Celebrity Big Brother has hit the scene! After every eviction, Parade’s Mike Bloom interviews the latest celebrity to leave the Big Brother house.

(Courtesy of CBS)

Though the purpose of Big Brother is to cut off its contestants from the outside world completely, there have been some moments where outside takes precedence over inside. We have seen houseguests over the years walk out due to a family emergency or personal battles with illness. If Celebrity Big Brother has proven anything so far, it’s that celebrities are willing to play just like any other civilian contestant. That seems to apply to the aforementioned outside issues as well, as actress Keshia Knight Pulliam was the latest to leave the game. Though a plan had been forming the entire week to spice up the house and make Shannon Elizabeth fold via a crafty renomination, the actress called an audible after the live Veto competition when she asked to get voted out in order to provide for her newborn, a revelation that came after she found her supplies depleting while inside the house.

Even though Keshia only made it thirteen days in the house, it’s safe to say she got quite the full experience. Soon after entering the house, she found herself part of the majority alliance, culled together from the female houseguests plus Ross Mathews. With Shannon winning the first Head of Household competition, they set their sights on the men, particularly James Maslow, who seemed to be “Falling” out of favor with the others. But they received a gift in the form of a twist-laden “gift bag,” which if exercised, could contain the power to recast the Head of Household. The women prepared for the worst-case scenario, and when they faced it in the form of UFC fighter Chuck Liddell deciding to open his bag, they followed en masse. This bulk entry forced a random draw for the recast power, which ended with the actress who grew up as a member of a TV household becoming head of another one. Despite the change of hands, Keshia still stuck to the plan of nominating James and Chuck. But as the days passed, she began growing surprisingly closer to Omarosa Manigault. The two were not happy with Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath being not so sweet with his statement that he would use the Veto on James, and tried to convince Veto winner Shannon to take Chuck down and replace him with Mark, even though the plan was still for James to go. This attempted change in course created a fault line in the new alliance, and a wary Shannon decided not to use the Veto. Additionally, their idea to take down Chuck had stoked her paranoia, and she helped bring together the rest of the alliance to knock out the pawn for fear of a side deal Keshia and Omarosa had made with him. As a result, Omarosa was the only vote to keep Chuck (though Metta World Peace had erroneously thought he had), and the “BGM” alliance was suddenly on the outside looking in.

With a lot on the line, and not being able to compete, Keshia was hopeful that her partner Omarosa would be able to take home a win at the next Head of Household competition. But her performance in the “Bowlarina” competition sent those chances to the gutter, sucking all the air out of their prospective safety (not to mention Omarosa’s lungs, considering the asthma attack that culminated in sending her to the hospital). New HoH Ross chose to stay in his lane, nominating the tight allies together. But even in that moment, he was eyeing a larger target. Brandi Glanville and Adriana Gutierrez came to him with a pitch: backdoor Shannon. Though Ross had agreed to an alliance with her, James, and Marissa Jaret Winokur only a short time ago, she had been raising suspicions by strategically squirreling around the house, as well as presented herself as a huge threat by winning the first two competitions. But as Shannon’s stock in the game was depleting, so was Keshia’s breast milk supply. Suddenly what was outside the four walls of the Big Brother house eclipsed what was happening inside. When Marissa won the Veto, Keshia put to rest their best-laid plans when she told her that she needed to be there for her daughter and must be voted out of the game. As a result, she chose to not take the shot at Shannon, and the house unanimously honored Keshia’s wishes by sending her home to her family.

Now out of the house, Keshia talks with me about the full story regarding her decision to leave the game, how she connected with Omarosa, despite differing political backgrounds, and who she thinks is in the best position right now.

Up until last night’s episode, your situation wasn’t really talked about on the show proper. Can you clarify for us exactly what was going on that led to you asking to leave?

