Click Here

       The reporter didn't know that Milian was in Romania shooting this very film when she hacked into the t-mobile account of her then-boyfriend Nick Cannon and found out that he was "texting" other women. And no one knew that Milian, the 24-year old daughter of Afro-Cuban parents, was experiencing all kinds of racism during her stay in the country.       

       "I wouldn't say it was a perk. It was an experience I will have in my mind forever and hopefully I won't get to experience it again," Milian finally told the reporter. "I'm not one that's easily like, 'prejudice!' I don't' easily point the finger that way, but when it's blatantly in your face, it's just depressing to see that it still goes on."      

       Milian said that among other things, there were Romanian people laughing and pointing at her while barking the words, "Black! Black! Black!" She also described an incident in a mall where she was the only one of her white crew sweated unnecessarily by security.      

       "Rick Gonzalez is another actor in the film as well, and he dealt with it too," she said. "It took me to another place, I'll tell you, because when I got back home from the movie, I had a huge appreciation for home. But, at the end of the day, it's like how can you blame these people, sometimes? What are you exposed to? You don't know what they're being exposed to."

      Milian, a native of Jersey City, NJ who grew up in Waldorf, Md., said she decided to channel the anger and frustration of the experiences into Isabel Fuentes, the character she plays in "Pulse."

       Due in theaters Friday, "Pulse" puts Milian and co-stars Kristen Bell, Gonzales and Ian Somerhalder in a world where wireless technology goes awry and begins opening portals to other worlds inhabited by some kind of creepy.something.

       "I remember when I was reading the script, I was like, 'What's going on and who is this phantom chasing them and why is he doing this," she giggled, echoing the confusion of reporters who didn't quite know what those things were supposed to be. "I did question it myself. But when you get scary moments like the laundry scene [depicted in the trailer], it's like, who cares what this person is. It's just scary and that's what I came for."

      Perhaps even scarier for Milian was the moment last June when she realized that her run with Island Def Jam had been terminated. Although a rep for Milian said the split was over creative difference, industry talk centered on the stagnant sales of her latest CD, "So Amazin'," which has sold about 130,000 units to date.

      Milian said she has moved on and is "venturing into a new record label." Without naming the company, which is rumored to be Motown/Universal, she said the transition is just what she needs at this point in her career.

      "It's a fresh, fresh start. It'll be good for me, even when I'm going into the studio and there will be people who really appreciate what I do," she says. "I'm praying that the people who believe in me and love me, the true fans, will believe in what I go with next. I'm not gonna change it up too much, but I do wanna stretch and find something new."

      The sudden loss of her Island Def Jam deal was also a reminder of how shaky the music industry can be. Sitting in interviews with Milian over the past three years - beginning with the 2003 film "Love Don't Cost A Thing" - she has always answered the inevitable singing vs. acting question with a variation of the response: music is my first love.

       Not anymore.     

      "I'm at a point right now where I wanna dominate one thing more than the other. I would love to dominate my acting career a lot more than my music because I think it's a good firm base for me," she said, when the question came up. "I think there's longevity in my film career for me, and I think it's a challenge and I enjoy it."

       Hinting at the here-today-gone-tomorrow blow she just experienced with Def Jam, she continued: "I know what's to come tomorrow a little bit more with film. Compared to music, it's such a challenge, you just never know. You spend a lot of time in your heart and soul, you spend [time] sweating in the studio making music, rehearsing, doing this, doing that, you put out the music and you just never know what's gonna happen. Are the fans gonna love it? How much money gets spent? It's incredible, the music industry, what goes behind it."       

       But, she's careful to add that her music career won't be completely replaced by acting.      

       "To me, I love them both and they're equally my passion, and there are other things for me I can do in music, as far as songwriting and stuff, and I'll continue to do music," she said.      

       Just don't look for her in films that call for a character who also sings, like the Linda Moon role she played in 2005's "Be Cool."

       "I've turned down a couple of the scripts where they ask me to be the singer in the movie. Unless it's a film like 'Dreamgirls' or something, now something like that I think is worth going into," she says. "I've been turning those [other films] down more because I want to challenge myself through new things."      

       Here's hoping that none of her future films will have to shoot in Romania. However, the experience she called "dark and depressing" did have its perks after all.      

        "It kinda did help put me in the mood of the movie.