‘American Idol’ alum Antonella Barba’s struggles detailed in court documents ahead of sentencing

Driven and intensely devoted, Antonella Barba was a perfectionist: hours of violin practice at the age of 4, near perfect grades in high school, all-nighters studying architecture in college.

And it was that drive that led the young Point Pleasant woman to the world’s stage for a few weeks in 2007 when Barba became a sensation on one of the country’s most popular television shows.

But signs of trouble turned up in the “American Idol” alumna.

Barba suffered from bipolar disorder and other mental health problems throughout her life, according to a court document.

And she also suffered from her success on the “American Idol” singing competition show.

“The world intruded and interrupted her … dream of a career in architecture,” her mother, Valerie Barba, wrote in a letter to the court. And that, Barba’s mother continued, is “where it all went wrong.”

That complex picture of the 32-year-old Barba emerged as she is about to be sentenced to federal prison, scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia. Authorities found nearly two pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in her rented car in October 2018. The drug has claimed the lives of thousands of Americans.

In their argument for a sentence of as low as three years, Barba’s attorney has included excerpts from letters written to the court by family and friends.

Barba’s life was a straight upward line of achievement from when she was a 4-year-old violinist to her attendance at Catholic University in Washington, D.C……..read more

 

Source: USA Today

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