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Home › Politics

Politics | 12/09/2008 9:45 am

Fantasia Barrino's Home Foreclosure Nightmare

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Fantasia Singing "I Belive" on "American Idol"

YouTube

"American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino is the latest to fall in the foreclosure crisis.

Barrino’s $1.3 million home in Charlotte, NC, has been foreclosed on, according to the blog, realestalker. The website says unless the eight-time-Grammy-nominated singer can make necessary payments, the 6,232-square-foot home will be auctioned off on January 12. According to property records, Barrino purchased the six-bedroom mansion in March 2007. The New York Post reports that records show she took a $1 million mortgage on the property from Bank of America.

"The Color Purple" Broadway star has a second house in Charlotte, which is reportedly not in financial trouble.

Barrino was the winner of the third season of "American Idol." Her rags-to-riches story was chronicled in a Lifetime movie in which she played herself. Barrino, now 24, was just 16 when she became pregnant with her daughter. It was revealed after she won "Idol" that the songbird never learned to read.

Click here to read more on the story.

 

More on the financial crunch:

Four Financial Horsewomen Who Warned of the Apocalypse

Mary Wells to Government: It Isn’t Your Money

Read more about: Entertainment, Fantasia Barrino, financial crisis, Foreclosure Crisis, Home Foreclosure, Mortgage, News

