Fantasia Barrino Hospitalized After Overdose Amid Affair Scandal: A Closer Look at the Singer’s Emotional Struggles and Public Turmoil.

Fantasia Barrino, the celebrated *American Idol* winner, was rushed to a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the night of Monday, August 9, following an overdose involving aspirin and a sleep aid.

According to her manager, Brian Dickens, the overdose came just hours after Barrino was confronted with a court complaint that alleged she had been involved in a year-long affair with a married man, Antwaun Cook.

The incident has sparked widespread concern about Barrino’s emotional state, with her manager revealing that the singer had been overwhelmed by the affair’s revelations and the resulting media frenzy.

Though Barrino’s injuries were not life-threatening, the incident underscores the emotional toll she has been under in recent months. Barrino was expected to be released from the hospital on Tuesday, August 10, following treatment for dehydration and exhaustion.

The overdose came at a time when Barrino was facing intense public scrutiny after being named in a court filing by Paula Cook, Antwaun Cook’s estranged wife.

In the filing, Paula Cook accused Barrino of engaging in an extramarital affair with her husband, which allegedly began in August 2009 and lasted for over a year. The filing, which was part of a child custody case, claimed that the affair had contributed to the breakdown of the Cook marriage.

In North Carolina, where the case was filed, there is a rarely used legal provision that allows a spouse to sue a third party for “alienation of affection.”

This law, which permits a spouse to hold someone responsible for “interfering” in their marriage, could potentially be used against Barrino in a lawsuit, making the scandal even more complex.

Though Barrino is not directly involved in the child custody proceedings, the implication of her role in the marriage’s dissolution has placed her in the public eye in a very negative light.

In a public statement released on Tuesday, August 10, via her manager Brian Dickens, Barrino acknowledged the affair with Antwaun Cook.

According to the statement, Barrino had “fallen in love” with Cook under the belief that his marriage was over. Dickens clarified that Cook had misled Barrino by telling her that he and his wife were separated and that his heart was no longer in the marriage.

“Fantasia fell in love with Mr. Cook and believed that he loved her. She believed him when he told her that his marriage was no longer working and that he was living separately from his wife,” Dickens said in the statement. The manager went on to express Barrino’s regret for any pain she may have caused and emphasized that she was heartbroken over the entire ordeal.

Barrino’s feelings for Cook were complicated, and her public statements have been inconsistent regarding their relationship. According to Dickens, this inconsistency was a reflection of the on-and-off nature of their romance.

“Sometimes they were together, and sometimes they weren’t,” Dickens explained. “When they were together, they spent most of their time with each other when she wasn’t traveling for work.”

The situation reached a boiling point when Barrino read Paula Cook’s legal complaint for the first time on Monday, August 9. Dickens stated that Barrino was deeply distressed by the allegations, many of which she believed to be untrue.

“She knows that some of the allegations in Mrs. Cook’s complaint are false, and others she strongly doubts,” Dickens noted, though he admitted there were “plenty of things she does not know” about Antwaun Cook’s marriage.

Barrino, who has always been candid about the struggles in her life, has faced significant pressure and attention from the media over the past several weeks as the scandal unfolded.

Dickens revealed that Barrino was “overwhelmed” by the intensity of the coverage, and the emotional strain became too much to bear on Monday. That night, Dickens found Barrino in distress at her Charlotte home and called 911 to report the overdose, which led to her hospitalization.

While the overdose was not life-threatening, it highlighted the emotional and psychological toll that public scrutiny can have on celebrities, especially those navigating personal crises. Barrino has been no stranger to hardship.

She has previously discussed her battles with depression, financial difficulties, and the challenges of being a young, single mother. This latest incident seems to mark another low point in her journey, though her team and family remain hopeful that she will recover and move forward.

The timeline of Barrino’s relationship with Antwaun Cook has been a point of contention in the media. Paula Cook’s court filings suggest that Barrino and her husband began their romantic involvement in August 2009, while Cook was still very much married.

