Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide
HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.
The former country star apparently took her own life on Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, and left behind two young sons.
McCready had attempted suicide at least three times since 2005, as she struggled to cope amid a series of tumultuous public events that marked much of her adult life.
Speaking to The Associated Press in 2010, McCready smiled wryly while talking about the string of issues she'd dealt with over the last half-decade.
"It is a giant whirlwind of chaos all the time," she said of her life. "I call my life a beautiful mess and organized chaos. It's just always been like that. My entire life things have been attracted to me and vice versa that turn into chaotic nightmares or I create the chaos myself. I think that's really the life of a celebrity, of a big, huge, giant personality."
This time it seems the whirlwind overwhelmed McCready.
Her death comes a month after that of David Wilson, her longtime boyfriend and the father of her youngest son. He is believed to have shot himself on the same porch of the home they shared in Heber Springs, a small vacation community about 65 miles north of Little Rock. His death also was investigated as a suicide.
It was the most difficult moment in a life full of them. McCready issued a statement last month lamenting his death. And she called him her soul mate and a caregiver to her sons in an interview with NBC's "Today" show.
"I just keep telling myself that the more suffering that I go through, the greater character I'll have," she said, according to a transcript of the interview.
Melinda Gayle McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994, still in her teens with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records. She had a few memorable moments professionally, scoring her first No. 1 hit almost immediately.
"Guys Do It All the Time," a self-assured dig at male chauvinism, endeared her to female fans in 1996. She also scored a hit with "Ten Thousand Angels," and her album of that title sold 2 million copies.
Like so many times before, McCready showed a little toughness in the midst of a personal storm, again endearing herself to her fans. But as usual, the brave face for the camera hid a much more complicated internal struggle that surfaced publicly time and again over the last 10 years.
This time, along with her remembrances of finding Wilson as he lay dying, she also answered questions about whether they'd argued earlier that evening about an affair and if she'd shot him.
"Oh, my God," the "Today" transcript reads. "No. Oh, my God. No. He was my life. We were each other's life."
It's unclear what circumstances led to McCready taking her own life, but it appears she was struggling again with twin issues that have persisted for years: substance abuse and the custody of her children.
She checked into court-ordered rehab and gave her children up to foster care earlier this month after her father asked a judge to intervene, saying she'd stopped taking care of herself and her sons, and that she was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs.
It's unclear why McCready was out of rehab.
Billy McKnight, McCready's ex-boyfriend and the father of her oldest son, said the children remain in foster care. Arkansas Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Webb could not confirm their whereabouts, citing agency rules.
McCready's relationship with McKnight was one of the more difficult periods of her life. McKnight was arrested in 2005 on charges of attempted murder after authorities say he beat and choked her. And the two continued to struggle over their son with McKnight recently filing for custody in light of McCready's latest sting in rehab.
McCready made headlines in April 2008 when she claimed a longtime relationship with baseball great Roger Clemens. Published reports at the time said she met the pitcher at a Florida karaoke bar when she was 15 and he was 28 and married. Clemens has denied the relationship.
On Monday, Clemens handed a written statement to reporters at the Houston Astros spring training facility in Kissimmee, Fla., where he is serving as a special instructor for the team.
"Yes, that is sad news. I had heard over time that she was trying to get peace and direction in her life. The few times that I had met her and her manager/agent they were extremely nice."
McCready also was engaged to actor Dean Cain in 1997, but their relationship fell apart as well.
Her troubles weren't just romantic. Over time she was arrested for fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs, probation violation, misdemeanor assault of her mother Gayle Inge and other problems.
In 2010, after a stint on Dr. Drew Pinsky's "Celebrity Rehab 3" where she was treated for "love addiction," she told The Associated Press she may have finally found love and the strength to get her life back on track.
Pinsky, who had no comment Sunday, called McCready an "angel" in the season finale and expressed hope she would continue to seek treatment in a later interview. McCready suffered a seizure in one of the show's scarier moments. Tests showed she had suffered brain damage, something she attributed to her abuse at the hands of McKnight.
McCready is the fifth celebrity to pass away since appearing on Pinsky's show and the third from Season 3. Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr and "Real World" participant Joey Kovar both died of overdoses.
She entered her relationship with Wilson, a producer and musician who was 34 when he died last month, a short time later. She'd just met Wilson and talked openly about their relationship in the 2010 interview. Wilson declined to speak on the record.
With a publicist, reporters, cameras, makeup artists and musicians swirling around her during a press day for her last album, "I'm Still Here," McCready fended off questions about a sex tape and said she and Wilson started out as friends.
