Joanna Hernandez has been called a “gold digging fame whore” and a “drama queen.” Call her whatever you want; a changed woman sounds more appropriate.

Growing up in the small town of Clarksburg, Calif., Joanna said she was deprived, which might have been a contributing reason for her rebellious teenage years.

“I wasn’t allowed to have sleepovers; I grew up in a really strict Catholic home,” she said. “After school I had to come straight home and I hated it.”

She said her high school was even smaller than the town she grew up in with a graduating class of 76 students.

“It was terrible. Everyone knew my business,” she said. “Everyone knew my family and all of my relatives.”

Wearing her mom’s heels and dresses and putting shows on for her parents at a young age, she always knew she wanted to be some sort of entertainer.

“I would always lip-sync to songs and dance around all over the place,” Joanna said. “I knew I didn’t want to be a singer or a dancer, I just knew I wanted to entertain.”

In high school she was voted “most likely to be famous.”

A Sacramento State graduate, Joanna received her degree in social work and plans to get her masters at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, before putting her degree to use.

Her short-term goals consist of making money and helping out her family.

“My immediate goal is to make as much money as I can at work,” she said. “I’m a cocktail waitress and I’m sending the money I make home so I can help pay my brother’s tuition off.”

As for her 15 minutes of reality television fame, Joanna originally auditioned for the MTV show, “The Real World,” when the same producers approached her to be on a new show called “Bad Girls Club.”

“I wanted to do ‘The Real World,’ but ‘Bad Girls Club’ was new and fresh and I could tell (the producers) didn’t know what they were getting themselves into so I said why not,” she said.

The main concept of the show was to have a group of girls live together, grow together and learn from their mistakes. Not at all what the show is about now, she said.

“There was one fist fight on the show in season one,” Joanna said. “And I feel like every season the fights have to get worse and worse and that wasn’t even what the show was supposed to be about.”

Joanna said she admitted to saying she was a “gold digger,” but a lot of the things she said are edited and taken out of context.

“I don’t date rich men and I don’t date them for wealth. I never have,” she said. “I went to college and dated all the frat boys. To me, dating high rollers is hilarious.”

Joanna said that sometimes she would say outrageous things only because the producers pushed her to.

“Even if I did tell the truth they would twist my words and make it worse than it really was,” she said.

As for still wanting to be red-carpet status, Joanna said it is something she still strives for one day but knows it isn’t realistic.

“I feel like reality show girls aren’t taken serious, not to say being on a reality show makes me famous,” she said. “If anything, it gets me more recognition. I feel like I’m not taken serious at all.”

Comparing “Bad Girls Club” to her current show “For the Love of Ray J,” she said the two shows are completely different.

“On ‘Bad Girls Club’ we were allowed to live more freely and leave the house whenever,” she said. “But on ‘For the Love of Ray J’ we had so many restrictions, we didn’t have Internet access, we didn’t have TV.”

Despite what viewers may have to say about her, reality television has changed her for the better.

“Both shows have taught me more about myself and what I want in life. It made me more confident knowing what I want and getting it,” Joanna said. “It brought out things in me that I never thought I’d be capable of.”

She said one thing a lot of people don’t know about her is that she is a very sensitive person and that she often wears her heart on her sleeve.

“I had to portray myself differently for entertainment,” she said.

The people who know her the best say she’s charismatic and funny, unlike the way she is portrayed on TV.

Her brother, Danny Hernandez, a student at the Kitchen Academy, said Joanna is often portrayed in a false light.

“I know my sister isn’t a ‘gold digger,’ being on a reality show hasn’t changed her at all,” he said. “She still comes home and visits the family all the time.”

As for her newest reality TV name, “Cocktail” is a little more practical.

“He went around asking all the girls what they did for a living and I told him I’m a cocktail waitress and that’s how I got my name,” Joanna said.

Brittany Wallace, a friend and student at Western Career College, said Joanna is funny, outgoing and always the one to make everyone laugh.

“These reality shows make her look like the snitch,” Wallace said. “When she really is just funny and super nice. She doesn’t judge people right away.”

Wallace said she knows the reality star loves nice things, but isn’t a “gold digger.”

“On this new show they make her seem like a ‘gold digger,’ but I think she also just plays into it for the sake of the girls on the show. I know she makes her own money and does fine,” she said.

Maria Lopez, freshman psychology major and reality TV fanatic, said she knows people are not who they claim to be on television.

“It’s all fake and I think that’s an important thing to remember when watching reality TV,” she said. “So if Joanna said she is a ‘gold digger’ on the show, I’m sure she was just saying that because she wanted to entertain.”

Ashley Doyle, freshman nursing major, disagrees with this theory.

“If you say you’re a certain way on television there has to be some truth to it, or else why say it at all?” she asked. “So she might just be saying she’s a ‘gold digger’ right now, hopping to date a rich guy later on you know?”

For other Sacramento girls thinking about pursuing a career in show business in the future, Joanna said being yourself is the key.

“I think I learned the hard way as far as feeding into what production wants you to be, but you have to stick to your guns and really be yourself,” she said. “Do what you want to do; there are no limits to being yourself.” Amber Wertman can be reached at [email protected]