Drug Overdose Sends Fantasia Barrino to a NC Hospital

ABC News reports that American Idol and The Color Purple alumna Fantasia Barrino is being hospitalized for an apparent drug overdose.  The performer went into the hospital on Monday, August 9 in North Carolina.  The overdose is allegedly due to an abuse of asprin and sleeping pills in conjunction with dehydration.

Says Fantasia's manager, Brian Dickens: "Fantasia is stable now...She will be released from the hospital soon. Fantasia will be fine. This is not the hardest thing Fantasia has endured."

This hospitalization comes on the heels of a recent scandal for Fantasia, who has been accused of having an affair and a sex tape with Antwaun Cook, a married man.

Since Fantasia's May 2004 victory in "American Idol"'s Third Season, she has released two successful albums, Free Yourself and Fantasia, and has been nominated for awards as diverse as Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, Vibe Awards, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and many more. She also authored the New York Times best-selling autobiography Life Is Not A Fairy Tale and starred in The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairytale, a Lifetime original movie adaptation of her memoir, in August 2006. The biopic became Lifetime's Second Most Watched Movie, garnering 2007 NAACP Image Award Nominations for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special and Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

She is expected to be released from the hospital shortly.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.