'Idol''s Castoff 'Belle,' Leah, Comes to ET
March 22, 2004
Lovely LEAH LaBELLE was PAULA ABDUL's wild-card pick for the Top 12 in the third round of "American Idol," and sadly, she was the first to be voted out of the competition.
But before she packs her bags and heads back to Seattle , the Bulgarian beauty stopped by ET. Tune in tonight for our one-on-one with the pop-star wannabe.
Leah tells ET that immediately following the show she went backstage and talked to RANDY JACKSON and Paula, who especially spent a great deal of time with her. Then she went to dinner with DIANA DeGARMO and her family, before heading back to the mansion.
So what sage advice did the judges pass on to her?
"Randy was, 'You didn't do your best, but you know what you can do, and you know how much better you can be,' she shares. "Because I didn't do my best. He was, 'Just keep your head up, smile. This is only the beginning for you. Somebody will see you; somebody will pick you up. Don't give up.' Paula said the same. 'You have always been a star to me. You didn't put out everything that you can. You are so deserving of this.' I told her I was sorry I let her down. She was, 'You didn't let me down. Don't worry about that.'"
Leah is hoping that she will follow in the footsteps of former "Idol" contenders such as KIMBERLY LOCKE, JOSH GRACIN and RJ HELTON, all of whom have landed record deals despite not finishing in the top two.
And if her mom has anything to say about it that will definitely happen. She told her daughter: "Why are you crying? Smile. Be happy. Look at how far you got. Out of 70,000 people, you were in the Top 12, and there were only two from New York . This is such an accomplishment. Something is going to come of it. Don't give up. Keep your head up."
As for the judges, the 17-year-old high-school student doesn't think they are too harsh, except for Mr. Nasty SIMON COWELL whom Leah believes often says things just for effect and to fuel controversy.
"Simon is expected to be mean and he never liked me," she comments. "So when he says mean stuff to me, I take it like, 'Okay, Simon.' Sometimes he said stuff that could help me like the 'rip in the dress.' That was constructively helpful because when I was practicing with the vocal coach, she would say, 'That is the rip in your designer dress.' So she would help me fix it. Coming from Randy and Paula, when they say something mean, like it wasn't my best performance, or it wasn't what they know I can do, that hurt the most because they have always been nice to me from the jump."