By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com

Fashion Forward: Bronze beauty Eva Marcelle Pigford is one reality TV star who won't be trapped in the reality TV box.

The Inglewood native, who won the crown on the third cycle of Tyra Banks' wildly popular 'America's Next Top Model' reality competition, is transcending well beyond the parameters of the fickle fashion business.

With appearances in movies such as 'Crossover,' 'Premium,' 'I Think I Love My Wife' and television series 'The Game,' 'Smallville' and 'House of Payne,' the former Cover Girl spokesmodel seems to have gone where no other contestant has gone -- by gaining consistent acting work.

"Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore 'Top Model' but that's not where my life stops," she shared with The BV Newswire last week in Beverly Hills. "It's about me elevating and escalating outside of that," she continued about her burgeoning thespian pursuits.

"I think that a lot of girls – the ones that haven't succeeded – they don't know how to get outside of that," she added about some other less-successful contestants on the show, which premieres its tenth cycle Feb. 20 on The CW Network. Pigford, who recently appeared on the 'America's Next Top Model: Exposed' specials – after a long absence away from the show and its branding – said there was a lot more acting underway.

"Thank God the writers strike is finally over so we can get back to work -- so I can keep doing this guest starring and I can keep my bills paid nicely," the 23-year-old beauty added.


The Bitter End: Though Montel Williams' long-running talk show was recently canceled (or the contract wasn't renewed – depending on who you talk to), drama ensues.

A former show producer for has filed a lawsuit claiming her dismissal was "a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, New York State and New York City law."

TMZ.com reports that Erin Primmer began working for 'Montel Williams' in August 2005 and while working on set March 29, 2007, she suffered an aneurysm and was rushed to a hospital.

While doctors eventually cleared her for work with no restrictions -- when she returned to her $110,000 a year gig, the executive producer informed her that her contract would not be renewed, explaining: "CBS needed someone capable of handling the pressure, and that the coming year was going to be worse."

Talk about being kicked while you're down.

Believe It Or Not: Newlywed parents Usher and Tameka Foster are not Scientology's newest black power couple, as widely rumored.

They even said so.

"Honey, I can't even spell it! No, I am not a Scientologist," the 40-year-old Foster told a reporter at a recent music industry event.

"I'm friends with Tom Cruise, so people think that's what happened," the 29-year-old platinum-plated R&B crooner added.

Guess that clears that up.