In her legal complaint, Paula Cook described a phone conversation she had with Barrino in July 2010, during which the singer allegedly made hurtful comments. According to the court documents, Barrino told Paula Cook, “Maybe the next time you get a husband, you’ll know how to keep him. That’s why he is here with me.”

These accusations paint a very different picture than the one Barrino’s team has put forward. Barrino’s manager insists that the singer was unaware of the full extent of the Cook marriage and believed she was in a relationship with a man who had already separated from his wife. Dickens stressed that Barrino had been misled by Cook and was “devastated” to learn the full truth.

The release of intimate photos of Barrino and Cook further fueled speculation about their relationship, leading to relentless media coverage and criticism of Barrino. The emotional turmoil Barrino experienced, compounded by the court filings and public attention, ultimately culminated in her overdose on Monday night.

While Fantasia Barrino is not currently involved in the legal proceedings between Antwaun and Paula Cook, the implications of the affair and the potential for an “alienation of affection” lawsuit have put the singer in a precarious position. North Carolina remains one of the few states where a spouse can sue a third party for interfering in a marriage, which means Barrino could potentially face legal consequences.

Despite these challenges, Barrino’s team remains optimistic that she will recover from this setback. Brian Dickens has assured the public that Barrino is receiving the care and support she needs and that she will be able to move forward from this emotional ordeal. For now, Barrino’s focus will be on her health and mental well-being, as she takes time to heal from the incident.

Fantasia Barrino’s overdose and the surrounding affair scandal have placed the singer in a difficult and vulnerable position. The combination of personal heartbreak, public scrutiny, and the looming legal battle has undoubtedly taken a toll on her emotional health. Yet, as fans of the singer know, Barrino has shown resilience time and time again in the face of adversity.

As Barrino works through this latest crisis, her supporters are hopeful that she will emerge stronger and continue to focus on her career and family. For now, the priority is her recovery, and only time will tell how she navigates the complexities of her personal life in the aftermath of this ordeal.

Fantasia Opens Up About Her $uicide Attempt: ‘I Was a Broken Woman’

In the months before making her new album, The Definition Of… (out July 29 on 19 Entertainment/RCA Records) — and long before she met her new husband, Kendall Taylor…

“No matter what you’ve been through, you can change,” says Fantasia, photographed July 11 at Cienfuegos in New York.Ryan Pfluger

In the months before making her new album, The Definition Of… (out July 29 on 19 Entertainment/RCA Records) — and long before she met her new husband, Kendall Taylor — Fantasia Barrino put a ring on herself.

“I was getting all of my old relationships out of my system,” recalls the Charlotte, N.C., native, who, as a 19-year-old single mother, belted her way to victory on American Idol‘s third season in 2004.

“I didn’t want anybody; I said, ‘I’m ­marrying myself.’ ” The token of that commitment to ­herself was not quite the dazzling piece 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 though has been “a roller coaster” ride, says the 32-year-old singer. After the dizzying heights of Idol fame came more peaks — a platinum-selling album (2004’s Free Yourself) and critical acclaim on Broadway for her 2007 stint in The Color Purple — only to be followed by depression and financial woes.

Today, she insists, those dark days are behind her, as the new album announces a self-confident, fully realized Fantasia, emboldened by a wave of fresh starts: In addition to her marriage, she signed with new ­management, Primary Wave (Cee Lo Green, Melissa Etheridge); connected with a new producer, Ron Fair (Christina Aguilera, Keyshia Cole); and set course on a different, free-flowing musical ­direction, incorporating jazz, country, funk and pop in songs she deems “rock soul.”

Fantasia at the American Idol season-three finale in 2004.Ray Mickshaw/WireImage

Skyrocketing into the national spotlight on Idol, she recalls, “I was this Southern girl, green and gullible and eager to please.” And while her career initially flourished, bad decisions — both ­professional and personal — took their toll.

