D. Woods
Photo: George Napolitano/ Getty Images

The ladies of Danity Kane have been lying low since the drama of their highly publicized breakup. Now D. Woods, who was kicked out of Danity Kane by the group's former boss, Diddy, is ready to return to the music industry.

Woods stopped by "The Mo'Nique Show" to perform "Legalize Me" off her new album, The Gray Area, due out later this year. And she admitted that as things were getting bleak for the future of Danity Kane, she knew that she wouldn't be in the group for much longer.

"I had to suck it up and just bow out gracefully," she explained. "You put the pieces together. You know when you're not gonna be there much longer, so that's kind of how [I dealt with it]. And my mother, she set a wonderful example. I'm glad I had a really great teacher, and she was very proud of how I handled myself."

She said what she learned from the experience was watching Diddy mold Danity Kane into a chart-topping success. "He's an incredible business mind, great marketing, visionary. So I took a lot of those things for myself," she said. "And of course I'm remixing them and now I have my own label imprint, and guess who the first artist is: me!"

With a new label of her own and a new album ready to go, Woods says that making The Gray Area was the best way to vent about her experiences. "The Gray Area is a collection of songs that I made through this transition period," she said. "And instead of being depressed or down on myself or unproductive, I got in my studio and did what I do. That's been my therapy. I have a lot that I haven't even shown the world."

What do you think of D. Woods' new song? Are you looking forward to what she does next? Tell us in the comments below!

• The Photo History Of Danity Kane

• Danity Kane
• Diddy

Aubrey O'Day performs in "Peepshow" on September 14
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for BASE Entertainment

Former Danity Kane member Aubrey O'Day has pulled out of the Wednesday (September 23) performance of her Las Vegas revue "Peepshow," citing her disgust over nude photos hitting the Internet.

"Hey, everyone, Aubrey here," she began a two-and-a-half-minute video that ends with her stripping nearly naked to show off her body on her own terms. "I'm making a video for you guys, because instead of being onstage at 'Peepshow' tonight, where I usually am, I decided to call [off] tonight because of some nude photos that were illegally obtained last night at the show."

In the video message, posted on her Web site, the 25-year-old O'Day said that following last night's debut performance in "Peepshow" — a semi-nude stage extravaganza billed on the Planet Hollywood Web site as "a strip show you can take your wife to" — she was disturbed to learn that an audience member had taken photos of her and posted them on the Web. Of course, some outlets have pointed out that O'Day recently appeared nude in the March issue of Playboy, but she denies any claims of hypocrisy.

"Last night was my opening night, and it was such an amazing feeling, and I've been told by everyone that the performance that I gave was absolutely amazing, one of the best they've seen," O'Day explained. "[But the photos] made me feel like crap. It made me feel bad. It made me feel insecure about my body, and unfortunately, this is not the first time I felt this way in this industry."

Judging by the look of the clip, O'Day shot the video in a hotel room, leaning against a wall. Explaining that she was "up screaming at attorneys, internationally and domestically, trying to get all these photos off the Internet last night," the tired-looking O'Day rants about recent issues concerning her weight fluctuations, online judgments on her appearance and even calls out Perez Hilton, saying, "This is what I look like without makeup."

"A lot of people may not understand what it feels like for women to be judged like that, but as you can see, I'm not performing, which is the one thing I love doing most. ... I'm not going to let anyone like Perez Hilton say that Aubrey looks ugly un-Photoshopped," she fumed, promising, "I am going to be back onstage at 'Peepshow' every night [following tonight's cancellation]."

O'Day ended the video by stripping off her shirt, exposing a see-through bra, while exclaiming, "This is what my body looks like, naturally.

"This is what I look like with my natural hair, uncombed — I just got out of bed, and this is what my body looks like naturally," she said. "There you go, everyone, you can look at all the photos you like — yes, any cover that any celebrity has ever done has been retouched. But this is what I look like without my top on, and any photo that you see, especially the one from 'Peepshow' [on the Internet, which] was an hour and a half [into me] performing while I was hitting a high note onstage.

"I guess my message is be comfortable with who you are, don't let anybody tear you down, don't let anyone make you feel not proud of your body," said O'Day, who stars in "Peepshow" with "Girls Next Door" alum Holly Madison. "I'm sure every celebrity has battled with this throughout their career, feeling bad about themselves because of the bad that other people say about them. And I really hope that this inspires somebody to just say f--- it.

