Sometimes, you see tragedy coming for celebrities and you just know there is not much anyone can do to stop it. How many people were surprised when Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston died, even though it seemed to be coming for years.
The same may be said for country singer Mindy McCready. The singer’s brother announced that she committed suicide today in Heber Springs, Arkansas. She was 37.
McCready rose to fame at the young age of 21 when her debut album, Ten Thousand Angels, sold two million copies and produced four charts singles. She became briefly engaged to actor Dean Cain and everything seemed rosy. But, her next album didn’t do so well, selling less than one million copies. Her third album sold less than half a million copies and McCready was dropped by her record company.
Things just got worse from there. McCready’s ex-boyfriend Billy McKnight was charged with beating and choking her in 2005. Two months later, she tried to commit suicide in a hotel lobby in Florida and was hospitalized. Two months after that, pregnant with McKnight’s child, she once again tried to end it all with an overdose. In 2008, the singer slit her wrists.
It was also in 2008 when the New York Daily News reported that married baseball pitcher Roger Clemens and McCready had had an affair when McCready was only 15-years-old. Clemens lawyer said that McCready was merely “a close family friend” that Clemen’s wife knew about. The only thing Clemens would say about it was “I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry.” McCready insisted they had a sexual relationship.
McCready appeared on “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” in 2010. That same year, a porn video of her and an ex-boyfriend was sold online. She was also hospitalized in 2010 for a suspected overdose of Darvocet.
Over the years, there was plenty of legal trouble – fake prescriptions, driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license, identity theft, numerous probation violations, and battery
McCready’s father Tim had been staying with her, but left today to return to Florida. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots and called the police, who found that McCready had killed her dog then herself. McCready may have been despondent over the death of her boyfriend David Wilson, who died last month from what appeared to be a suicide but his death is still under investigation.
McCready leaves behind two sons, Zander, 6, and Zayne, 9-months-old.