do whatever I want to them, and it’s still their call. And honestly, what horrible thing did I do? I didn’t do anything that bad. I was a bitch at the worst. On the other hand, if I saw Dallas starving on the street, living in a box, would I help her? Absolutely, even though it’s Dallas. Same with Heather. Same with any of the girls I don’t like. If you’re suffering because of outside circumstances, I will absolutely help you. If it’s because of your own idiocy and stupidity, I’m gonna f***in’ call you out on it. But I contribute money to Africa, and the genocide problems in Darfur. I often feed homeless people and their dogs. So that’s what the difference is.

I’ve been wondering since the episode aired how you can reconcile eating fish with being an animal activist. Dallas called you out on it, but you never got a chance to answer it.

I’m so glad I finally get to answer this! The one thing that I’ve always preached is that it’s better to do something than nothing. The reason that a lot of people don’t want to become a humanitarian or animal-rights activist or whatever is that they thing it’s too big of a sacrifice. They go, “Oh, I could never become vegan. I’d have to become Mother Teresa and fly to Africa. I could never take on such a huge thing, so I’m just going to sit back and play my Nintendo.” My whole thing is you don’t have to sacrifice everything. Pick some things you can do. For me, as an animal-rights activist, I go to the pound and rescue animals that are going to be euthanized. I write letters to politicians and corporations. I go to protests. I’m not the perfect-animal rights activist. There are areas that I could become better. But I do a lot of damn work, so I feel like I should be commended. Instead of people saying, “You’re wrong because you’re not doing it this way,” they should say, “You’re awesome because you’re putting in a lot more effort than the average person.” If everyone in the country did something small, the collective efforts would be a lot bigger than if three percent of the country did something huge.

Although PETA would snub their nose at that, being as hard-line as they are.

It’s true, but I’m not just a member of PETA. And there are things that PETA does that I don’t agree with. It goes both ways.

Do you have any remorse for instigating the Brandi C., spitting incident?

I wish I could say I do, because Brandi C., is my friend. But the thing is that if she hadn’t spit, she wouldn’t have gotten sent home, and I never in my wildest dreams, thought she would have spit on someone or hurt them, even as drunk as she was. She’s never done that before. I’ve known her for over a year and partied with her several times and I’ve even seen her mad, but she’s never done that. If she had done it before, then no, I wouldn’t have done it. But it did not occur to me that she would do anything along those lines. Again, people are in control of themselves. Even drunk. And if she hadn’t done that, I’m certain Heather would have gotten sent home and that was the whole point. What I did was not spur-of-the-moment. Brandi C., and I were saying, “We’re gonna wait till Heather gets wasted and we’re gonna pounce on her, to give her a taste of her own medicine,” since she always attacks us when we’re in vulnerable states. Brandi C., knew that was our plan. So I can’t really feel remorse because remorse is for something that you knew was avoidable. In this case, I thought we were just going to go up there and scream and yell and that was gonna be it.

How did it feel when Heather screamed, “I am, bitch!” in your face after you accused her of thinking that she’s A-list?

I thought it was great, because finally the world gets to see Heather exactly as I did. I always knew this side of her.

Did it lead to your falling-out?

Yes, her arrogance. Absolutely. Of all the bad traits anyone can have, arrogance is the one that peeves me the most. I cannot stand arrogant people. I just have no tolerance for it. I couldn’t take seeing that side of Heather, especially because we all came from the same place. We all came from a reality show on VH1. What makes her so much better than the rest of us? There were a few times when she screamed at Brandi C., “I’m bigger than you!” and “I’m more famous than you!” and “I have more fans than you!” We’re all from the same show! It’s not like we had some great talent that got us our notoriety. We didn’t win an Oscar or the Nobel Peace Prize, so where does she get off thinking she’s this wonderful, great thing? I just felt like she needed to be deflated. You know, everybody always calls me crazy, but I think she’s a little crazy. And if a crazy person’s calling you crazy, you probably really are.

You told Sharon you were happier on the last episode. Were you, or were you just speaking in the context of the show?

I had less stress at that point. It’s a lot of effort to play mind games with people. Once Heather was out of the picture, and I was just hanging out with Destiney and Brandi M., and we figured we’d be cool with each other from that point out, it was kind of a relief.

When you cried after hearing everyone’s opinion on you at the express-yourself challenge, were you really surprised you’d affected people the way you did?

Yeah, I kinda was. I knew I’d pissed people off. That was my intention. But I never realized it was such a deep, emotional negative feeling.

Was going for the retribution angle more strategy?

Half that and half not. At that point, I was ready to start treating the girls like I treat my friends in real life, instead of always just figuring it was a competition and they needed to be taken out. I was like, “I’m just going to ease off of them and let the best man win.” I knew it was what I had to do to stay in the competition, though.

You probably could have come in second if you hadn’t yelled at strangers while collecting for charity. Is that regrettable?

That’s a tough one, because anything dealing with philanthropy is a major passion of mine. And, as I said, I hate when people are arrogant. Right next to that, I hate when people are apathetic.

Do you worry about your reputation on the show affecting your daily life?

No. The only opinions that matter are my friends’ and family’s. If my friends call me out, I will absolutely listen without being defensive. As for the rest of the population, they don’t impact my life. They don’t know why I do what I do. And I understand that. I probably wouldn’t like me either if I were watching from the other side. But things being they way they are, I can’t be bothered to worry about it.

Keep in touch with Lacey via her FamousVH1Friends.com profile and her MySpace. And visit her pet rescue, New Dawn.

Related content
Rock of Love Charm School show page
Charm School videos and extras

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am