"For me," she concluded, "I would just like to say, 'F--- you!' to all the haters."

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: MTV News

Aubrey O'Day has released a statement about a clip of her appearance Monday night (August 31) on the Fox News program, "Hannity," in which the former Danity Kane singer calls Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler "brilliant."

In the statement released to MTV News, the singer reasserts what she said on the show, emphasizing that just because she thinks they were smart doesn't mean she condones the notorious leaders' "evil behavior."

"Murderers and dictators generally are some of the smartest people out there — they just use their brain power for evil purposes," O'Day said. "I don't condone any of their evil behavior, but I was asked about their intellectual firepower ... and in my opinion you can't have a low IQ and wreak that much havoc on the world. What Hitler succeeded in doing was deplorable. And I hope we never see such an abusive use of power again."

In the interview, O'Day also mentioned that she had met Castro and "worked with him" when she was in Cuba. In the statement she goes into greater depth about that encounter.

"I was a college student on a program called Semester at Sea. Through that program, chosen political-science students attended a half-day seminar of Fidel Castro and his thoughts on basically everything except Cuba's relationship with the U.S.," she recalled. "It was very interesting."

O'Day was ostensibly invited to "Hannity" share her opinion on a recent U.N. report on international sex-education guidelines, which recommends that children be taught about masturbation. The Playboy model said she agreed with the recommendation, citing the lack of information on HIV and AIDS she witnessed when visiting places in Africa.

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'day appears on Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday
Photo: Fox

Aubrey O'Day made an appearance on Monday night on the Fox News show "Hannity," where the former Danity Kane singer eventually found herself in a theoretical conversation about Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler.

The singer appeared on the show as a guest on Hannity's "Great American Panel," where she was invited to share her opinion on a recent U.N. report on international sex-education guidelines, which recommends that children be taught about masturbation. The Playboy model said she agreed with the recommendation, citing the lack of information on HIV and AIDS she witnessed when visiting places in Africa. O'Day also talked about her experiences through her charity, FAN (Fight AIDS Now).

The conversation later turned to U.S. Representative Diane Watson's recent comments about health care, in which she praised Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a "brilliant leader." O'Day jumped into this debate, too, and sided with Watson.

"I met him and worked with him when I was in Cuba," she said. "I'm not defending his behavior in many instances, but I do have to say that I will 100 percent agree he's an incredibly brilliant man."

When Sean Hannity pointed out to the singer that Castro is a "murderer," she responded, "I'm sure I've met a lot of murderers in life. I'm not condoning [his actions]. [The United States has] supported a lot of murderers. I'm specifically addressing [Watson's] comment suggesting that he is a brilliant man. I'm sure many murderers are brilliant people."

When it was suggested that next O'Day might tell the panel that she thinks that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was also brilliant, she said, "Listen, I don't condone Hitler one ounce, but yes, he was a brilliant man. Can you guys say that he wasn't? He ran a country and convinced everyone of horrible things."

At press time, reps for O'Day had not responded to MTV News' request for comment.

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: MTV News

These days Aubrey O'Day is busy trying to get her reality show off the ground, getting ready to make her debut in "Peepshow" in Las Vegas and even recording a few tracks here and there, but she knows that there's still the possibility that she won't make it as a solo act.

"[Being] on my own and [taking] total control of my career," is what intimidates O'Day about a career without the four other Danity Kane girls to back her up, she told MTV News.

She knows it's not going to be easy, but she's still motivated enough to try to make it all on her own. "It's scary," she said. "Every day, I'm scared [and] I'm nervous. I feel like I'm going to fail. I let the haters get the best of me some days. Some days I feel like I'm on top of the world, like I can't be stopped."

But compared to the "traumatic" experience O'Day described of recording an album while also taping "Making the Band," maybe things will go more smoothly than she expects.

O'Day said that her life has been like "a roller coaster of emotion," and she's riding it wherever it leads. "I live for the good days," she said. "I try to move through the bad days and at the end of the day the one thing I continually remind myself of [is] at least I'm trying to do it the way I believe it should be done. If I fail, then I fail, but at least I tried to do it the way I believe."

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: Akshay Bhansali / MTV News

Just because her time on "Making the Band" has come to an end doesn't mean Aubrey O'Day is through with documenting her life on TV. The reality star is actually readying a new show that revolves around just her, but she's realizing that telling the truth while the cameras are rolling isn't as easy as it seemed the first time around.

