Saleisha Stowers News

Here are a few highlights from an interview America's Next Top Model, Saleisha Stowers, gave to TV Guide:

TVGuide.com: Some people have suggested that you were a lock to win Top Model from the beginning because you'd been to Tyra's self-esteem camp. What do you say to that?
Saleisha: Honestly, I feel that â€" how do I say this? â€" they're not really seeing what the camp was. It had nothing to do with modeling! I was 14 at the time, and I'm 21 now. It was years ago! I'm a totally different person now than I was then!

I learned a lot and the camp did help me become the woman I am now, but I don't know that the camp had anything at all to do with how the judges critiqued me or even them wanting me on the show. That was all based on my photos and how I did in the competitions.

Saleisha Stowers is America's Next Top Model. Get used to it.

TVGuide.com: When you were in the final two, would you have preferred to be competing with someone you weren't quite so close to?
Saleisha: I wanted it to be Chantal! I said from the beginning that I wanted us to be in the final two, and I'm glad it turned out like that. We both worked our butts off to get to that point.

TVGuide.com: Any regrets about throwing Jenah under the bus at what turned out to be her final panel?
Saleisha: I just told my true feelings. Jenah's a great person. I just went out there and said how I felt, and that was the best I could do. I wasn't going to go out there and lie. It sucks that you have to say that, but you do have to be honest. Do you want your sisters or people looking up to a person who is, you know, like that? You have to be honest with yourself.

TVGuide.com: Let's talk about the final CoverGirl commercial. What the hell were you guys trying to sell?
Saleisha: Wet Slick Fruit Spritzers.

TVGuide.com: Do you think they made up that name deliberately to be impossible to say over and over again?
Saleisha: It's a tongue-twister, but it's a really cute name! It attracts young girls. I mean, once you hear it, you're like, "Oh, that sounds all fruity and good!"

We're guessing Saleisha Stowers is excited to be famous and wear lots of designer clothing.

But the ninth winner of America's Next Top Model says her most important challenge will be to act as a role mode.

"I've gone through a lot of things that every little girl will probably go through. Just trying to find yourself, trying to feel loved, trying to know what's your purpose in life," Stowers told reporters during a Thursday conference call.

"I think that I can be a great role model and just help girls out... I can show young girls what I've been through, and how it's okay to be scared, but you can still overcome that fear. It doesn't matter how insecure you are. One day, you'll look inside yourself and realize you're a beautiful person. You can be that confident girl who's on the runway; you don't have to hate yourself because you're not."

As for the future, Stowers said she currently intends to stay in L.A. for a while and "take it one day at a time."

"Top Model was a great door opener for me, so now I'm ready for many doors to open and just go out there and show everyone how successful I can be and just prove my career to the world... I just can't wait to see what else is in store for me."

Saleisha Stowers was crowned America's Next Top Model's ninth-season champ during last night's finale.

Following the victory, the beauty said:

"When I was younger I was just weird. I had low self esteem. I just wasn't happy with my life. I've grown into a strong young woman. I'm so happy with myself right now. This is what I dreamed of. I fought for this so hard and I was so determined. I have it now and I'm not going to let it slip out."

The 21-year-old receptionist from Los Angeles received the show's grand prize package of a management deal with Elite Model Management; a $100,000 contract with cosmetics company CoverGirl; and a cover story and six-page fashion spread in an issue of Seventeen magazine.

Congratulations!