By Laurie Brookins, Photographs: Odette Sugerman

oon has come and gone on the Monday following the Academy Awards, and Stacy Keibler is still sleeping. As the hour grows late, her publicist decides to give Keibler a gentle nudge in the form of a wake-up call, and the blonde beauty apologizes profusely when she rings roughly 30 minutes after our appointed interview time. "We didn't get home until after 6 a.m.," she says. "It has been such a crazy week, and yet so much fun, too."

Indeed, for the seven days following the February 26th finale of Dancing With the Stars, the ballroom-meets-reality show that vaulted Keibler and her forty-one-and-a-half-inch legs into the minds and living rooms of mainstream America, she has tasted a whirlwind level of celebrity that most up-and-coming actresses can only dream of—and she didn't even win the competition. That honor—and an undeniably tacky disco-ball trophy—went to former 98 Degrees crooner Drew Lachey. Yet it's third-place Keibler who in the end may reap the true rewards.

For starters, there's the requisite bounty that comes your way when you've been anointed an Alister. Keibler admits she has been taking full advantage of the plethora of pampering suites that offer celebs a host of freebies, from clothes and accessories to massages and manicure/pedicures, in the days leading up to the Oscars. And the living room of her Los Angeles home is also groaning under the weight of deliveries, as designers clamored to dress her for the rounds of pre- and postceremony parties. If you're looking for signs that she's already jaded by such riches, however, you'll have to keep looking—Keibler thus far seems untainted by her newfound status, to the point that she carried the Polaroids from this magazine's photo shoot with her, showing them off throughout the weekend.

And as she surveys the mountain of garment bags in her living room, she says with a sigh, "They're all coming today to pick everything up," sounding very much like Cinderella after the ball has ended. Keibler's fairy tale may be just beginning, however. Immediately following the success of Dancing With the Stars, there was a development meeting with honchos at ABC; mere hours after our conversation, she would have a similar meeting with the bigwigs at NBC. Scripts also have been arriving, though she's quick to say she has no interest in a starring role, preferring to get her feet wet in supporting parts. There have been references to another blonde, an association she enjoys and whose career she'd like to emulate. "I've been compared a lot to Cameron Diaz," the 26-year-old Keibler says. "That fits for me—a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of girl who can hang with the boys, who can be the kind of girl who is liked equally by women and men." ...

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