"There's a lot of problems I'm having doing it, in the sense that everyone's really used to making 15-minutes-of-fame-type shows, shows that have train wrecks," she told MTV News about her show, which has yet to find a premiere date. "I don't want to play a role to get ratings."

This time around, O'Day wants to make a show on her own terms. "I don't want to make up story lines," she said. "We've made up enough story lines for 'Making the Band.' I want to make a reality show. I want to tell people the truth. I'm doing some gritty things."

O'Day, who is also hard at work prepping for her Las Vegas debut in "Peepshow," said she's already filmed some of the series and that the focus thus far has been on that new career path.

"My reality show just filmed the first few episodes when I went out to Vegas to announce my arrival at 'Peepshow,' and wow," she said. "It was quite an experience. Doing it on my own is a whole 'nother ballgame. It's about coming off that very public breakup, processing that and then moving on, and can I make it or is my 15 minutes up?"

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: MTV News

Aubrey O'Day is no stranger to the stage. In addition to performing with her former Danity Kane bandmates, she also clocked some time on Broadway in "Hairspray." O'Day can't wait to return to the stage when she makes her Las Vegas debut in "Peepshow" next month.

"I'm so excited to head back to the stage," she told MTV News. "I'm more excited to be doing 'Peepshow,' because it's a million-dollar production. It's hard to have these big-budget productions, so I'm so excited to be a part of this huge, brilliant production."

O'Day also knows a lot about the show's aesthetic, since she's spent a good part of her career working on being as sexy as the show itself. "It's sexy," she said about the show, which includes burlesque and reimagines several famous fairy tales. "It's Broadway-caliber dancing and singing."

O'Day got involved in the project after Jerry Mitchell, who worked with O'Day on "Hairspray," asked her to audition for the role of Peep Diva. "I came out and auditioned with a few other big starlets, and I got the role," she recalled. "I'm the storyteller of the show, and I take you through all the different fairy tales."

Although Aubrey didn't say how much skin she'd be baring for the part, she did say there is plenty of it going around. "The show is fairy tales meets burlesque, big-budget Vegas, so there's tons of beautiful dancers with amazing bodies," she said. "There's little peeps here and there. The clothes are very sexy. It's a beautiful production."

She has yet to speak to the Spice Girls' Mel B about taking over her role as Peep Diva. "I haven't spoken to Mel about the show," she said. "So the advice I think she would probably give me is just to go give it my all."

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Aubrey O'Day In The March Issue Of 'Playboy'

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: MTV News

It's been almost a year since Danity Kane were disassembled. And, in that time period, the ladies have moved on to separate projects and have reflected on their time together.

"I've spoken and kept in touch with Aundrea [Fimbres], Shannon [Bex] and D. Woods," she said. "I think everybody's kind of getting back to who they were before processing what happened. Sometimes I get random calls of apologies or I'll call and apologize for things we are processing from the past."

O'Day said Bex is hard at work on a country album, while D. Woods is recording music and Fimbres is taking some time with her family and is looking to get back into the studio. "We all just wanted to be entertainers in life," she said. "All of a sudden, we got swept up in this huge mess of a situation that basically all we really were was dolls, a big mass production moved around in order to make money and have power. We were just dolls.

"Here we thought we really believed in it all," she continued. "But at the end of the day, that's what you really are. We only saw the music. We only saw each other, and then there were cameras all the time. I think a lot of internalizing has been going on with the three girls that I mentioned."

As for the music Dawn Richard is making with Diddy for his Last Train to Paris album, she's cool with that. "I haven't heard any of that, but I wish them the best of luck," she said. "They're both very talented people. ... I wish everybody the best, all four of those women. I wish them the most success. I think all of us should and could and hopefully will be great at what we love to do best."

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: Akshay Bhansali/MTV News

For anyone wondering when Aubrey O'Day will be releasing a solo album — you will have to wait a little bit longer. The singer may be hitting the studio here and there to guest on tracks, but she is not quite ready to work full-time on her post-Danity Kane audio output.

"I had a very traumatic experience on and off working with Bad Boy and the cameras constantly in there. There was never vibes ... a lot of that matters when you're making music," she told MTV News. "When we made music, it was two to three cameras, two to three inches from our face, waiting to catch a bad note so they could have a show. So I haven't been overly excited to go back into the studio, to be quite honest."

It wasn't until she was offered the chance to lay down vocals on the cover of Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" that O'Day was given some great advice by her collaborator, Shanell Woodgette. "She came into the studio and she's like, 'Girl, relax. Enjoy it — enjoy the flaws,' " she recalled. "And that was the first time that someone let me do that in the studio."