"And I've never had a relationship like that before where we started completely as friends," she said. "It turned into friends really caring about each other and then it turned into love and I've never had that happen before."
Things didn't remain calm for long, though. Unhappy with custody arrangements, McCready took her older son from her mother, the boy's legal guardian, in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas without permission over what she called child abuse fears. Authorities eventually found McCready hiding in a home without permission and took the boy into custody.
She and Wilson had their son in April 2012, and she regained custody of Zander in December. But Wilson's death appears to have led to another dark period.
"I met Mindy at 23 coming off of a big record, and from knowing her as personal as I did back then, sometimes being famous can hurt you," McKnight said in a phone interview Monday from Tampa, Fla. "I think she was too young. I think that she was having some personal issues in her life and her family anyways, and when she got famous ... she started mixing booze and pills and the negativity, it took the best of her."
___
Music Writer Chris Talbott reported from Nashville, Tenn. Sports Writer Noah Trister, in Kissimmee, Fla., contributed to this report.
The former country star apparently took her own life on Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, and left behind two young sons.
McCready had attempted suicide at least three times since 2005, as she struggled to cope amid a series of tumultuous public events that marked much of her adult life.
Speaking to The Associated Press in 2010, McCready smiled wryly while talking about the string of issues she'd dealt with over the last half-decade.
"It is a giant whirlwind of chaos all the time," she said of her life. "I call my life a beautiful mess and organized chaos. It's just always been like that. My entire life things have been attracted to me and vice versa that turn into chaotic nightmares or I create the chaos myself. I think that's really the life of a celebrity, of a big, huge, giant personality."
This time it seems the whirlwind overwhelmed McCready.
Her death comes a month after that of David Wilson, her longtime boyfriend and the father of her youngest son. He is believed to have shot himself on the same porch of the home they shared in Heber Springs, a small vacation community about 65 miles north of Little Rock. His death also was investigated as a suicide.
It was the most difficult moment in a life full of them. McCready issued a statement last month lamenting his death. And she called him her soul mate and a caregiver to her sons in an interview with NBC's "Today" show.
"I just keep telling myself that the more suffering that I go through, the greater character I'll have," she said, according to a transcript of the interview.
Melinda Gayle McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994, still in her teens with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records. She had a few memorable moments professionally, scoring her first No. 1 hit almost immediately.
"Guys Do It All the Time," a self-assured dig at male chauvinism, endeared her to female fans in 1996. She also scored a hit with "Ten Thousand Angels," and her album of that title sold 2 million copies.
Like so many times before, McCready showed a little toughness in the midst of a personal storm, again endearing herself to her fans. But as usual, the brave face for the camera hid a much more complicated internal struggle that surfaced publicly time and again over the last 10 years.
This time, along with her remembrances of finding Wilson as he lay dying, she also answered questions about whether they'd argued earlier that evening about an affair and if she'd shot him.
"Oh, my God," the "Today" transcript reads. "No. Oh, my God. No. He was my life. We were each other's life."
It's unclear what circumstances led to McCready taking her own life, but it appears she was struggling again with twin issues that have persisted for years: substance abuse and the custody of her children.
She checked into court-ordered rehab and gave her children up to foster care earlier this month after her father asked a judge to intervene, saying she'd stopped taking care of herself and her sons, and that she was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs.
It's unclear why McCready was out of rehab.
Billy McKnight, McCready's ex-boyfriend and the father of her oldest son, said the children remain in foster care. Arkansas Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Webb could not confirm their whereabouts, citing agency rules.
McCready's relationship with McKnight was one of the more difficult periods of her life. McKnight was arrested in 2005 on charges of attempted murder after authorities say he beat and choked her. And the two continued to struggle over their son with McKnight recently filing for custody in light of McCready's latest sting in rehab.
McCready made headlines in April 2008 when she claimed a longtime relationship with baseball great Roger Clemens. Published reports at the time said she met the pitcher at a Florida karaoke bar when she was 15 and he was 28 and married. Clemens has denied the relationship.
On Monday, Clemens handed a written statement to reporters at the Houston Astros spring training facility in Kissimmee, Fla., where he is serving as a special instructor for the team.
"Yes, that is sad news. I had heard over time that she was trying to get peace and direction in her life. The few times that I had met her and her manager/agent they were extremely nice."
McCready also was engaged to actor Dean Cain in 1997, but their relationship fell apart as well.
Her troubles weren't just romantic. Over time she was arrested for fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs, probation violation, misdemeanor assault of her mother Gayle Inge and other problems.
