When I heard that the singer Fantasia attempted suicide this week, I was saddened and alarmed. Suicide is the last thing I’d expect from a woman who seemed to empower others with her seemingly endless supply of positive energy. Fantasia is a star in more ways than one.
As I researched the details of her suicide, I couldn’t help but notice that one of the causes of her depression may have been the slowdown in her career.
Artists who stop selling records suddenly realize that they were addicted to the fame and money. The declining artist is faced with massive economic problems, serious rejection issues and an intense sense of personal failure. When this is compounded with some of the relationship problems that Fantasia has reportedly had with a married man, you have a recipe for disaster.
That made me want to ask the question that others may not want to ask: Is Fantasia’s management team looking to milk sympathy from her fans to boost record sales? While I certainly empathize with what Fantasia is experiencing, I couldn’t help but notice the dramatic details of her personal problems being blasted throughout the media. It’s not as if her team has asked that we allow her a private moment to be with her family. They are bringing the entire world into her hospital room and sharing every detail of the experience.
At the very least, we know that this episode will certainly lift Fantasia’s record sales. Her fledgling career will perk right back up and the world will be singing about baby’s mamas again in no time. At best, it is merely a coincidence that Fantasia’s dramatic month will lead to a financial windfall. At worst, it is entirely plausible that someone on Fantasia’s team worked overtime to make sure that the media knew of the suicide attempt and all the reasons that the attempt occurred. Even more sinister would be the unspeakable possibility that the entire episode was a hoax to gain media attention.
Again, I am not accusing Fantasia of anything. But as a person who spends a lot of time in New York watching struggling artists engage in creative schemes to keep their careers alive, nothing is out of the question. I’ve seen artists create artificial “beefs” with other rappers in order to boost their media exposure. I’ve seen celebs tell paparazzi where they are going to be and then ask the paparazzi to give them half the money they make from selling the (seemingly spontaneous) pictures to magazines.
Much of the devious and strategic angling of celebrity life is done because many of your favorite artists and athletes are actually going broke. Fantasia’s home was nearly foreclosed this year, and she’s struggling. So, while I certainly don’t believe that Fantasia’s tragedy is contrived, I know too much about how business and industry works to believe everything I read in the news.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a finance professor at Syracuse University, and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.
