‘Celebrity Big Brother’: Shannon Elizabeth Says Omarosa Is ‘Playing a Character’ for TV

The contestants on Celebrity Big Brother just made a big move by evicting Shannon Elizabeth, and now she is speaking out about one of her former housemates, Omarosa Manigualt.

The American Pie actress sat down with PEOPLE for a Q-and-A about her time in the Big Brother house and was asked about the controversial Apprentice alum. Manigault has been the center of numerous controversies in the house, including a dramatic hospital visit.

Elizabeth revealed that Manigault has two personalities: one for being on camera and one that is the “real” her.

“Omarosa has two sides to her,” Elizabeth said. “She has this persona, this evil character for reality shows that she has built up and so she really plays into that. Then she has this other side of her when the makeup comes off and the dress comes off — she is a minister, she’s married to a pastor and she’s just real. That’s a beautiful side of her.”

The actress, who is also known for her roles in Scary Movie and That ’70s Show, went on to say she was “surprised” to see the more personal side of Manigault after watching her on TV for years.

“She’s very, very intelligent,” Elizabeth said. “She knows what she’s doing, she’s got a lot of knowledge of politics and the world and what’s going on and that side of her we were all fascinated with. I think everybody was surprised to see that side of her. Nobody knew that existed because all of these years that we think we’ve gotten to know her, we’ve gotten to know her on reality shows. So you assume that’s her reality. But she’s really playing a character.”

As for Elizabeth’s own game strategy, she wishes she would have played things differently but is still proud of the game she played.

“Hindsight is 20/20,” she said. “I could’ve played it completely differently and the results could have been the same but maybe then I wouldn’t have a HOH and a veto win under my belt, maybe my strategy would’ve just looked like I was a weak player, people wouldn’t know about my charity, like who knows? There’s all kinds of ways it could have gone but I’m still really happy about the way it turned out.”

Celebrity Big Brother airs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo Credit: CBS / Sonja Flemming