Country singer Mindy McCready has been found dead at age 37 apparently of a self inflicted gun shot wound. She leaves behind two children, the youngest is 10 months old. The father of the youngest child killed himself one month ago.
Mindy's two biggest hits, 10,000 Angels and Guys Do It All the Time came out in the 1990's. Per CNN
Mindy wrote on her fan site:
"I haven't had a hit in almost a decade," she wrote in January 2012 on her official fan website. "I've spent my fortune, tarnished my public view and made myself the brunt of punch line after punch line. I've been beaten, sued, robbed, arrested, jailed, and evicted. But I'm still here. With a handful of people that I know and trust, a revived determination, and both middle fingers up in the air, I'm ready. I've been here before. I'm a fighter. I'm down, but I'll never be out."
Mindy struggled with mental illness, drug use and drinking. She had appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky. Also, Mindy was in the news in 2011 when she took her older son Zander in a custody dispute that led to a regional manhunt.
Dr Pinsky, reported that he had contacted her after her boyfriend's suicide and encouraged her to get help. However he stated to CNN that he believed that the stigma of mental illness prevented her from getting the help she needed.
"When I heard she was struggling, I did reach out to her and urged her to go to take care of herself, get in a facility if she felt she needed," said Pinsky, who hosts his own program on CNN's sister network HLN.
"Her biggest fear was the stigma of doing so and what people would think if she, God forbid, took care of herself. And this to me is the most distressing part of this story. She is a lovely woman, we have lost her, and it didn't have to go down like this."
I feel incredibly sorry for her two kids.
In the mid nineties I was going through a rough patch after a particularly bad breakup.
I started listening to country music that summer for the first time. Meanwhile a brand new artist had emerged on the scene named Mindy McCready, I have to admit I had a little crush on her at the time. Her songs helped me get through that little rough patch. I still listen to country music today.
May she rest in peace with her 10,000 angels.
Here are some links to some of her work:
10,000 Angels
Guys Do it All the Time