In addition to her work on the Eddie Murphy cover, she also hooked up with Roscoe Umali for a reimagining of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle," called "Fallin'." "We did a verse out there for all the haters, all the Aubrey critics," she said. "We kind of started laughing about all the things that people say about me."

"Well, the song takes the 'Bizarre Love Triangle' lyrics and it addresses all the haters," she explained, adding that she got on Twitter and made sure her fans had a say in what she was singing about on the track. "The haters jumped on, gave their two cents. All the fans jumped on and said, 'We love you,' and I took the good and the bad and I wrote this verse kind of showing everybody what I feel about it — which is, I laugh at it."

And although she's "really excited" about all the new music, it doesn't mean that O'Day, who will star in "Peepshow" in Las Vegas in the fall, is hard at work on her next album. "But it's by in no means a first single or a preview for my album," she said. "It's just me finally getting back in the studio and loving my voice and my ability, and having faith in my talent again."

• MTV News RAW: Aubrey O'Day

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: Akshay Bhansali / MTV News

We're sure plenty of people are comparing Aubrey O'Day's and Heidi Montag's recent Playboy pictorials — and O'Day is one of them. Earlier this year, O'Day bared it all for the magazine, and Montag was recently featured in a less revealing pictorial. O'Day said she feels the "Hills" star could have taken a few more chances when she posed for the magazine.

But, before O'Day told MTV News what she really thought of the photos, she complimented Montag's pictorial.

"I think Heidi is a beautiful girl and it's an honor to be a part of an iconic lineup of women," she said. "I'm happy that she took the opportunity. She looked beautiful."

However, O'Day didn't have to think twice when asked whose pictorial she thinks is better. "I'd have to go with mine," she said. "There's been so much speculation and competition between the two MTV girls, and I had heard that Spencer made a statement about it, but, I don't know, I think mine's still the winner."

The former Danity Kane singer, who is currently prepping to star in "Peepshow" in Las Vegas, also has some advice for Montag. "I mean, every woman has their own way of expressing themselves," she said. "I think that my Playboy photos express very strongly my nature as a woman. They were classy, they depicted the parts of my body that I love, and I felt completely beautiful and secure and empowered by them."

O'Day, who said she would "absolutely" pose for the magazine again, added that she thinks that if Heidi has plans to do so — as she has hinted — she needs to step it up for her next pictorial.

"So whatever her journey is, I'd say ... to just take that risk, really do something kind of ... maybe do something she's a little scared to do, so she overcomes a fear and feels really proud," she advised Heidi. "You know, you can take a million pretty pictures, every celebrity girl has taken a million pretty pictures, but it's like: Which pictures are really going to stand out and be iconic, and which pictures are just pretty pictures that are here today, gone tomorrow?"

• Aubrey O'Day In The March Issue Of 'Playboy'
• Heidi Montag In The September 2009 Issue Of Playboy

• Danity Kane

Aubrey O'Day In The March Issue Of 'Playboy'

• Danity Kane

The Photo History Of Danity Kane

• Danity Kane

MTV News' Year In Photos: Britney, Heath, Twilight, More

• Beyoncé
• Jay-Z
• Mariah Carey
• Nick Cannon
• David Archuleta

MTV News' 2008 Men And Women Of The Year

• Beyoncé
• Rihanna
• Paramore
• Danity Kane
• T.I.

Stars Rock The Vote At Hollywood Party

• Aly & AJ
• Danity Kane
• Christina Aguilera

Danity Kane, Hayden Panettiere, Corbin Bleu, More At Declare Yourself's "Last Call" Party

• Danity Kane

Stars Collide At The 2008 VMA Weekend Parties

• Colby O'Donis
• Korn
• Game
• Calle 13
• Paris Hilton

Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dogg, Jonas Brothers, More At KIIS-FM's Wango Tango 2008

• Miley Cyrus
• Snoop Dogg
• Jonas Brothers
• Flo Rida
• Danity Kane

Danity Kane, Lauren Conrad And Heidi (Klum!), More At The 'Us Weekly' Hot Hollywood Party

• Danity Kane
• Will.I.Am
• Christina Milian
• Jesse McCartney
• Eve

Grammy Parties: Scarlett, Christina, Justin, Katharine And More

• Timbaland
• Nelly Furtado
• Natasha Bedingfield
• JC Chasez
• Rich Boy