You have to back up to earlier in the week. With everything that happened with Chuck, the alliance had completely flipped on me due to lies that Shannon had spread. Early on, I was fighting to stay in the house and to let people know that that’s not the truth. Through this process, my breast milk was depleting. Every time I was pumping, I was giving less and less. From the day I walked in the house, I was pumping religiously. Breast milk was being transported back to my little one every day. I just simply wasn’t making enough as it was getting down to it. So it just happened that simultaneously, I was nominated and my breast milk was depleting. The morning of the eviction, I had still been campaigning to stay. And I had this reality [check] that said, “You know what, it may be my time to go.” I had asked for more water, I had asked for mother’s milk, which is a tea that helps you lactate, to hope that my breast milk would be restimulated. Then the morning of the eviction, my breast pump just died out of nowhere. And I was like, “You know what, God, I have to listen. You’re clearly sending me a sign, and I have to listen.” (Laughs.) And of course, they replaced my breast pump. But still, I very much pay attention to the signs, and that was just the sign that I needed. That’s how it all happened.

I was approached by Brandi [and she said], “We know what’s going on. We’d like to help you stay. We’re trying to do this thing to get Shannon.” And I was like, “You know, I have no problem helping you. But being honest, this is what’s going on with me. If that’s the case, I need you all to vote me out ASAP.” So that’s kind of how it all started. Everyone was game planning all day, and it just came to it. I’m grateful, and I’m thankful that I got voted out that night. My concern, being quite honest, [was that at] the rate at which my breast milk was depleting, I had to trust people to give their word that they would [vote me out] on Friday. And these were the same people who had given me their word the week earlier and completely flipped the script on me. So I just thought, “I don’t know that I can trust you.” And this is real-life stuff. You all need to understand; this isn’t gameplay. It’s not even about, “Oh, I miss my daughter or son. I want to see them.” Of course, I miss my daughter, and of course everyone in the house misses their children, I understand that. It’s a different sort of thing when you’re still breastfeeding, and you’re your child’s main food supply. Yes, my child is a year old. But every child is different, and she has just not been interested in transitioning to food. She’ll eat little bits and pieces here and there, but she still drinks breast milk solidly. I feel like a lot of people didn’t really understand that. It’s a game, yes, but nothing trumps what your children need.

In the episode, after Marissa won the Veto, we caught a snippet of you talking to an entire group. Was that essentially what you were telling them?

Yeah. “This is real life. This isn’t gameplay; this isn’t a joke.” Big Brother, I get it. A lot of people play it in terms of deceit. But you’re still who you are as a person. Integrity and being a woman of my word is something that’s priceless. I’m not willing to sacrifice [that] for anybody’s game. Throughout this process, I’ve maintained that. I’ve come into it saying, “This is how I’m going to play. This is who I am, and I’m not going to compromise that.” And I stood by that 100% this whole time. So I said, “This is real life, this is not me playing. You know I’ve been honest, this is the truth.”

You briefly mentioned your eviction speech, where you told James that nominating him was the choice of the alliance and that you were doing “Shannon’s dirty work.” What was your intention behind the speech?

My intent was very clear: to tell James what the truth was. Shannon had led him to believe that she was on his side. I know they formed an alliance and he was working with her. But he needed to know that he was her target. Don’t be fooled. She really tried to make me the scapegoat in the house and turn him against me. [To make him] believe that putting him on the block was my doing, just like she had done with Chuck, when that was simply not true. Shannon was going around the house making deals with everyone and was playing a really dirty game of Big Brother. I felt it was time for her to be outed so they can then make the move that they needed to oust her because they were going to need James on board to get her out.

Speaking towards that scapegoating, looking back on it all, do you regret being the one to overthrow her and become the first Head of Household, considering the blame that got thrown towards you?

No, I don’t regret it at all. Things happened exactly the way they were supposed to. All is well.

Going more into your reign as Head of Household, talk to me about the plan you and Omarosa came up with to take Chuck off the block with the Veto and replace him with Mark. What prompted you to concoct that idea?

