Not-Quite-Top Model Janet "Waxes" Nostalgic

You'd think that giving a mock bikini wax to Tyra Banks would buy a girl some love from the head judge on America's Next Top Model. But Lady T showed carrot-top-turned-Liza Minnelli look-alike Janet Mills no mercy last week, kicking the 22-year-old aesthetician to the curb with some of the weakest words of encouragement we've yet to hear. How's Janet handling being, er, ripped from the lineup? And scarier still, how does she imagine her slovenly housemates faring without her around to play den mother? To find out, in anticipation of tonight's episode (8 pm/ET on the CW), we put in a call to the Georgia peach.

TVGuide.com: Sorry to be speaking to you under these circumstances.
Janet Mills: Did you love me or what? You didn't even watch!

TVGuide.com: I did too watch! And I did love you... only unfortunately not so much until you were almost gone.
Janet: I know! There she came and went!

TVGuide.com: At least your makeover was awesome. Although you have to be sick of hearing Liza, Liza, Liza.
Janet: Oh, my gosh. You know, I've never, ever, ever gotten that a day in my life. I've gotten Winona Ryder, Julia Roberts.... I got Uma Thurman before, when I had long blonde hair. But I'd never heard Liza. I've got a little bit of a predominant nose, which is nothing to be crazy about, I guess. And then I got the haircut!

TVGuide.com: Maybe it'll dissipate if you don't break out into a song-and-dance routine.
Janet: But I have been a performer! I danced a lot from the time I was, like, 3 years old. Clogged — I'm from south Georgia [originally]. I did ballet and tap and a whole bunch of stuff. But if I'm half as successful as Liza Minnelli, I'll take [the comparison]!

TVGuide.com: Even a quarter as successful would be pretty rad. Were you disappointed that you didn't get miles of extensions or something crazy like that instead?
Janet: Sure. I'd have loved to do something a little bit different to give me more versatility in my photo shoots. But I think short hair wears really well on me. I have a pretty long neck, so it accentuates that. But I've experienced a lot of different hairstyles, because I've worked in salons. I've done pink and navy blue, shaved my own head, had extensions [that reached] to my elbows. I've done it all.

TVGuide.com: That's almost sad. They really couldn't have given you a look you hadn't already had.
Janet: Even Bianca's [post-meltdown Britney Spears] look was already achieved. But I found out I have a very small head, so hair is good for me.

TVGuide.com: Knowing that white knickers did you in in your last shoot, will it be hard for you to ever look at them the same way again?
Janet: [Laughs] Those white cotton underwear! Damn them! I didn't know what the proper etiquette was there. I am on national television, and I have a level of respect for myself. I don't want to come across any different than I am. I like to wear short skirts — don't get me wrong. I'm a wild girl and like to have a good time, all in good fun. But when a national television camera is there, do you really want your underwear hanging out on the set? No. Then again, I didn't know if it was appropriate for me to bend and do everything that [would get] edited out.

TVGuide.com: Of course, on ANTM, whatever you did, you just know it would've been the wrong thing.
Janet: Right. You can't please everybody. If you'd had your crotch hanging out, you'd have been America's Next Top Hoochie. But if you tried to cover it up, they'd say, "Oh, you held back." But at least I improved through the weeks I was there. And having no modeling background, I picked up things from the other girls. So often we were kind of just put out there to do it. A lot of times, it's kind of like, "Hey, here you are on top of a building. Now model!" Like we have any prior knowledge of that! I would have liked to have gotten a little more coaching or direction while I was there, but... I'm not in the slightest bit upset about it.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of coaching, posing instructor Benny Nina — charming or creepy as hell?
Janet: Oh, my god. Well, when we did the publicity shoots and he saw me for the first time — we hadn't even spoken — his chin kinda hit the ground. He loved me. Benny is crazy, but he's harmless. He thinks a lot of himself, but you know, confidence gets you somewhere in his industry. I don't know exactly what his industry is, but I think he falls in the line of many things.
TVGuide.com: Whatever his industry is, it's gotten him on Top Model twice in this cycle alone.
Janet: And he was on there last time for contortionists! And I was actually watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style — oh, my god, I love Tim Gunn! — and he sent one of the girls to get some help with her walking and self-confidence, and I think Benny was there. He tries to be a jack-of-all-trades, and hey, if it makes him money, I'm happy for him!

TVGuide.com: What do you think the house will end up looking like by the end of the show without Mama Janet there to clean up after the girls?
Janet: Oh, my god, that house was a train wreck! I like to keep things just so. I take care of my house and I respect my house. My boyfriend has a 10-year-old boy, and we can't even come close to putting a hurtin' on a house like those girls did! They were a train wreck! With me being a little bit older than those girls, I've lived in different places and had a handful of roommates and realized how disrespectful it is when people are gross or use your things or whatever. It sounds stupid, but in the end, it's a level of respect that you have for people. So I bet it was a disaster!

TVGuide.com: Was it just a maturity issue?
Janet: Some of those girls had never lived outside their parents' houses before. Literally. Jenah didn't even finish high school. She left three weeks before she was supposed to graduate in order to go on the show. I taught one girl how to change a tampon and another how to plunge the toilet. They just don't know yet! In time, they're going to look back and realize how inconsiderate they were, but at 18 years old, I was totally oblivious to how nasty I was, too, I'm sure. With time, it will come. But for Top Model Cycle 9, that $12-million place was in a shambles. It was gross.

TVGuide.com: When you got eliminated, Miss Tyra seemed sorta halfhearted in her encouragement of you — or was that just the way I read her?
Janet: I think maybe she was sincere, because they cut out the part where I hugged her and said to keep her butt waxed. I was just kidding about it, and she said, "You know, I've still never done that!" Because obviously I'll be known forever as the girl who [faux] waxes Tyra's butt. So I told her maybe I'd be the first one to do it, and I think maybe she thought [I meant it literally, so] she said, "I hope not.... I hope you continue to pursue your modeling career." I think maybe they just didn't know how to edit that, or maybe they dubbed over that and it didn't sound genuine.
TVGuide.com: It does make more sense in context.
Janet: Yeah, when I heard it on the show, I was like, "All right, then! There's a pretty anticlimactic ending right there!" She even complimented my shoes, and I gave her a kick and everything at the end. But there's only so much time [to show] all the wonderful shots that there are of me.

TVGuide.com: [Laughs] Confident much?
Janet: You have to believe in yourself. You have to be there and know that you can do it. However much convincing that takes, I'm going to keep telling myself that.

TVGuide.com: So what's next for you? Since you dance, are you gonna bite the bullet and take your Liza 'do to Broadway?
Janet: Honey, please! I was going to do that so long ago! I just told my boyfriend that maybe I need to go to Broadway or Las Vegas and do a Liza Minnelli act to make us a ton of money. That's my true destiny. [Laughs] No, I'm kidding. I would never! I would like to pursue so many different things. This was just really good exposure and a chance to test the waters for modeling, which I would still love to do. But I'd also like to get a talent agent and maybe do some acting or Broadway. Sounds good to me.
TVGuide.com: Can you sing?
Janet: No. Not too much.
TVGuide.com: That might be a teensy issue.
Janet: I can carry a tune, but I don't think I'd be the featured act in a show. And, hey, if David Hasselhoff can go on Broadway, then I can do it.

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