Aubrey O'Day

Aubrey Morgan O'Day (born February 11, 1984) is an American singer and reality television personality who has been a member of the girl group Danity Kane. Following discord among Danity Kane and with her mentor at the time, P. Diddy, O'Day was fired from the group in 2008, but she reunited with them in 2013 before a second disbandment. She reunited with Danity Kane again in 2018 to 2020, where it became a trio, and has rejoined Danity Kane again in activities since 2025. She also performed in the duo Dumblonde with former Danity Kane bandmate Shannon Bex from 2015 to 2019, and released music with former Danity Kane bandmate Dawn Richards in 2020 as Aubrey x Dawn.

O'Day has modeled for magazines such as Blender and Playboy and performed on Broadway in Hairspray. In 2011, she signed a solo record deal with SRC/Universal Motown Records and released her debut EP Between Two Evils in 2013.

Additionally, O'Day has made appearances on reality television shows, including her own show All About Aubrey, the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, Famously Single, Ex on the Beach, the British version of Celebrity Big Brother, The Masked Singer, the fifth season of Baddies, and Dance Moms.

Early life O'Day began performing at age five. "I lived on the stage, and even at six, slept behind the seats of the theatre", she stated in an interview. According to her mother, when O'Day was four, she was at a performance of The Nutcracker and started to cry. Her mother asked her what was wrong and O'Day replied, "I'm sad that I'm sitting here and not up on stage." O'Day recalls that moment as the one in which she "officially" realized her love for entertainment. Liesl in The Sound of Music, Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Mimi in Rent. She also appeared in Annie. The Notorious B.I.G., Sean "Puffy" Combs, Lauryn Hill, Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera were her primary influences growing up.

O'Day attended La Quinta High School. She later majored in political science and drama and graduated with a degree in political science from University of California, Irvine, and is a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

O'Day was eventually chosen to be in the group, and was the first member included. The band became known as Danity Kane, and their first album debuted on August 22, 2006, at #1 on the Billboard 200 charts. The group was the opening act for Christina Aguilera on the U.S. leg of her Back to Basics Tour with the Pussycat Dolls.

O'Day's fame and physical features found appealing by magazines helped her broaden her career beyond the group. In addition to other musical projects, she posed for several "sexy" magazine spreads. He told O'Day that she no longer looked like the girl he signed and that she used to be one of the best. In the live section of the episode, Combs explained that the reason he let O'Day go was that she was not the same person he signed, that the fame had changed her. When O'Day came on to reply, she stated: "I would rather be hated every damn day of my life for being real than loved for being something I'm not." The 2009 season of Making the Band was expected to include new members auditioning as "replacements" for O'Day and Woods in Danity Kane, but instead showed the official end of the group. The complete breakup of the group was originally thought to be the result of O'Day and Woods, along with group member Shannon Bex, declining the offer to return to the series and the group. O'Day said that if offered, she would have returned and is not against returning.

On the April 23, 2009, finale of the show, O'Day returned with three former members of the group to clear up any misconceptions about the group's breakup. She said that she has forgiven being released from the group, and people who blamed her for the group's demise. She appeared in the 2009 comedy American High School costarring Nikki Ziering, O'Day's debut single, the Adonis-produced "Automatic" was released on April 12, 2011 & has sold 50,000 copies to date hitting the top 20 on iTunes pop charts in less than 2 hours. O'Day recorded over 50 songs for her debut album on SRC/Universal Motown, which was supposed to come out in late 2012.

O'Day was also fired from NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice 5, which premiered on February 19, 2012. Before being fired, O'Day received a significant amount of criticism for her conduct while competing on the show, being described as "narcissistic, self-centered, evil, and vicious" by the media and viewers of the show, and as "transparent" by Trump's judges. It eventually caused Arsenio Hall to lash out on her in the show's boardroom segment, berating her with the unanimous support of his team, particularly Clay Aiken. This left O'Day in tears and contemplating quitting the show before eventually being fired by Trump. O'Day ultimately decided not to quit, but was fired shortly thereafter. Although she accepted an apology from Hall, she has expressed her dislike of him in multiple confessionals, labeling him and Aiken as "bullies". However, the contestants praised her creativity and business skills, and she ended up finishing in 3rd place, being the last female contestant standing. The reason for her firing was that she was too young and inexperienced, and also was seen as transparent by John Rich and Marlee Matlin, who served as Trump's viceroys.

On April 23, 2012, a new self-released single "Wrecking Ball", co-written and co-produced by American Idol alumni Pia Toscano was released on iTunes and sold 3,000 downloads in the first week. She shot a video for the track with music director Rage in June 2012 and was released on September 26, 2012, on Vevo.

2012–present: Between Two Evils, Danity Kane reunion, and Dumblonde In 2012, O'Day announced she would be recording her debut solo EP. On December 31, 2012, she performed previously released material, as well as three new songs from her EP Between Two Evils, "Love Me When You Leave", "Let Me Lay" and "Before I Drown" in Las Vegas. In June 2013, O'Day performed her singles "Automatic" and "Before I Drown" on The CW's Oh Sit! and also performed at Chicago's Pride Fest. "Between Two Evils" was released on iTunes on August 13, 2013, after topping the iTunes US Dance Chart on pre-order sales alone, and reaching #5 on the iTunes US Pop Chart.

