by Kacey Stapleton

Created on: September 08, 2010   Last Updated: September 23, 2010

Having fans cheer you on, can’t heal old wounds.  The pains and harsh experiences of a lifetime remain etched into the souls of the famous just as they do the office worker, the teacher, or the waitress.  Fantasia won hearts on American Idol, and since then has taken home three Grammys, starred in a Broadway musical and released hits.  While audiences want to see the happy ending, the truth is Fantasia’s story like everyone else’s is ongoing, only on one dark night it almost came to an end. 

Fantasia Barrino started life singing. Her family performed throughout the south.  Fantasia’s amazing voice coupled with a style shaped by her own idols like Aretha Franklin gained her attention even as adolescent. There was and hardship in her early life too.  While attending Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina, she was sexually assaulted by another student. Isolated and humiliated the teenager dropped out of school.  Pregnant by age 16 her daughter Zion Quari Barrino became a huge influence in her life. 

The decision to audition for American Idol at 19 years of age was a fateful one.  Her performance drew huge audiences and votes from the earliest part of contest, but not without some heart stopping moments.  She was in the bottom three twice, driving her fans to race to the phone to vote for her after the end of each show. American Idol brought her to the nation’s attention, but her remarkable talent made her famous.  

On a Monday evening in early August, Fantasia’s manager Brian Dickens called 911.  He had found Barrino losing consciousness and she admitted taking a bottle of aspirin and some other medication. An ambulance reached the singing star in time to save her life. Dickens referred to the incident as accident, however those watching Fantasia’s career and knew her personal life was far from fairy tale perfect recently. 

For almost a year Barrino dated a man who told the singer his marriage was over.  He showed her the place where he claimed to live separately from his estranged wife.  Fantasia saw in this man a father who loved his children. She also believed she’d found love herself.  Then came the court documents from the man's wife.  She accused the couple of having an adulterous affair, which was the cause of her divorce.  It’s hard to say in these situations who was being less than truthful, or if in fact anyone was at fault at all.  The consequences for Barrino however, were heartbreak and humiliation once again.

It's human nature when experiencing feelings of betrayal or depression to remember only the times of despair and forget the moments of triumph, and perhaps this is what occurred on that late summer night for Fantasia Barrino.  Those who love her both personally and as fans can take some comfort in the fact she got help in time. And they can hope in the future she will always find those people in her life who care about her and believe she deserves that happy ending.  

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