Fantasia rose to fame after winning American Idol, but the road to success wasn’t always a smooth one. She had issues with her music label, was a teenage single mother, had financial struggles, real drama in her love life, and all of it was well-documented.
In August 2010, Fantasia overdosed on a sleep aid and aspirin. After the incident, she revealed that she wanted to die. “I didn’t have any fight in me. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted out,” she confessed at the time. “I was tired of people doing me wrong, constantly, over and over again…My head was hurting me. I was over it.”
Almost a decade after the incident, Fantasia revealed on the talk show The Real, that she now has a very strong foundation with God. She also explained that being a wife and mother gave her a strong sense of fulfillment. “I always tell people I’m a wife and mother first. Marriage and motherhood give me what I really need,” she gushed.
“Oh man,” Fantasia responded when asked by co-host Loni Love about the incident. “When I tried to just get away from the world. Some would say ‘commit suicide.’ I just wanted to be away from all the noise.”
She continued, “If I could do that over, I would.” Loni Love clarified, “You wouldn’t do it?” Fantasia responded “Yes.” Loni, 48, told the Grammy Award-winning singer, “We’re glad that you didn’t.”
Long before she met her new husband, Fantasia had to come to a place where she loved herself and had to put herself first. So as a reminder of her own self love, ‘Tasia put a ring on herself! “I was getting all of my old relationships out of my system,” recalls the Charlotte, N.C., native “I didn’t want anybody; I said, ‘I’m marrying myself.’” Yes, you read that right — she first married herself.
The token of that commitment to herself was not quite the rock of bling that proudly sits on her ring finger today, courtesy of Taylor, the COO of a local courier company — but, she says, “I spent good money on it; that was me realizing my value. I said, ‘Some man has to top this, because I’m worth it.’”
Getting to that place of self-worth has been “a roller coaster” ride, says the “Free Yourself” singer.
So what was the real reason why she tried to take her own life?
“I think everybody feels like I tried to harm myself over a man, but…
… you know I’ve been in a lot of bad relationships,” Barrino said on “GMA.” “I think that had somewhat to do with it because it was so heavy, it was brand new information, I was already going through so much. But I think it was just six years of everything, of me holding all that stuff on the inside and not letting it out…I got very, very tired.”
Luckily, Barrino made it through–but she was so stressed coming out of unconsciousness that even her survival gave her fear.
“When I woke up, I figured out, ‘Oh god, this is going to be more drama,’” she told Robin Roberts. Her biggest worry was not her health, but it was for the press coverage.
“I know all these nurses they know me, they probably voted for me.”
Fast forward to now, Fantasia is in a loving relationship, far removed from voting fans. Now, she’s touring the world with her family and in a good space mentally and physically.
Go ‘head ‘Tasia!