Tyra to Mila: You're America's Next Stopped Model

Going into America's Next Top Model, Mila Bouzinova thought she had it all. She was pretty, poised and had an attitude we'd all do well to adopt: If you focus on the positive, the negative just fades away. Unfortunately for her, the judges read her sunny disposition as vacuous, she lost it while playing a chemo patient in a before-and-after photo, and Tyra Banks' criticism... that's a negative that no motto can diminish. Smarting for the 20-year-old Bostonian, TVGuide.com rang her up to feel her out.

TVGuide.com: Gotta tell you, I really like your motto.
Mila Bouzinova: Thank you! It comes in handy!

TVGuide.com: Was it hard to keep it in mind when you became the first girl cut from Cycle 9?
Mila: I don't think so. I focus on the positive and on my strengths versus focusing on, "Oh, that's so nuts that I got eliminated." I can focus instead on, "Oh, this is great! Now I'm free to do what I want!"

TVGuide.com: Except for being America's Next Top Model, of course. Did you do yourself in by cracking up while playing a cancer patient?
Mila: You know what? They showed me laughing, but I wasn't laughing at the photo shoot or the concept, I was just laughing at everything that was going on around me, just hanging out with the girls and all the people that were there.

TVGuide.com: So it was like trying to play a death scene in the middle of a slumber party.
Mila: [Laughs] That's how I felt! I got along great with the girls, and we were just trying to have a good time.

TVGuide.com: Some of them were trying to take super-serious pictures. What were they doing, standing on the sidelines making funny faces at you?
Mila: No. Everybody was just talking. I don't know that they were doing anything to distract me. I didn't have to laugh, I didn't have to join in the fun, but I chose to. When you see me laughing while I'm trying to pose, it does look a little bit obnoxious, but that was not intended at all. It was just edited that way.

TVGuide.com: Uh-huh. Well, I thought the judges were way off when they said that your eyes looked dead in the glamour shot. It was gorgeous. What was going through your mind as that was being taken?
Mila: I was trying to look good, I guess. That was the whole point of that shot, to make smoking look glamorous, so I guess I was trying to convey that. The second shot was that smoking is not glamorous.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, I got that.
Mila: It was disturbing!

TVGuide.com: How did the girls take it when they found out this was going to be a nonsmoking cycle?
Mila: One of the girls, Jenah, was already trying to quit smoking. As far as I know, they took it pretty well, but I guess you'll have to see on the next episode.

TVGuide.com: Sure, sure, but in the meantime, how many of the girls would you say, overall, did smoke as the season started?
Mila: Not a lot. Maybe two or three. Most people didn't really smoke.

TVGuide.com: Did they take it seriously that this was the "green" cycle of Top Model?
Mila: Some people were definitely more into the green movement, if you want to call it that, than others. I think it's a good idea, and it's great to show it on TV and set a trend for other people to follow.

TVGuide.com: C'mon, tell the truth — did you really take shorter showers because of it?
Mila: I've always taken short showers, so I don't know that it really affected me! But there were little facts around the house, like there was one they showed which said that running the water an extra 10 minutes wastes like so many gallons of water. Things like that are interesting!

TVGuide.com: I thought it was interesting that Ebony was so quick to declare herself the bitch of the year but Bianca seems way nastier. Who do you think really deserves the title?
Mila: [Laughs] What you see on TV is different from the actual experience of being there, so from my experience, I wouldn't call anyone a bitch at all.

TVGuide.com: Even if I said pretty please?
Mila: They're all really great girls. But from what you see on TV, people have to judge for themselves, because everybody has a different opinion of what's bitchy and what's mean.

TVGuide.com: You mean there are people out there who didn't think it was just plain vicious of everybody to smack-talk poor Heather because she's a little autistic?
Mila: You know, it's very hard to encounter somebody with a condition that you aren't familiar with. You don't know how to deal with it. I think it's a natural human response when confronted with a situation like that to not know how to assess it and maybe think it's weird.

TVGuide.com: Yes, but badmouthing someone doesn't necessarily follow.
Mila: I don't think they meant to think badly about her; I think they just didn't know how to react to it.

TVGuide.com: They were immature, then?
Mila: No, because a lot of the girls were so helpful toward Heather. Perhaps it wasn't shown in this episode, but I'm sure, or at least I hope, they'll show them helping a lot more.

TVGuide.com: Things could hardly get worse. Anyway, I know you just graduated from college. What was your major?
Mila: I got a degree in finance, a bachelor of science in business administration with a concentration in finance.

TVGuide.com: Wow! So you don't need modeling at all to rake in the bucks!
Mila: I'm in graduate school right now, so we'll see what happens.

TVGuide.com: If I remember my college days correctly, they left a whole lot of time for other things.
Mila: [Laughs] I actually think I will have a lot of time! I'm pretty good about doing my work and having lots of time for other stuff!

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