The situation came to a head in the spring of 2010 during the divorce trial of her then-boyfriend, Antwaun Cook, with allegations and accusations of home-wrecking, pregnancy and sex tapes. The humiliating public scrutiny culminated on Aug. 9, 2010, when Fantasia attempted $uicide by downing a bottle of aspirin. “I was a broken woman,” she says.

Her personal rebuilding began when she ­channeled that pain into her first Grammy-winning song, “Bittersweet” in 2011, but that was just the start of the healing process. Daily affirmations posted on her mirror — “You are strong,” “You are wise” — and a copy of self-help bible The Power of Now keep her grounded today. Hitting that low point, she says, “put me in a place where I know what I do and don’t want, musically. If I can’t do what I feel, then I quit.”

That determination made for a slow recording process. Having hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 right out of the gate with the Idol-fueled “I Believe” — the soaring ­contemporary R&B ballad would become a ­template for later hits — Fantasia was looking for something more soulful and life-affirming this time out.

When her initial ­producer (“I’m not ­naming names,” she says) didn’t agree with her vision, she scrapped his demos and moved on. Inspired by her role in the jazzy Broadway revue After Midnight, she found a musical ­partner with Fair.

Decamping to his Los Angeles ­studio, they ­hunkered down for two months, ­looking to acts as diverse as The O’Jays, Willie Nelson and Billie Holiday for ways to frame her voice, which conveys its owner’s virtuosity and heartbreak with equal ease. (Music runs in the family: Her first cousins were in Jodeci, and uncles made up ’70s R&B band The Barrino Brothers.)

At the same time, back home in Charlotte, she was experiencing a whirlwind romance with Taylor, 35. “Everything changed when I met him,” she says. The connection was instantaneous: Just three weeks after meeting at a local club, the pair wed in 2015. The brief courtship was intense, ­fulfilling — and ­celibate; they didn’t consummate the ­relationship until their wedding night, she ­confides.

“I just knew [he was the one]. I was getting ready to go on the road, and he got on his knees and said, ‘Can I pray for you? I just want to cover for you down the road.’ In the time I’d been fasting from relationships, I asked God for ­someone to pray for me — ­someone that could cover me and my kids [Dallas, 4, and Zion, 14] and be the man of the house. That’s when I knew.” A year later, she says she’s never felt stronger.

Fantasia and Taylor at the BET Awards in June.Paras Griffin/BET/Getty Images for BET

Maybe it’s finally having her personal life on terra firma that has Fantasia focusing on the wider world. The recent wave of police shootings and the rise of Black Lives Matter have inspired her to create a new live show for her upcoming dates with ­labelmate Maxwell, featuring protest classics like Sam Cooke‘s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.”

“You can’t look over it like it’s not ­happening,” she says. “I’m a mother, I’m a sister to three brothers, and I have a stepson in college. I wouldn’t want to see anybody’s child gunned down, no matter what color or race.”

But for Fantasia, this commitment goes beyond the concert stage. “What’s more important is hitting the streets to say, ‘Hey, we have to do things ­better.’ ” She recalls a recent drive through Charlotte when she and Taylor spotted a group of teenage boys fighting, and she insisted they stop the car.

“My husband thought I was crazy,” she says. “I started speaking, and one of the guys says, ‘Oh, it’s Fantasia!’ And I’m like, ‘Let’s not worry about that. Let’s talk about the fact that you guys are out here as brothers and you’re fighting. So get home! And don’t let me catch y’all back on the streets!’ “

She plans to join her husband in mentoring young men in prison in Charlotte through a program called MOVE, in an effort to show them “no ­matter what you’ve been through, you can change.” Fantasia, of course, is living proof. “Everything in life is a fight. Everybody wants this microwavable life, and it doesn’t work like that. I’m here to say, ‘See what I went through? Look at me now.’ “