When you stand out you stand out, and London Charles stands out. Known as Deelishis from the VH1 reality show Flavor of Love: Season 2, she’s sparked a lot of attention lately. Numerous photos and rumors have surfaced about her, but the truth is her sincerity, captivating personality, and voluptuous physique all attribute to why she’s Flavor Flav’s new woman.
Yes, 7.5 million people tuned into the finale episode to see if she’d beat her rival, New York, and the cameras may have given you a glimpse of who Deelishis is, but there is much more to the Detroit native. She talked to us following the Reunion Episode of Flavor of Love and gave us her view of the show, how she’s feeling about her new man, and her plans for the future.
AllHipHop.com Alternatives: How have you adjusted to your new found attention?
Deelishis: With prayer, so God can keep me focused and keep me going. I see this as a blessing. And then the people, oh my God, I don’t even like to call them fans – I like to call them friends. Everybody has been so receptive. That keeps me going too.
AHHA: We read that you went to college for two years at Alabama State University, but you left once you became pregnant with your daughter. What did you major in while you were there?
Deelishis: English Education was my major. I always wanted to be a teacher for high school boys and girls.
AHHA: You’ve done some acting in the past. Tell me about that?
Deelishis: When I was at Alabama State, my secondary major was theater, and I discovered I had a talent for acting. After I left school and came back home to Michigan, I was asked to do a stage play titled All Men Can’t be Dogs. I was told the part was mainly singing with minimal acting. But once I went on the tour I realized I enjoyed both singing and acting.
AHHA: What was your job prior to becoming a contestant on Flavor of Love?
Deelishis: I’m an insurance agent, I work for State Farm. I’ve had my insurance license for six years now.
AHHA: Your intentions for going on the show, was it to find love? And did you really anticipate having feelings for Flav?
Deelihsis: I wouldn’t say I was there to find love, but if love it came with it then I thought that would be awesome. I was more in the mind set that, “I can’t loose. I’m not in a relationship. I’ve been on a hiatus for a couple years and this is definitely something that I can look back on and say at least I went out on a limb and did this with my life and I had a good time doing it.” I thought even if I didn’t get picked at least I can make a decent friendship out of this. It all just happened to all to go in my favor above and beyond that. Flav helped me enjoy dating again, because I was at a point where all that didn’t matter for me anymore.
AHHA: How did your family feel about your decision to be on the show?
Deelishis: I got mixed reviews. I let my family see my audition tape and my parents cringed. I told my family that I wouldn’t let them down, I’d been responsible all my life up until now. So they gave me their blessing. My parents have always been supportive.
AHHA: You seemed to be really sincere on the show. What attractive you to Flav?
Deelishis: It was his personality. I’m a different type of person. You can look good and it still not move me, but if I meet a person and have a good conversation with them and feel that they are intriguing, I might think about you later that night. That was what was going on with Flav. He was very confident. You have to be very confident to wear pink pajamas and still be ok with yourself.
Flav was confident with himself, he has swagger, a great personality and a sense of humor. He was attractive. If you carry yourself with a lot of confidence you will have people believing whatever it is your believing about yourself after a while. He came in the house like, “I’m Flav, I am the bomb, I am here to romance you and take you where you’ve never been before.” After a while I’d be like, “Ok I’m ready to go.”
AHHA: The loud suits and the clocks that Flav wore didn’t bother you at all?
Deelihsis: No. Actually it becomes a part of his whole persona. After a while its different when he’s not in those type clothes. It refreshing when I see him in jeans, a white t shirt with a jersey, and some air force ones or timberlands. But when he comes out as Flav I love it. I love when a person can come out as themselves and still be accepted.
AHHA: From the beginning of the show, the cameras seemed to focus on your backside. Where you bothered by that at all?
Deelishis: It was to be expected. To be in a house where everybody was different I knew what ever made me different would be what they’d focus on.
AHHA: What do you attribute your physique?
Deelishis: It runs in my family. I’ve had my behind for a while. Even when I was middle school I was skinny with a behind. I never thought it to be something outstanding because I’ve always had it.
AHHA: We’ve seen some of your pictures on the internet where you are posing nude and semi-nude. Can you elaborate on those?
Deelishis: The pictures that you saw where I am nude were taken a few years back. I’m not a model, anybody who has seen my ass knows I’m not a model. Have I done pictorial sessions? Yes I have. There’s nothing more flattering than someone coming up to you when you’re young and telling you that you should be a model. I had an agency approach me and tell me that, so I ended up taking those pictures. When you’re young and excited about someone telling you that you can be a model you might go into it with the wrong mindset. And that’s what happened. I thought I could be a model, and that wasn’t the reality of it. It was a learning curve. Calvin Klein would never hire me.
Once you appear on a national television show, there goes everything you’ve ever done in your life. I’m not upset about that fact that the pictures surfaced. A lot of respectful women have posed nude from Vanessa Williams to Halle Berry to Pamela Anderson. They were respectful women prior to posing and nothing changed after they did. I just ask that people see me in the same light. If you respected my character on the show then the respect shouldn’t change. The pictures don’t define me, I define them. If you liked me before, please don’t dislike me now.
AHHA: So you’ve done a few Hip-Hop videos in the past, any chance you’ll do any now?