In 2010, after a stint on Dr. Drew Pinsky's "Celebrity Rehab 3" where she was treated for "love addiction," she told The Associated Press she may have finally found love and the strength to get her life back on track.
Pinsky, who had no comment Sunday, called McCready an "angel" in the season finale and expressed hope she would continue to seek treatment in a later interview. McCready suffered a seizure in one of the show's scarier moments. Tests showed she had suffered brain damage, something she attributed to her abuse at the hands of McKnight.
McCready is the fifth celebrity to pass away since appearing on Pinsky's show and the third from Season 3. Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr and "Real World" participant Joey Kovar both died of overdoses.
She entered her relationship with Wilson, a producer and musician who was 34 when he died last month, a short time later. She'd just met Wilson and talked openly about their relationship in the 2010 interview. Wilson declined to speak on the record.
With a publicist, reporters, cameras, makeup artists and musicians swirling around her during a press day for her last album, "I'm Still Here," McCready fended off questions about a sex tape and said she and Wilson started out as friends.
"And I've never had a relationship like that before where we started completely as friends," she said. "It turned into friends really caring about each other and then it turned into love and I've never had that happen before."
Things didn't remain calm for long, though. Unhappy with custody arrangements, McCready took her older son from her mother, the boy's legal guardian, in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas without permission over what she called child abuse fears. Authorities eventually found McCready hiding in a home without permission and took the boy into custody.
She and Wilson had their son in April 2012, and she regained custody of Zander in December. But Wilson's death appears to have led to another dark period.
"I met Mindy at 23 coming off of a big record, and from knowing her as personal as I did back then, sometimes being famous can hurt you," McKnight said in a phone interview Monday from Tampa, Fla. "I think she was too young. I think that she was having some personal issues in her life and her family anyways, and when she got famous ... she started mixing booze and pills and the negativity, it took the best of her."
___
Music Writer Chris Talbott reported from Nashville, Tenn. Sports Writer Noah Trister, in Kissimmee, Fla., contributed to this report.
I feel just awful about this, because she was supposed to be some kind of celebrity, but I'd never heard of her before.
It's hard to handle success. It's even harder not having continuing success. She was intent on killing herself anyway she could. I feel sorry for her family and friends who were unable to save her, steer her to a life of less mental agony. Once depression gets a hold of you and you have constant self destruction on your mind, it is near impossible to change your direction of self destruction. Drugs and booze and the entertainment industry lifestyle doesn't help.Â
And stay away from that blood sucker "Dr. Drew".
How is putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger "apparent"????  She shot the family dog, I doubt she was trying to kill a spider that was in her hair.
My condolences to her family and especially to her father who had been staying with her and left her with loaded guns in the home. Â He will have to live with his decisions for the rest of his life. Â My heart and prayers to the children, but hopefully they can have a stable childhood now. Â These situations are so sad and so damaging on so many levels. Â
Looking back at her history, this was a long time coming. She's made at least 5+ suicide attempts in the past decade. Sad that she wasn't able to help herself, and especially sad for the kids.
People who commit suicide and leave children and friends behind are very selfish. Â The one exception is if you are dying and in terrible pain. Â Otherwise there is no reason for it.
@Shadow Not everyone who suffers from major depressive disorder responds to some form of therapy, even medications. For these unlucky few, living in pain is a daily ordeal, a constant condition. Suicide is the only way out of the pain. Until you've been there, I don't believe that you can declare that any such suicide is selfish, let alone "very selfish."
@felines99 @Shadow when ever anyone brings childeren into this world and then abandons them in any way that is extremely selfish!
@franksbeans @felines99 @Shadow Again, you speak from ignorance of this person's condition. For all you know, the children might be better off without a severely ill mother in their lives.
Very sad ending to a very sad life.  I hope she found the peace she wanted. Â
The tragic end is that her boys now have no parents in their lives. But considering the facts, maybe that's for the better. Maybe they can find a family that is loving and mentally sound that can care for them in a healthy way from now on.
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@TimBurr Executed by b*stards like you?
@Sundowner @TimBurr ?
@TimBurr You asked what would happen -- since you're so judgmental of her and her orphaned children, maybe you should just do society a favor and take them out?  Since they're "b*stards", they have no real role in our society, do they?  Jeesh.
This whole story sounds like a bad country song.
RIP, Mindy McCready.
How sad! :( People should keep their rude comments to their selves!
@cruz2010Â And to themselves as well!
So says Mikey the diction cop.
