Fantasia Barrino on Suicide Attempt: 'I Just Wanted to Be Away From the Noise'
Fantastia Barrino tells GMA what drove her to her breaking point.
Aug. 24, 2010— -- Two weeks after Fantasia Barrino overdosed on aspirin in an attempt to take her life, the 26-year-old singer opened up in an exclusive interview on what drove her to her breaking point.
"I think I was just overloaded with everything, with carrying six years of so much," Barrino said on "Good Morning America." "I always take a licking and keep on ticking...it just became heavy for me to the point that I just wanted to be away from the noise."
The 2004 "American Idol" winner said that feelings of hurt, pain, loneliness and trust issues had built up over the years and overwhelmed her.
"There's so much that people don't understand. They just see the glitz and the glamour, and they feel like life is so perfect, but we're human and we go through things," she said, listing the loss of her career and management among the major blows.
But Aug. 9, the day Barrino attempted suicide, she was reeling from allegations and the threat of a lawsuit surrounding her relationship with Antwaun Cook, a married man. Cook's wife Paula Cook of Charlotte, North Carolina, accused Barrino of having an adulterous affair with her husband and named Barrino in a complaint seeking custody of the her sons, along with alimony, child support, the family home and a 2000 Lexus.
Barrino said the allegations were only a contributing factor in the drug overdose.
"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."
Barrino was rushed to the hospital earlier this month after her manager found her almost unconscious in her Charlotte mansion and called 911. When she woke up in the hospital, and realized that she was still alive, Barrino said she knew that drama would ensue.
"When I woke up, I figured out, 'Oh god, this is going to be more drama,'" she told "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts, adding that she was worried about the press. "I know all these nurses they know me, they probably voted for me."
Fantasia Barrino Says She's Speaking With Life Coach
But Barrino said one of her nurses, named Melanie, was her saving grace, encouraging her to see the brighter side and regain some confidence. Barrino thanked the entire hospital staff for saving her and treating her with respect.
"They didn't treat me like Fantasia, they treated me like Tasia and I needed that," she said.
Barrino was released from the hospital Aug. 11, two days after her overdose. She said on "GMA" that she is speaking with a life coach, who has helped her regain the strength to return to her music.
Critics are calling her new album, "Back to Me," in stores today, her best work yet.
"I'm just going to go back to that young lady I was on the Idol that people fell in love with," she said. "I'm back to me."
Click here to watch Fantasia Barrino's performance on "Good Morning America."
Barrino on Overdose: 'I Didn't Have Any Fight in Me'
In an interview airing on VH1's "Behind the Music" tonight, Barrino says she wanted to die when she overdosed on aspirin and a sleep aid earlier this month.
"I didn't have any fight in me. I didn't care about anything. I just wanted out," Barrino says in the special, which airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
"I just sat in the closet and looked at the mirror and took all the pills in the bottle," Barrino continues. "I wanted to go to sleep and just be at peace. I knew exactly what I was doing. You can't accidentally take a whole bottle of pills.
"I was tired of people doing me wrong, constantly, over and over again, dealing with my family, my father, dealing with men and their [expletive]. I was tired," she says. "My head was hurting me. I was over it."