(CBS) Fantasia Barrino is back home in Charlotte, NC, after treatment for an overdose of aspirin and sleeping pills.
Her manager says it was an accident. And VH1 says her reality show will resume next month as scheduled.
But why did the overdose happen at all?
‘Early Show’ National Corres-pondent Hattie Kauffman reported on Thursday the singer was hospitalized after reports of a sex scandal.
Barrino’s current situation is a startling contrast from 2004,when she beat the odds and won ‘American Idol.’
Barrino said following her win on the popular talent show, “I left my child for three months, I came out here, and I made it.”
Her soaring, gutsy voice even wowed diva great Patti LaBelle. The singer’s destiny seemed assured.
Hunter Walker, TV editor of TheWrap.com, told CBS News, “So many contestants from ‘American Idol,’ and reality show pop stars in general, are seen as more gimmicky than actually talented, and I think her turn on Broadway really showed Fantasia was something different.”
But financial struggles followed, and now disturbing news of an apparent suicide attempt. Monday night, a 911 call came from her North Carolina home. A voice on the call says, “An individual took a bottle of aspirin and she’s slowly losing consciousness…”
Tabloid photos show Fantasia frolicking at the beach with a married man. A week ago, the man’s wife filed for divorce, alleging Fantasia made a sex tape with her husband. In a statement, Fantasia’s spokesperson said she was “overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media attention.” Fantasia Barrino has always been open about her hard-luck life. Raped at age 14, and a mom in her teens, she wrote the song ‘Baby Mama’ for other young moms.
This troubling turn of events, Kauffman said, leaves Fantasia trying to regain the promise she has always shown her fans.