@oodathunked So says Great Granny, who really thinks too many Oregonians try hard to become the era's Hillbillies.  Anyways ... there is no such word.  I been there ... lazy-talk for I'VE been there.  I done it ... no, you DID it.  Lazy, backwards, uncultured bunch of snots who want to try to make their own language that rivals Black-smack.
Country music is depressing.
@swimbad City music is depressing too.
I'm so sad for her 2 kids, it sounds like she had a tough last few years and alot of demons she was fighting. That had to be really hard on her boys too. I hope they can go on to have a happy and stable life somehow. R.I.P. Mindy.
The lady is goofyer than a pet coon. The guilt of killing her longtime boyfriend was more than she could take. Just sayin.
The life of a wealty country star must be a pretty tough road to hoe.
@oodathunked Why would anyone want to hoe a road?
Sometimes finding the correct idiom can be a tough row to hoe. :-P
@oodathunked She had a right for those that were supposed to be monitoring her mental status to protect her - from herself. Her wealth had nothing to do with keeping her safe.Â
How anyone in charged of protecting her - could release her to a home filled with loaded firearms - makes no sense. Before you go presuming that the wealthy are not deserving of being protected from harming themselves - think about what you are suggesting.Â
After all - two young children just LOST OUT most of all  - because society knew she was in mental torment- and SOCIETY let her and those children down. By not caring about her or them.Â
Her youngest son just LOST both parents to suicide in the span of two months. Come on, people. There were red flags about her mental stability here - and no one was paying CLOSE ATTENTION to protecting her.Â
Why was she checked out of rehab and left all alone with a gun at her home, people? Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - knew she was danger to herself and a very, very troubled young woman. And they ALL abandoned her. Â
She deserved to be alive for a very long time - so that she could witness her children growing up. She deserved the SYSTEM doing far far better on her behalf - and she was LET DOWN. And the image of her all alone with her mental torment at her home with loaded arms at her disposal - deeply saddens me today. So wrong of all of those that turned away from her - and failed her. The "system" most especially.Â
In 2013 - we know better. In 2013 we are supposed to ACT better - toward our neighbor. Our friend. Our loved one. And the system - what the heck - her life meant NOTHING to them? Apparently. Oh well... right?Â
I have a hard time feeling too sorry for her, her quality of life was a lot better than that of a lot of us. Still she took a cowards way out.
@oodathunked If she was in mental torment - - how can you consider her a coward?Â
The cowardly thing those with the ability to  protect her from herself did - was abandon her. Allow her to walk away from rehab when clearly she was a danger to herself - mentally and addictively.Â
Who in charge of making sure she was safe - allowed her to be checked out of rehab and sent home to a HOUSE FILLED WITH LOADED GUNS in the first place? After her boyfriend had just commited suicide by gun himself. After was noted to have serious, serious, SERIOUS mental issues.Â
Persons in mental torment, compounded by addictions to intoxicants need intervention and serious PROFESSIONAL CARE. Not societal abandonment instead.Â
SHE was let down. She was abandoned. And surreally so - she was allowed to be free with loaded guns all around her. And that makes NO SENSE at all. As if SOCIETY LOADED THE GUN and left her alone - pursposefully so - just so she would kill herself. If you ask me.Â
@oodathunked So you knew her inner thoughts?  "She didn't have that much to be depressed about".  Now once again I'll suggest you learn something about clinical depression -- it has NOTHING to do with how we perceive what a person does or doesn't have to be depressed about.  You really sound pretty heartless in this, as well as totally out-of-touch with what others might go through.  Sorry, but all you've added to this conversation is that in your opinion, when a person achieves financial success, everything's good.  There's no other way to put this:  clinical depression is very real and has nothing to do with a person experiencing adversity and being 'sad'.  If you're not willing to learn something about it, you'll continue to sound heartless. Â
Everyone, experiences adversity in their lives at one time or another. It;s how we handle it that defines our character. This woman was given gifts that few of us get, talent beauty, and opportunity. She didn't have that much to be depressed about. Sorry.
@oodathunked @TAKEDOWN Unless and until you do some research on the black hole that is clinical depression, you won't ever "get" it.  Sad for you, sadder yet for any of your loved ones and/or friends suffering right now...the ones you say "Just get over it" to.
@oodathunked @englishdaisyAlmost sounds like you think money is the answer to the mental anguish addiction brings.  With that (lack of) logic, only the poor would commit suicide.  Yousosmartyouscareme.
Poor thing.
Sound like a politician to me blaming everybody else. The lady was a menace to society and made big girl decisions along the way by herself. There is no free ride in this life and it's a dam good thing she didn't hurt or kill her children along the way.