'Celebrity Apprentice''s Cyndi Lauper: There is a Lot of Backstabbing

For Cyndi, there was no sorrow in hearing them. She had had enough. The morning after she says, "I didn't want to participate in that kind of thing any more with Holly. It was too much. Sometimes there is a lot of backstabbing. I like to be straight ahead. I couldn't do it anymore."

 
That said, Cyndi has no regrets that she took part in "The Celebrity Apprentice." For one thing, it reconnected her with Sharon Osbourne; for another, she feels she got an education in how to work with different kinds of people.
"I still would keep my demeanor of being very straightforward," she says. "That show got a little too talk-behind-your-back. That was hard for me to deal with … people constantly talking behind my back and not talking to me. It was an interesting experience. It was a good experience. I learned a lot watching everybody. Sharon is a lot of fun and she is so bright. I thought Bret Michaels was really creative, upbeat and positive. Everybody had something about them that was good that I learned from."
In fact, Cyndi tells ET she wouldn't be surprised if Bret walks away with the top prize.
"Bret is a good contender to win," she says. "Bret lives what is going on with him as we all do. I think that because of Bret Michaels' illness and the fact that he is coming back [from it] … that kind of determination is pretty great."
Cyndi became involved in "The Celebrity Apprentice" when she was talking to executive producer Mark Burnett about the possibility of doing a reality show focusing on her life. When that deal was signed, Mark suggested she join the Trump show to help promote her charity, the True Colors Fund, which raises money and awareness for LGBT issues. Cyndi raised $20,000.

Now that she has been fired, Cyndi can focus on the release of her 11th album, Memphis Blues, which she was working on while she was on "The Celebrity Apprentice."
"I am going on tour this summer," she says. "I went to Memphis this January and I recorded with the original old guys from Stax Records -- the guys who recorded on all those old records we listened to growing up. I did a blues album with B.B. King, Allen Toussaint, Ann Peebles, Charlie Musselwhite and Jonny Lang -- he is a young guy but a fantastic bluesman. I am doing a whole House of Blues thing this summer and we are going to try to figure out where we are going to shoot a show in Memphis."