Patti Blagojevich still has a long wait before she can defend her husband in court, but she has already begun appealing to the court of public opinion.
Patti has been relatively quiet during her stay in the jungle on NBC's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, especially when compared to fellow contestants like Janice Dickinson and Spencer Pratt. But last night, she poured her heart out to Daniel Baldwin and during private interviews.
"This is like a piece of cake compared to the nightmare I've been through the last six months," she said, describing her week in the jungle.
"We lost everything. We're fighting to keep our house and keep our kids in the school that they're in. I'm driving around in a 21-year-old car..." she told the Baldwin brother. "It's just hard."
"Three minutes after the vote, the Lieutenant Governor pulled our security," Patti complained. "We have, like, hordes of people outside our house."
Soft music played in the background as Patti held back tears, describing her sorry plight. To those who don't follow Illinois politics, the Blagojeviches probably looked like political martyrs rather than foul-mouthed blackmailers.
"You wake up every day and just wish it was one big awful dream. Then you realize it's not, and you gotta get up and make your kids lunches and get them off to school and try to earn a living and be supportive of your husband."
Patti's stay in the jungle with pseudo-celebrities has helped her though:
"This has been a good distraction," she said. "As much as I'm missing home, as much as I miss my kids, it has been a distraction from the last six months, and I'm grateful for that. I'm definitely very grateful to the friends that I've made here. I haven't laughed that hard in—I gotta say—6-8 months. And it's good. Laughter is good."
Her fellow jungle dwellers tried to console her.
"[The truth] will come out in the end," said Daniel Baldwin.
"I vote for Patti to win the whole thing," offered Lou Diamond Phillips.
And Spencer Pratt, who previously told Patti that he thought her husband Rod would make an excellent U.S. President, told her, "I love you, Patti. I really cannot wait to go to Chicago and help you out."
The thought of the reality star from The Hills being involved in Illinois' politics is laughable. However, many Chicagoans argue that the state's political scene couldn't get much more ridiculous than it already is.
Matt Bartosik is the editor of Off the Rocks' next issue and a contributor to Reality Shack.
