By: Taren Vaughan
The Fantasia Barrino and Antwaun Cook relationship drama was something that the “American Idol” winner couldn’t seem to get away from as Fantasia got slammed repeatedly over the romance she had going on with her baby’s father after it was reported that the singer was dating him while he was married. Fantasia’s romance with Antwaun brought her joy with the birth of her son Dallas and some legal issues too as Antwaun’s wife Paula was looking to sue her. Though Fantasia has moved on from the drama-filled situation involving her baby’s father, what she went through with Antwaun allowed her to grow as a person and served as song inspiration,the singer back at it again with her new album “Side Effects of You.” In an interview that she did with Ifelicious, Fantasia talked about her latest album and reveals that her songs, some of them, reference her relationship with Antwaun. And she feels people didn’t truly understand the love that she shared with Antwaun and they were judging her off of the bits and pieces of information that they were receiving:
“All of my music is not just based on Antwaun. You know, he plays a big part. I think with the songs like, you know, where I speak about ‘I’m a lady, I’m a woman,’ and I came in at the beginning of the song and I say ‘Look, the world says this love is no good to me, but my heart says that it is.’ So I think it’s my way of speaking to everybody…You only heard what you heard, you only got what you got. But you never got to see that real love and that relationship, that friendship that we had. They kept running with this whole knowledge thing, and she stole somebody from some woman…Well, if everybody really looks at it and goes and does their research, I won that case. So obviously, if I won that case, it never was what they said it was. But once something gets out there, people believe everything they hear, or they just put their own twist, their own spin to it…Regardless of what you say, he’s still my son’s father. I still do love him. No, we’re not together, but he’s still a great father, a great friend, and nobody’s gonna change that. So I would have to say that this album is my way of letting go of a lot of things, letting go of a lot of things holding me back, the world mainly.”
Her relationship with Antwaun wasn’t the main thing that hurt Fantasia though as she says the way she was treated by the media and her “fickle” supporters was what upset her the most:
“But the main thing that hurt me, the industry was the main thing that hurt me. It wasn’t really the relationship. It was the world. It was me having to turn on my TV and seeing my name all over CNN, TMZ, all over the blogs, all over radio station. That hurt me the most. Some of the main people that sat and voted for me and said that they loved me, they were fickle. And stuff started happening, and people believed what they wanted to believe. And as far as putting all types of stuff out, that hurt me the most. But the industry hurt me the most…I never understood how someone could love you so much at one point, and then months down the line, everybody is against you, everybody’s trying to make a mockery of you.”
And Fantasia feels that she was the person that the media chose to tear down and says there are other artists out there who have been in her same situation but their business has never been aired out to the public:
“And let me just say this, there’s been so many other artists, and I’m not gone say any names, who have been in the same situation that I have, but you never hear it. So Fantasia was that person that they said ‘Hey, let’s make her the crash dummy.Let’s make her the person who we’ll talk about. We’ll never praise her good but we will always expose her bad.’ So I would have to say “Side Effects of You,” my main hurt, all of those songs came from the industry…And I’m not just talking about Antwaun. I’ve been in a lot of relationships where they’ve just been, not good.”
Check out Fantasia’s interview below:
Sigh…whatever.
Oh Fanny please. The media has changed. Everyone gets dragged now. Welcome to the blog era. Hell, even Beyonce has become a favorite target. It’s like she didn’t understand what fame entails or something.
If you do dirt, people will talk about you! Hell, they talk about you even when you don’t do dirt! Get over it Fanny.
It’s annoying how these women want to act like they don’t understand why they are getting criticized for sleeping with married men. What do they want, a cookie? A pat on the back?
Lmao! Right.
Part of being a celeb is criticism. You’re living life in front of the world. It is the price of fame. You can’t mess around with a married man and expect people not to talk about it. The thing that irks me about Fanny and Alicia is they refuse to accept any responsibility in sleeping with married men. I’d respect them more if they owned up to it. But they don’t, so I can’t support them anymore. She can call that fickle if she wants but Antwaun is more fickle than anyone I’ve seen in a long time considering he kept hopping back and forth between his wife and Fantasia.
I really wish she would stop talking about this. Let it go. You slept with a married man. Accept it and move forward.
” there’s been so many other artists, and I’m not gone say any names, who have been in the same situation that I have, but you never hear it.” <<< Hold on, is she shading Alicia's slutty a-s? LOL!!!!
It sounds like it doesn’t it? I mean sure the urban blogs dragged her about the Mashonda thing, but the white blogs never mentioned it.
SMH. She still takes no responsibly whatsoever. That’s the most tragic part about it. How can you scream growth but you’re still being a coward about the situation?
Girl stop. Bad choices get press. If you don’t want folks all in your business and calling you a skank, don’t sleep with married T-mobile salesmen.
She sounds childish. Yet again.
All I care about is the music. In fact, I’d appreciate if she’d stop talking about Antwaun.
I say Preach Fantasia! Fantasia is speaking truth. Yes Fantasia made a mistake by sleeping with a married man,( we have all made mistakes; it may or may not be like this, but we have made some mistakes none the less) in the end it was proven that he was telling her one thing and the wife another that is why she won her case. When a man is telling you something and you have fallen hard for him you’re going to believe every word that is coming out of his mouth even though it may not be truth. People and the media can be fickle. They love you one day and build you up only to turn around and break you down. When you make a mistake and you’re in the public eye you will be scrutinized, criticized, and sometimes ostracized. Hell it happens when you aren’t in the public eye. Your flaws in all it’s glory will be on display. We all have our opinions on others people’s lives and the choices they make or have made and sometimes we may or may not agree with their decision, but people are only human and bound to make mistakes as long as they are living. Fanatsia got a bad rep for what went down with that whole situation with Antwaun Cook and people/media tried to paint her as a homewrecker who came in and stole someone’s husband. You can’t steal someone’s husband/wife, they are not property and your significant other was a willing participant in all of that and the person you married is the only one who vowed loyalty to you, not the person the cheated with. The woman who get’s caught cheating with a married man is always blamed and looked at as a whore, then mix that with the being in the public eye and all hell breaks loose. The media/people sometimes spectualate and exaggerate what they really have no knowledge about sometimes. There have been other celebrities who have been married and moved on with other people before they were divorced. I can give several examples, but they weren’t dragged like Fantaisa, so I get where Fantasia is coming from and I am glad that she is bouncing back and coming strong from all of that drama that tried to side track her destiny. I’m glad she is speaking up and telling us how she feels. I believe Fantasia loves hard and when she does love, it is pure and when you’re like that; sometimes you think with your heart instead of your head; sometimes that is not always the best because some people will try to take advantage of that. I am speaking from experience. All Fantasia has to remember is we fall down, but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down…..and got up.
I agree that she needs to grow up a bit and realize that criticism comes part and parcel with the fame, but I think she got dragged more than Alicia because Fantasia’s fan base is mainly black, Alicia’s is more crossover – so the white folks didn’t go after her.
I hope people go out and support Fantasia’s album cause Antwaun made her create some really good songs. “Where Would You Be?” with Kelly Roland and Missy Elliot is amazing. Hope this album is a Top 10 for her.
Fantasia is a whorish, thirsty, lying, desperate whore. She need to stop sleeping with married men and take responsibility for her poor choices and actions.