Fantasia Barrino doesn't feel reports that she was allegedly having an affair with a married man were responsible for her recent suicide attempt.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
"That had somewhat to do with it, because it was so heavy, it was brand-new information [and] I was already going through so much. But I think it was just six years of everything, of my holding all that stuff on the inside and not letting it out."
Barrino overdosed on aspirin and sleep medication at her Charlotte, NC home on August 9 -- which she acknowledged as a deliberate suicide attempt in a Saturday interview that will air in a Behind The Music: Fantasia special on VH1 on Tuesday night.
"I knew exactly what I was doing, you can't accidentally take a whole bottle of pills," she said in the interview.
The overdose had followed widespread media reports of a newly-filed court complaint in which the estranged wife of Antwaun Cook, a North Carolina man Barrino had been dating since late last summer, had accused the Idol winner of having an affair and making sex tapes with Cook.
While the case doesn't involve Barrino directly, it is reportedly the potential first step in a lawsuit that could cost her millions since North Carolina is one of seven states in which a "home wrecker" can be sued for breaking up a marriage.
Barrino's manager had subsequently blamed the overdose on the fact that Barrino -- who has claimed she wasn't aware that Cook was still with his wife while she was dating him -- had been "totally overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media attention," however she told GMA the situation was more complicated than that.
"I think I was just overloaded with everything, with carrying six years of so much... it just became heavy for me to the point where I wanted to be away from the noise," she said.
"Even when I stepped on the Idol stage, I caught so much drama about being a young mom, not having my high school diploma, the way I spoke, me taking off my shoes -- it was always something wrong with me and they kept trying to point out little things but I fought through that and I won the Idol. Coming after that, I did my Lifetime movie and I did my book and I spoke about just my life before then [and] the struggles that I went through to get to where I am today and they picked out things about that that they didn't like and they lashed out... the [home] foreclosure."
"There's just so many things that I had to deal with -- me almost losing my whole career, and not having management, and lawyers and everybody who said they had my back and nobody taking care of me, me taking care of my whole family. So much that people don't understand and they just see the glitz and the glamour."
During the GMA interview, Barrino credited a life coach with helping her be able to get back to work and resume promoting her new album (which hits stores today) only a week after her overdose.
"I get to speak with a life coach now and that's something I've never done," she said.
"I'm glad that I have a life coach in my life because he's been teaching me some things. He asked me, 'Are you ready to go back to work?' and at first I didn't think I was ready to come back because I didn't know what I was stepping into."
About The Author: Steven Rogers
