Open Discussion: Fantasia Blames Media Attention on Skin Tone

Fantasia has been the flavor of the week for the past several weeks due to an affair that she’s had with a married man. A couple weeks ago, Fanny attempted to commit suicide by allegedly swallowing a whole bottle of aspirin because she was tired of it all and simply wanted a way out. Her management team quickly released a statement that said Fantasia had come under much more media scrutiny than she bargained for and ultimately blamed her attempt on all of the unwanted attention.

Fantasia spoke candidly with Vibe.com about the recent media attention that she has received and says that her dark skinned has played a huge role in the media treating her differently from Alicia Keys other women who have committed the same offense. In my eyes, both women are of the same vain and neither should be seen as the lesser; Ultimately, they both assisted in the disrespect of a union. Again, it just so happens that Fantasia is this week’s flavor but as soon as another celebrity is caught slipping, they’ll be all over the blogs too. Do you agree with Fantasia and her beliefs on the media thrusting her into the spotlight is only due to her skin complexion? Why or why not? Check out what she had to say after the break and post your thoughts.

Prior to her suicide attempt Fantasia Barrino naturally faced a barrage of negative press surrounding her affair with Antwaun Cook and the lawsuit his wife Paula filed against the former American Idol.

But does she think her African and more ethnic features had anything to do with the excessive and sometimes mean-spirited tone of the coverage she received about her personal life? Say, versus the media’s nearly mute opinions on the controversial love lives and choices of other female entertainers like Alicia Keys or white singers like LeAnn Rimes or Britney Spears?

“Yes, I do. I really feel like it does. I was on Nancy Grace, CNN, every gospel station and in every magazine and every newspaper,” she told VIBE about the scandal before her O.D. “It was on. You would have thought I was the President or something.”

But the VH1 Fantasia For Real star says the response wasn’t a surprise. She’s says she’s gotten subtle backlash because of her looks since her Idol days.

“I’ve battled and have had to deal with that before. Lord forgive me and I don’t want to offend anybody,” she says, “but when [I did Idol] it seemed like everybody there was Barbied out. Slim, long hair, light eyes, light-skinned. And here I come with my dark skin, full nose, short hair and full lips — it was hard.”

Fantasia says she even believes she’s passed over in the red carpet coverage spreads of many popular magazines for the same reason. “They never put me in those magazines [featuring] the red carpet. Everybody there has long hair and everybody is bright-skinned, and I was like, ‘But wait a minute. They never gave me that.’ That bothered me,’” says the singer whose new album, Back To Me debuted as the number two pop album and number one R&B album in the country. “And then I tried hard to find people to dress me and they still would not put me there [in those magazines].”

But she says she’s since made peace with her beauty’s place in the industry. “One day I was like, ‘that’s okay’, but I had to get to that point,” says Fantasia. “ I am a dark-skinned, full-lipped sister and it’s all right.”