If you were a fan of American Idol, you’d recognize this fallen celebrity’s face. She’s Antonella Barba, and now she’s facing a decade behind bars. The 32-year-old singer, who made a name for herself on the reality television competition, blames the talent show for her life’s downward spiral that inevitably led to her criminal behavior and her conviction for possessing and distributing fentanyl.
Out of thousands of singers who auditioned for American Idol, Barba made it to the Top 16 in the 2007 competition year. Because she did so well on the show, she pursued a career in singing and acting following her elimination from the program. But that was not enough for her to pay her bills and lead an honest life.
Twelve years after her appearance on the show, Barba’s dreams are officially over – for perhaps the next ten years. In August, she pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing the extremely dangerous narcotic, fentanyl. With her sentencing coming this week, new documents filed with the court said how American Idol was to blame for the singer’s fall from grace. Because the show had a “detrimental” impact on her life, it led to the downward spiral that eventually landed her in the slammer on the serious drug charges.
The documents were obtained by the news media and published. They claimed that Barba was a “resilient, deeply religious, selfless, and driven person” before American Idol soiled her and was “someone who could rightfully be called a perfectionist.”
Meanwhile, American Idol destroyed Barba’s innocence. Her mother watched as the show changed her daughter’s life for the worst.
“One of the common themes is that the American Idol experience brought about a detrimental change in Ms. Barba’s life. Ms. Barba’s mother believes when American Idol happened, and ‘the world introduced and interrupted her… dream of a career in architecture’ that this is ‘where it all went wrong.’”
Basically, her mother claims that American Idol confused the young singer and encouraged her down Satan’s path.
“Ms. Barba’s sudden move to Hollywood following American Idol ‘was a recipe for disaster’ and when it came to pass that Ms. Barba was unable to ‘achieve the results she wanted, it was devastating to her.’”
When the singer appeared on American Idol, she was just nineteen-years-old. She was from New Jersey and didn’t know the first thing about the Hollywood lifestyle. She grew up in the Christian faith, but that was all torn away from her when she learned that Hollywood’s glitz and glam could transform her into a star – for a price.
Soon, Barba was photographed during a wet t-shirt contest held at the fountain of the World War Two Memorial in Washington D.C. Then other racy images were spread across the internet, destroying her reputation.
However, she refused to give up. She produced several music albums and acted in minor roles. However, she never made it big, which caused her to seek out other reality television avenues, including the 2012 season of Fear Factor.
Now she faces up to a decade behind bars.