Dibs

After Fantasia Barrino won the 2005 American Idol competition, it was revealed that the dazzling singer was functionally illiterate. Shortly afterward, she became the “author” of an autobiography. And now Barrino’s dad is suing Simon & Schuster, which published Fantasia: Life Is Not A Fairy Tale. According to AP: “Joseph Barrino disputes details in the book, including the idea that he asks his daughter for money when she visits and that his children’s musical careers were more important than their educations. Although Fantasia is listed as the book’s author, her father’s suit claims Fantasia’s grandmother, Addie Collins, was the ghost writer.” As ABC News reported shortly after Fantasia’s big win: “The 21-year-old R&B singer says she’s signed record deals and contracts that she didn’t read and couldn’t understand. But the hardest part, she said, is not being able to read to Zion, her 4-year-old daughter. ‘That hurts really bad,’ she said, adding that she is now learning to read with tutors. In her memoir … which she dictated to a freelance writer, Fantasia also said she was raped in the ninth grade by a classmate. She says the boy was disciplined, but she blamed herself for the attack. She dropped out of high school that year and became an unwed mother at 17.” It’s going to be a mighty uncomfortable day around the Thanksgiving table for the Barrino clan this year.