JERSEY girl Antonella Barbabroke her silence yesterday about the racy pics of her that appeared on the Internet while she was on “American Idol.”

“It was definitely difficult [to deal with],” said the Point Pleasant, N.J. native, who was booted off the show Thursday. “It wasn’t how I intended things to go. I tried to block it out as much as possible and focus on the competition. I was [there] to sing and I think that other stuff was irrelevant.”

Last month, pictures of Barba turned up on the Internet, allegedly released by an ex-boyfriend. Among them were pictures of her topless on a beach and sitting on a toilet. “I’ve learned to be careful who you trust,” she said.

On a conference call yesterday with reporters, Barba answered a few questions about the debacle before a publicist cut her off and ended the call 10 minutes early.

“The pictures that have been released, the ones that actually are me, they’re very personal and not how I intended to portray myself,” Barba said. “I would have preferred to promote myself in a more classy way.”

Barba disagrees that she was able to get as far as she did on “Idol” because of her Internet notoriety.

“I hope that I remained on the show because of my talent,” she said.