14 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

E
I hope things turn around for Ms. Barrino. She seems to be a good person. Financial management ought to be a required subject for American children. Apparently this might not have helped in this case. I’m not sure if American Idol offers its contestants/finalists much if anything toward finance or career education/advice - if not they ought to consider making it available. They need not go to great lengths to get this done there are many finance pros who would jump at the chance to publicize their books/persona/skill via a behemoth like the American Idol show. American Idol would be able to shore up their image while doing good works.
By E on 12/09/2008 10:33 am
MsDee1
There are some troubles you can’t just sing your way out of. She needs to hire a good personal pencil-pusher to get her out of this while she’s still getting a purple paycheck.
By MsDee1 on 12/09/2008 11:16 am
HABIBI
I hope she is able to come through this and am sure she will. However, this sounds like an individual who has not yet learned the art of money management and feel certain,was living beyond the means that she has, which is the norm for many of young people and those who come into money overnight.
By HABIBI on 12/09/2008 12:07 pm
LorraineBates
Sorry, but I don’t feel sorry for anyone who got a $1 million prize, a record contract, a show on Broadway, and blew it all. No one taught me money management either, but I still managed to keep my home, even through six months of unemployment.
By LorraineBates on 12/09/2008 1:37 pm
KryssiK
That’s what I was thinking but we seem to be in the minority…
By KryssiK on 12/09/2008 5:54 pm
BelindaJoy
Her story is definitely a tear jerker. When you look at where she came from and the circumstances that led to her appearing on Idol and then winning…..even the most cold hearted among us can’t help but feel for her. I hope she works this out and can save her house. Unlike others, I can have compassion for those who acquire wealth and then fall on hard times, just as much as I could the poor guy down the street who is barely scrapping by. The wealthy mismanage their funds just like anyone else.
By BelindaJoy on 12/09/2008 2:06 pm
LorraineBates
Yes, well, as the child of a political refugee immigrant and a woman with a similar background to Fantasias - only in the 1940’s - I don’t hold much compassion for someone who wins $1 million and then buys a $1.4 million home. She did know how to add!
By LorraineBates on 12/10/2008 9:31 am
BelindaJoy
Hey Lorraine, news flash, if you don’t want to have compassion for Fantasia, you don’t have to. It’s okay, calm down. However the “homes” she brought (she owns more than one) were purchased from the revenue generated not just from the $1 million she received as a prize from Idol, but also from the multi-million dollar music contract, record sales, concerts, Lifetime movie, her extensive run on Broadway in Oprah’s the Color Purple, her chain of beauty salons, her contract with MAC to promote lip glosses, and her clothing line thru Macy’s American Rag Cie. All of which were perpetrated immediately upon her Idol win. It may be hard for you to fathom, however this very young woman has wealth that is beyond anything someone of her age in the 1940’s could even have dreamt of. I find it amusing you think you can relate to her life story….I highly doubt that. That statement was insulting on your part. At the time that she first acquired her homes she had well over the 1 million dollars you speak of and could most assuredly afford to buy the house in question and 10 on top of it. Bitter much? Or is it jealousy?
By BelindaJoy on 12/10/2008 10:12 am
LorraineBates
So, I can’t relate to Fantasia, because my mom, who grew up in the projects, illiterate, raising herself and her siblings because she was the child of a single mom, is NOTHING like Fantasia? Puh-leeze. What if I told you that she and my immigrant, non-english speaking, poor as dirt, fleeing racial persecution in his home country father inherited a large sum of money from a distant relative they weren’t aware of, and had to learn how to manage it, raise a family, and turn it into something that would sustain them long-term, with no education? I think it sounds almost exactly like Fantasia’s story. I watched Idol. I saw the TV movie. Not bitter, not jealous. Disgusted. I think all the examples you made of how she made a ton of money, and then, apparently, blew it, show that she doesn’t deserve sympathy. I don’t have any sympathy for Ed McMahon either, who blew his money and got foreclosed on.
By LorraineBates on 12/10/2008 10:40 am
BelindaJoy
First of all, what does your mother being an immigrant and growing up under the conditions that you have outlined have to do with your ability to relate to Fantasia’s upbringing and life story? It doesn’t. That’s like me saying my great grandfather served in World War l and was taken captive, so I understand exactly what John McCain must have lived through in the 60’s. No….it doesn’t work like that. Are YOU illiterate? Were YOU homeless at age 16 with a baby? Were YOU raped? Do YOU struggle with identity issues because you were always told you were “black and ugly with big lips” as a young girl? Until you can say yes to all of the above, don’t try and tell me you can relate to her life story. And as it relates to her wealth and any financial problems she is going through, as another poster on this topic stated so eloquently, when celebrities obtain millions, they aren’t handling their own finances. This is done by hired accounting professionals. They buy the houses, pay their bills, etc.etc. etc. It is not as if she is sitting at her kitchen table balancing her check book and writing out mortgage payments. Again, I am sure that is something you can’t fathom, but it’s true. I know, it is annoying to know a 19 year old black girl made multi millions of dollars and was so wealthy she had accountants, agents, publicists, etc. etc. when you didn’t, but oh well….such is life. Boy am I being a Bitch today…..what is up with my attitude?
By BelindaJoy on 12/10/2008 1:05 pm
JB1
I hope a lesson is learned…! I read this just after spending two hours with a friend who appeared at my home to borrow money. She explained in great detail that she had put her car title in hock, but still had come up short…for bills? No. For food? No. For the CHRISTMAS GIFTS she believes her grown, spoiled, daughters DESERVE. I told her I could not, would not contribute to what is obviously a problem. I told her she needed to rearrange her priorities. Some people never learn lessons from hardship, any time they come into money they blow it…repeating the cycle over and over again. It amazes me.
By JB1 on 12/09/2008 4:17 pm
rockyrocky
Re the linked article, it seems more like a lazy incompetent lawyer caused this problem, not Barinno — at least not directly. Big money management must be a challenge. I imagine if there are lessons to learn, it’s how to manage all money matters oneself as well as how to choose qualified and honest experts to help. Best of luck to her. I hope she doesn’t lose all that property.
By rockyrocky on 12/09/2008 5:00 pm
AlleneSwienckowski
Rocky Rocky, you have zeroed in on the problem. People that make that kind of money hire professionals to manage that money for them. Time and time again artists without basic math or reading skills have lost large sums of money because they put their trust in the wrong people. Hopefully the young lady still has the wherewithall to hire a competent attorney to stop the foreclosure and to sue her previous attorney for non-performance.
By AlleneSwienckowski on 12/09/2008 6:20 pm
BuhBye
This is such unfortunate news. Fantasia is an absolutely astounding talent. She is truly an original, who should be fielding major offers left, right and center. I don’t get it.
By BuhBye on 12/12/2008 8:40 pm