The reason I wanted to do that was because I really felt like Shannon and Mark had some agreement or alliance. It was a few things. In the beginning, Mark had offered to work as a pawn with us. Then after we went into the Veto competition, Mark said if he won, he would use the Veto on James. So he flip-flopped on us. First, he was going to help, then he was going to work against us. So I said, “Well since he’s going to be disloyal to us, I think we should put him up there.” Of course, James is still very much the target. However, I feel like we need to send a message to him that [he’s] not safe. Also, the other reason was to see Shannon’s reaction. I felt that she was working with him. And I feel like my assumption was true because she was willing to do anything and everything to not have Mark up.

In addition to that, I thought it really showed Shannon’s hand in terms of being about herself. When we were in the [alliance] meeting–I don’t know if they showed this or not–it was supposed to a “we.” I had taken one for the team because I had pulled the chip. In going for the bag, every one of us had taken a risk. It could have been a punishment or the recast, so we didn’t know what it was until the bag was opened. I could have been on slop for the next week, as opposed to being HoH. In [spite of that], I still upheld the desires of the alliance when I became HoH. It’s a lot of those different nuances. She was able to show her true colors. When we had the discussion, it was “my game,” “me, me, me,” “my, my, my,” “What works best for me.” And I was like, “Hold up! We’re in an alliance; this is about what’s best for all of us right now. All of us took risks on your behalf to ensure that we could maintain this alliance just a couple of hours ago. So how has it switched from that to ‘me, me, me,’ ‘my, my, my’?”

Going back to your eviction, I know you said to Julie that you were able to lean on other houseguests who were parents, Marissa in particular. Can you elaborate on that?

Marissa was a sweetheart. After watching a bit [of the footage], I’m a little disappointed. I get it, she’s playing the game, so there are no hard feelings. But I genuinely like Marissa, and I genuinely enjoyed her company, silliness, and the laughs that we shared.

Do you hold any resentment towards Ross, considering he was the Head of Household who initially nominated you?

I don’t. I get that he was playing his game and doing what he felt was best. I’m just happy that, in the end, he came through and really helped me make it possible for me to be home with my baby and make sure she received everything she needs.

If you were able to stay in the house this week and Shannon had left, who were you planning to go far with? Who would you have liked to sit next to at the end?

Omarosa, absolutely. Omarosa was very supportive and loyal, and we worked together. I still am cheering her on and hoping she does well in the house. I would have loved to be sitting at the finale with Omarosa.

Let’s talk about your relationship with Omarosa. Again going back to your talk with Julie, you said that Omarosa showed you her heart. Can you elaborate on that?

I went into the house with an open mind. That’s just who I am as a person. I always want to allow people to show me who they are and not to judge them or have preconceived notions. I always say when people show me who they are, I believe them and I appreciate. With Omarosa, I did not hold against her her political affiliations. I didn’t hold against her the things that she had done in her reality TV past. I really got to know her at this moment in time, in this space called the house. I’m grateful that I did that because she showed me something very different. Had I not done that, had I judged her on her past, I would have missed a very key ally in this process.

We saw a moment where Omarosa talked through her decision to stand by Donald Trump during his campaign, comparing it to what you had done with Bill Cosby during the allegations against him. Did that cause some conflict between you two, or did that helped contribute to the common ground you were able to find?

We had a very candid, open discussion. But as women, you can do that! You can disagree, and you can respectfully and clearly speak [about] where you stand. You can have that kind of discussion and then move past it. We were very candid, open, and honest about where we stood and how we felt. We were able to have that discussion and didn’t have to scream, cuss, bust, yell, and call each other out on our game. We were able to say, “Okay, we may disagree on these things.” But we were able to find common ground on so many other things. Ultimately, it’s about connecting as a human being, regardless of your political affiliations or anything else.

Who do you think is in the best position right now to go all the way?

They better watch out for Metta! Metta may be kooky, but he is smart, and he is playing under all of their radars. They are underestimating him.

If he makes it to the final three with the two inflatable flamingos, game over!

Oh, my goodness. Him and the flamingos, hilarious. But Metta is his own person. He is in his own world, and he is happy there. He’s who he is, and I love it.