Kristy Lee Cook: Standing Firm, Even on the Way Out
Kristy Lee Cook by Frank Micelotta/Fox
Despite having found her stride in recent weeks (not to mention getting a wedding proposal after her ousting), last night was
Kristy Lee Cook's final one as an
Idol contestant. Thursday, she found herself giving exit interviews, and reflected on the highs and lows of her
Idol run, plus what she sees on the horizon.
After multiple weeks in the bottom three, repeated verbal beat-downs from Simon and now being off the show, Cook says the experience made her a stronger person. "It's tough being in the bottom three," she conceded, but she grew a thicker skin. "I got a little tougher each time," she explained, "and finally, learned to control the emotions."
Sometimes, though, Cook could not just keep quiet, like, for instance, when she called Simon a "butt." Cook explained, "He's got his own little remarks that are not very nice to people, and after a time, it kind of builds up. So I just was saying a nice word but telling him he's a little butt sometimes, he's a little brat. I was debating between 'brat' and 'butt.'"
Even with her tough exterior, though, Cook said that the contestant-dividing results moment Wednesday night was still nerve-racking. "It was a whole whirlwind of things going on," she confided. "It was definitely a shock for me to go home." And after the Michael Johns debacle of last week, Cook knew that none of them were really safe.
The songstress leaves behind a legacy of standing up for herself, attempting to put Simon in his place, and lasting longer than he had anticipated. Cook believes she started out weak - thanks to sickness at the start of the competition - but really hit her groove with songs she was "comfortable with," like "God Bless the USA" and this week's "Forever." To her, she had her best performances this week, during which she felt she connected with the music and put out her best vocals yet. "I thought I had at least another week in me," she said.
Up next for Ms. Cook, though, is more than just the
Idol tour, at which, she promises, she'll be singing the kinds of songs she likes and putting on a great show. With an engagement that officially began with a proposal in a sauna in March - no, Cook is not kidding - and played out again after she was voted off, Kristy Lee may be walking down the aisle by summer 2009. And as for the guest list? Yes, she might even invite Simon.
- Anna Dimond
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