In mid-2013, there were rumors that Danity Kane would be reuniting. On August 25, 2013, Danity Kane appeared at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards (without D. Woods, who did not return to the group), announcing they were back together. They soon split again, and O'Day and Shannon Bex announced the release of the band's third and final album, "DK3".

In early 2015, choosing to continue making music together, O'Day and Bex announced their duo music project, Dumblonde with the same manager as the Danity Kane band, Johnny Wright. In August 2016, she returned to reality television by taking part in the eighteenth series of the British show Celebrity Big Brother, where she sailed straight through to the finals, after never facing the public vote and finished in fifth place.

On July 7, 2021, O'Day released a single, "Body Love High".

Other work

In 2008, O'Day ranked #86 on Maxim's Hot 100 list, #81 on Blender's 100 Hottest People list, and posed for the magazines. She walked the catwalk at Heatherette's Fall 2007 runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week held on February 6, and recorded the song "Do Yo Dance" with R&B singer Cupid which was the released as a single from Cupid's album Time for a Change.

In January 2008, O'Day briefly became the face of Famous Stars and Straps. In August 2008, she made a cameo appearance in Estelle's music video for "Pretty Please". Further utilizing her success, she started her own clothing line called Heart on My Sleeve, which features T-shirts and accessories available only online. She posed topless in the November 2008 issue of men's magazine Complex. The publication stated, "With all due respect to the other girls in Danity Kane, it's easy to see why [Combs] built his group around Aubrey O'Day. Simply put, Aubrey is that chick: the stunner who attracts paparazzi and Broadway producers alike, and the talent least likely to fall into post-reality-show abyss." The magazine additionally commented on the animosity O'Day receives from several outlets, such as blog sites, as well as from message board fans, who have come to despise the attention she attracts from the media and the current image she has crafted of herself. Additionally, she has been featured on the covers of Jadore, Image, Palm Springs Life, King, Right On!, Dub and Envy.

In 2025, O'Day competed on season thirteen of The Masked Singer as "Ant". She made references in her clue packages about being groomed and controlled. O'Day was eliminated in the "Group A Finals: Rat Pack Tribute Night".

Personal life and activism While attending the University of California, Irvine, O'Day studied abroad on Semester at Sea. The charity's goal is to give therapy and art to children in hospitals. In an August 2008 interview with Broadway.com, she said she was increasingly irritated with people pigeonholing her sexuality, stating that she looks for "incredible passion and honest love" and not at gender. When questioned by Us Weekly regarding rumors that she is a lesbian, O'Day did not confirm nor deny the speculation about her sexuality, and once again said that she could not say "one way or another" what her sexual orientation is at this point in her life. In 2019, she came out as sapiosexual. In 2009, while on the show Chelsea Lately, when asked about being bisexual, she replied, "Generally, I don't like to label myself... I want to find someone I'm passionate about, and I don't want to limit myself to one segment of the population." In 2019, O'Day discussed her 2011–2012 relationship with the then-married Donald Trump Jr., saying that they thought of themselves as soulmates at the time.

In 2025, while involved in a Netflix documentary about Combs, O'Day alleged that he pursued her after her appearance on Making the Band, describing his behavior as "predatory". Additionally, an affidavit from an anonymous third party claimed that O'Day was sexually assaulted by Combs and another man in 2005, while at Bad Boy Records' studios in Manhattan.

Filmography and theatre Television Year Show Note 2005–2006 Making the Band 3 Herself – Winner (28 episodes) 2007–2009 Making the Band 4 Herself (20 episodes) 2009 The Aubrey O'Day Show Herself American High School Hilary Weiss 2011 All About Aubrey Herself 2012 The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Contestant – 3rd Place 2013 RuPaul's Drag Race Herself – Guest Judge (3 episodes) Total Blackout Herself (1 episode) 2014 E!'s Worst Thing I Ever Posted Herself E!'s Worst Thing I Ever Bought E!'s Worst Thing I Ever Wore 2014–2015 Fashion News Live Herself (14 episodes) 2015 Dance Moms Herself (4 episodes) Marriage Bootcamp: Reality Stars 3 Herself (12 episodes) Todrick Herself 2016 Famously Single Herself (8 episodes) Celebrity Big Brother 18Housemate – 5th place 2018 Marriage Bootcamp: Reality Stars 11 Herself 2019 Ex on the Beach 3 2021 BET Presents: The Encore 2024 Baddies Caribbean 2025 The Masked Singer Ant

Theatre Year Title Role Details 2008 Hairspray Amber Von Tussle Broadway, Neil Simon Theatre USHeat. USIndependent Between Two Evils Released: August 13, 2013 Label: Heart on My Sleeve, Inc. Formats: digital download 131 3 25 US: 15,000

Singles

As lead artist Year Title Peak chart positions Album USHeat. 2011 "Automatic" 25 2012 "Wrecking Ball" — 2021 "Body Love High" —2022 "Emface Nation Theme" — "Couple Goals" —

As featured artist Title Year Album "Do Your Dance"(Cupid featuring Aubrey O'Day) 2007 Time for a Change "Take You There (Part 2)"(Donnie Klang featuring Aubrey O'Day) 2010 Just a Rolling Stone "I Got It"(Donnie Wahlberg featuring Aubrey O'Day) "Stamina"(Todrick Hall featuring Aubrey O'Day) 2023 Jim

Music videos Year Title Director 2012 "Wrecking Ball" Rage