Omarosa Manigault-Newman hospitalized while filming
Omarosa Manigault in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 6, 2016. Credit: Getty Images / Ethan Miller
Reality-show personality Omarosa Manigault-Newman appeared on Sunday’s episode of “Celebrity Big Brother” after having suffered an asthma attack that reportedly required hospitalization.
“Omarosa has returned to the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house after receiving medical attention last night and today for an asthma attack,” CBS said in a statement Saturday. “This development will be addressed on the Sunday night broadcast.”
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Reality-show personality Omarosa Manigault-Newman appeared on Sunday’s episode of “Celebrity Big Brother” after having suffered an asthma attack that reportedly required hospitalization.
“Omarosa has returned to the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house after receiving medical attention last night and today for an asthma attack,” CBS said in a statement Saturday. “This development will be addressed on the Sunday night broadcast.”
The season began Wednesday, Feb. 7, and the incident occurred following episode three, which aired Friday. In Deadline.com’s partial transcript of the show’s live web feed, fellow contestants Marissa Jaret Winokur and Ross Mathews discuss the apparently off-screen occurrence, which reportedly followed a game of “dizzy bowling,” in which participants spin in circles and then attempt to bowl.
“She’s gonna be OK,” Tony Award-winning actress Winokur, 45, referring to Manigault-Newman, said to entertainment reporter Ross Mathews.
“You knocked her out,” Mathews, 38, replied, evidently referring to the game results. “You just did so wonderfully.”
On Sunday’s episode, shortly after Winokur beat Manigault-Newman in the first round of the bowling competition, Manigault-Newman is seen grabbing her inhaler and fleeing the game, Entertainment Weekly reports.
“I couldn’t breathe,” she said in the diary room. “It was really difficult to breathe. I knew I was in trouble with my asthma.”
She is then seen calling for a medic.
Winokur, later in the live feed, appeared to brag about her game performance while also taking blame for Manigault-Newman’s health issue. “If I were watching a reality show and that happened,” Winokur said, “I’d be like, wait, the little fat girl who hasn’t played anything yet, who fell off the statue in 10 seconds . . . and then won that round . . . “I mean, I put her in the hospital. She’s gonna be OK.”
Manigault-Newman, 44, had appeared as a contestant on real estate developer Donald Trump’s NBC business competition “The Apprentice” in 2004. She subsequently appeared on “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008 and “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” in 2013. She went on to serve under President Trump as director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. In December, the White House announced she had resigned.
On “Big Brother,” Manigault-Newman has expressed dismay over the Trump presidency. Asked by Matthews if the nation should be worried, she nodded yes, adding tearfully, “It’s not going to be OK. It’s not.” She added she would never vote for Trump again. “God no. Never. In a million years, never.”
White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah responded with a reversal of the administration’s previous statement of resignation. “Omarosa was fired three times on ‘The Apprentice,’ and this was the fourth time we let her go,” Shah told reporters at a press briefing Thursday.