Omarosa returns to 'Celebrity Big Brother' following asthma attack
The former White House aide was treated Friday night at a hospital.
— -- The mystery surrounding Omarosa Manigault Newman's departure Friday from "Celebrity Big Brother" has been solved: She required medical attention after suffering from an asthma attack, ABC News confirmed Saturday night.
"Omarosa has returned to the Celebrity Big Brother house after receiving medical attention last night and today for an asthma attack," CBS said in a statement to ABC News of the former assistant to President Donald Trump. "This development will be addressed on the Sunday night broadcast."
Word of her departure leaked out after a livestream of the show captured fellow contestants Marissa Jared Winokur and Ross Matthews discussing Manigault Newman's hospitalization.
Winokur said to Matthews, "Ross, all I’m going to say is, this is hilarious that you and I knocked out those people. I put her [Manigault Newman] in the hospital! She’s gonna be okay."
While Manigault Newman's departure from the show raised eyebrows and had the chattering classes jumping to conclusions, her absence from the Big Brother house was consistent with the show's protocol for houseguests in need of short-term medical treatment. This includes producer supervision to ensure there is no access to information that would provide unfair advantage when returning to the competition.
Manigault Newman, 44, exited the White House in December. "It has been very, very challenging being the only African-American woman in the senior staff," she told "Nightline" at the time.
On the season premiere of "Celebrity Big Brother," Manigault Newman tearfully confided in Matthews that she feared for the country under a Trump presidency.
"It’s not going to be OK. It’s not," she said.
She also stated that she was "haunted by tweets" from the president while she worked in the West Wing.
When pressed about the former aide's comments on Friday, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah discounted Manigault Newman's critical statements of the president and said that after three times being fired on the television show, "this was the fourth time we let her go."
He also attempted to diminish her role in the White House, telling reporters, "She had limited contact with the president while here. She has no contact now."