“It wasn’t easy,” she toldPEOPLEin a new interview.
“I lost a lot.
I lost everything.”
Fantasia Barrino.Arturo Holmes/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
The actress and singer says she faced financial hardships following her win.
Her father sued in 2006 over his portrayal in her memoir,Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.
She also lived through an overdose of aspirin and sleep aids in 2010.
“It took me a long time to figure that out.”
Barrino was only 19 when she won the career-making reality competition.
“I didn’t know anything about contracts,” she says of those early years.
I just trusted and believed everybody that came into my life."
Though those times were tough, Barrino sees what the lows taught her.
“I’m grateful for it,” she told PEOPLE.
Barrino has already garnered aGolden Globe nominationfor her role inThe Color Purple.