Deelishis: I’ve always said if it calls for the right roll, and if the talent definition was decent I’d do it in a heartbeat. If you got me in a video with Jamie Foxx, Glenn Lewis, or Musiq, sure I’ll do it. But if you want me to get in a video and “Walk It Out” I might not be able to do it! I’m just not interested in doing anything outside of a nice R&B video.
AHHA: Ok Deelishis, please tell us what Pigeon Milk is. In the episode where your parents came to visit you all went out with Flav and your dad ordered a carton of it.
Deelishis: That was part of a joke! Honestly I swear on my life my dad was telling us a joke, he did not order pigeon milk. Pigeon milk doesn’t even exsist!
AHHA: So you mean the cameras manipulated the scene to make it look like he ordered it?
Deelishis: Yes! They edited the scene to make it look like he ordered it. The worst part about it was, the joke was so corny they would have gotten a better laugh out of hearing him tell the actual joke. My dad was ok with it though, he wasn’t embarrassed about it. He says when people ask him about it now he gets to tell the joke. But no, my dad did not order pigeon milk.
AHHA: During one of your dates on the show with Flav and Crazy we got to hear you sing. Have you ever considered pursuing a singing career?
Deelishis:. It’s hard to break in the industry once you become a certain age, and my age is a factor to me. I’ve gotten offers and I plan to look into it. At first I was nervous about singing and I didn’t want to give people the wrong impression. Everybody heard me sing on the show so if it was something that I would pursue I think people would understand because I have a pretty decent voice.
AHHA: During the Flavor of Love Reunion Show you became upset at New York after she talked negatively about your mom. You even changed your shoes at one point. You seemed like you were ready to get physical, but then you came back and apologized to New York. Elaborate on that situation.
Deelishis: What most people don’t know is that the Reunion episode was taped prior to the airing of the last four episodes of Flavor of Love. So when I saw what New York had said, that was the first time I had ever seen that footage. It was a shocker. It was very hurtful, and even some of the other girls who were in the house were upset to see what New York had said about my mother. It was very disheartening because my mom is a sweetheart. Both my parents are sweethearts and they didn’t bother anyone in the house, they were quiet and kept to themselves.
AHHA: What do you think about New York getting her own show?
Deelishis: Tiffany is very entertaining. If I was one of the producers it would have been a move I would have made. I’m not sure how long it will last or how far she will go, but she’ll be that woman you love to hate. And in most cases most don’t mind watching people you love to hate. I think she might do okay. I’m looking forward to seeing what 20 guys decide to put there life on the line.
AHHA: Is there any beef between you and New York now?
Deelishis: No, there’s no beef.
AHHA: What was it like to find out that 7.5 million tuned in to see you in that final episode?
Deelishis: It still hasn’t sunk in yet. When I go to different cities and people recognize me and what I brought to the show, it’s very gratifying.
AHHA: You have a young daughter. When she watches the show when she’s older are you worried about what she’ll think?
Deelishis: Not at all. My daughter has a very strong personality. When she’s a responsible, mature young lady we’ll sit down and talk about it, but it won’t be until then. That way she can understand that this is entertainment and it’s not about going on tv to find a man, it’s about making a decision based on what it is you can take and how you think you’ll handle it.
AHHA: The images of women portrayed on reality shows like The Bachelor and Flavor Of Love affects how some men view single women. It can come off that the women are desperate or off the beaten path. What do you think about that?
Deelishis: I think that reality tv is entertainment. The content of the show is a dating cycle. It’s no different than the dating shows you used to watch like Love Connection years ago. The only difference is that you have a longer duration and a larger group of women. I don’t think the women who were part of those shows then were thought to be in a desperate situation. It’s the same outcome, a guy ends up with a woman vice versa. I just think it’s all about how you perceive it and what you make of it. I think that if people would look at every person on the show as their own representative stereotypes about these type of shows wouldn’t exist.
I’m my own person. I’m not about to sh*t on the floor, I’m not about to wake up in the morning and cuss people out before breakfast, I’m not about to have sex with Flav on camera. There are just certain things that I, London Charles, am not going to do. The greatest thing is for a person to take who I am away from the show and not group us as a whole, and say this show sucks and it makes women look desperate or crazy. No, that’s not the truth, I think people that think like that have tunnel vision.
AHHA: Did you ever feel uncomfortable to see Flav dating or kissing the other girls?
Deelishis: Not at first, but once I started liking him it did. It started when it got down to the last four ladies. After the tent date I was like, “Yeah this is cool I’m really feeling him.” We had such a good time – it was on such a personal level. It didn’t even feel like a competition anymore. I even told him that if he eliminated me that night I would know it was for tv because the connection that we made was so natural.
AHHA: If given the chance would you do a reality show with just you and Flav?
Deelishis: Yeah of course. I couldn’t say no to that.
AHHA: Do you plan to move closer to Flav anytime soon?
Deelishis: No, not right now. I am going to have to let everything play out and see how things go just like any other relationship.
AHHA: What’s in the future for you?
Deelishis: I have to be mommie first. My daughter is seven years old and very impressionable, and she needs both of her parents. All the great opportunities that come – I pray that I put my priorities in order so I can venture of into them. I am also very interested in being on the big screen. They are some big things that are in the works, but I have to keep that quiet and let you all see what happens.