Fatima Siad came into cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model with a bang.  From the minute she arrived, she butted heads with the other models.  She was always one to speak her mind and was always up front and honest about how she felt.  Tyra Banks was a fan of Fatima throughout the season and brought her all the way to the final 3.  Today, she spoke to BuddyTV in an exclusive interview about her traumatic past, her disagreements with the other girls, and her passion for modeling.

Below, you will find the complete transcript and mp3 of the interview.

Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV, and today I'm talking to Fatima from America's Next Top Model. Hey Fatima, how are you?

I'm good. How are you?


I'm good. Thanks so much for doing this interview, I appreciate it.

Oh, no problem. It's a pleasure.


When did your interest in modeling begin?

Wow. I don't really recall an exact time where I was like oh, I want to be a model today. But over the years, especially when I was in college, people would say, "Oh, you should be a model, you should be a model." I would just kind of brush it off and say, "I really don't have what it takes." I would say around college time. In high school that was definitely out of the question, because I was living with my mom, and I knew that she would not approve of it. So when I went to college, that's when I started. Especially toward the end of my last two years in college, that's when I started to really give it a thought and say ah, maybe I can do this. Then I did a domestic exchange program at Spellman, and I don't know if you know anything about Spellman College, but it's like a fashion show every day. People dress up, they're really into their image, and that's something I really enjoyed, because my friends there really encouraged me to dress up and wear heels. I guess that's where I really picked it up. That's where I picked up fashion and modeling. That was like right before the show.


Was your family supportive of you going on the TV show?

Well, the thing is, I guess I had these preconceived notions that they would just hate it and not approve of it at all. I was so afraid, and I didn't tell my mother until I was on my way to the house, actually. She was just like, "I'm your mother, and no matter what I'll support you. Why didn't you tell me?" It was just so hard for me to believe that my mom would approve of something like modeling, so I was like I'm just gonna do it, because if I tell her she might talk me out of it. Sometimes I'm very impulsive, so I just kind of went for it. I was surprised at the 360 my mother did on me. She was just so supportive, and I didn't know how to take it, because I was really expecting her to like disown me and hate me forever. It was completely different.


You were really up-front about your life from the beginning with the judges, and the other girls in the house. How important was it for you to share your story with people, and with America?

Well, I didn't really go on the show saying, "Oh, I'm gonna share my entire life with everybody." It's something that's so, not secretive, but something that's really not talked about in my culture. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to talk about my life, but the judges ask you, "What makes you, you? What makes you Fatima? Tell us about your life, tell us about your childhood." I couldn't lie. I told my life as I remembered it. I spoke about my childhood when I was little, and I kind of knew that I was going to get a lot of negative feedback from people from my country, because as a Somalian woman you have certain responsibilities to not really talk about your culture with other people. It's something that's so sacred to us. But I knew that during this competition I had to conform to some of the rules, and share some things about my life that I wouldn't normally share with other people. At the same time, it's a message that I wanted to address, FGM. That's part of who I am, and that's something that happened to me. I'd always write poems about it, or sometimes I would perform poetry slam at my college, and I was just like, what's better than broadcasting it on national television? Just saying it once instead of spreading the word around. I had a lot of mixed feelings about it, but it all came down to, "Tell us about your life." I just said everything that I remembered about my life.


You had a lot of disagreements with the girls in the house this season. What do you think led to so many arguments?

I didn't really remember so many dramas happening, because there were a lot of good times. There were more fun times and good times that we had, more times that we got along, but of course the highlights had to be the few times that we had the dramas. But I honestly. . .I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?


Yeah. I just said why do you think you guys argued so much in the house this season?

Well, I guess one can say that most of the arguments revolved around me. If anybody really knows me they know that I don't like drama. I'm actually really quiet. I think it's because I got a lot of air time, so it seemed like I was always talking, and I was always starting problems with people. That wasn't really the case. There were times when I was just to myself, practicing, talking and getting to know people. I'm really fascinated with culture and getting to know people. I took two anthropology classes, and I took psychology classes, so honestly I was just trying to get to see where the girls really were. I was just mostly bored. Everybody was just so stressed, and I don't think they needed anybody to really dig on and try and get to know them. All I was trying to really do was get to know them, and help them out too, you know what I mean? It's national television, so I was trying to help some of the girls in terms of how they portrayed themselves. I didn't want them to regret how they came off. Especially when I told the girls, "Oh, you guys are so ghetto." You know, I could have been more tactful, but everybody is yelling, the camera's in your face and all that stuff, so it's hard to be tactful sometimes with your words.


Well I wish you good luck, and I just wanted to thank you for your time Fatima.

Thank you so much.

- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CW)