Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia Barrino is an American R&B/soul singer and actress. She won season three of American Idol, beating out Diana DeGarmo on the series finale. She released her debut album, Free Yourself in November 2004. Her first single off of the album was "I Believe."

In early 2010, Fantasia Barrino will appear in a VH1 documentary/reality series. The unscripted series will discuss the ups and downs of her personal and professional life. The producers of the show feel Barrino's "story has just begun" and want to share her story of success with the world.Daily News: Fantasia Barrino Lands New VH1 Reality Show (April 16, 1009)

On August 9, 2010, Barrino overdosed in what police officers called a suicide attempt. According to her manager, she "took an overdose of aspirin and a sleep aid".http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrities/2010/08/10/14981906-wenn-story.html Earlier the same week, Barrino had been named as an interested party in a divorce petition brought by Paula Cook. Cook alleged that Barrino had been seeing her husband for almost a year and that she was the reason their marriage ended.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gx7zmkgB1gcpX4OcEuNOXEvJ9I8wD9HGT2D02

Barrino denied that she was the cause for the breakup and said that she had been fooled by Cook's husband into thinking they were already separated.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gx7zmkgB1gcpX4OcEuNOXEvJ9I8wD9HGT2D02 Cook, however, claims that Barrino knew she and her husband were still together. She further alleged that the pair made sex tapes of their affair and that Barrino told her in a phone conversation, "He don't want you. Maybe next time you get a husband, you'll know how to keep him. That's why he is here with me."http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/100243409.html

In February 2009 Barrino reported that she will return to the pursuit of a GED, an equivalent of a high school degree, after dropping out of high school in the ninth grade due to her pregnancy.E! Online: American Idol's Fantasia Reutrns to High School (February 5, 2009) She explains "I've been talking about it for so long. I have a lot of young people who look up to me, like my 15-year-old brother and 7-year-old daughter. It's something that I really need to do and that I want to do."E! Online: American Idol's Fantasia Reutrns to High School (February 5, 2009)

One of Barrino's homes, located on Bevington Place, off Elm Lane in southeast Charlotte, was scheduled to be auctioned off on January 12, 2009, if the singer did not pay her past due mortgage payments. Barrino purchased the house in March 2007.http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/404536.html

The New York Post reported on January 12, 2009, that Barrino will keep her North Carolina home after entering into a deal with the Florida creditor, Broward Energy Partners. The lawyer representing the company, Larry Goldman, made the following statement, "Assuming the promised payments all get paid as indicated, we will be satisfied. I didn't want to take her house."http://www.nypost.com/seven/01122009/tv/idol_settles_149760.htm

On February 6, 2009, gossip blogger Perez Hilton reported that Idol judge Simon Cowell was the mysterious benefactor that helped stop Barrino's home foreclosure. According to reports, Cowell had hoped to keep his involvement in the good deed private.http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-06-simon-cowell-does-something-nice-world-implodes

Barrino most recently starred in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, as the lead role of Celie. On March 5, 2008, she announced that Oprah Winfrey had selected her to portray Celie in The Color Purple Movie Musical. It will begin production once Barrino completes her newest album, as yet untitled. It is slated to be released in early 2009.

Barrino portrayed herself in Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story, which aired on the Lifetime network on April 19, 2006. It was Lifetime's second highest viewed movie of all time. The movie was based on the book by the same name, which she dictated to a freelance writer. In it she revealed she was illiterate.

• 2004: Free Yourself US#2
• 2006: Fantasia US#19
• 2009: As-yet-untitled

• 2004: "I Believe"
• 2004: "Truth Is"
• 2005: "Free Yourself"
• 2005: "Baby Mama"
• 2005: "Ain't Gon' Beg You"
• 2006: "Hood Boy"
• 2007: "When I See U"
• 2007: "Only One U"