FANTASIA BARRINO'S SECRET TUMOR

"American Idol" singing star Fantasia Barrino is revealing that a tumor on her throat was the reason behind her decision to pull out of the Broadway show "The Color Purple."The Idol singer, who was a huge hit as Celie in the stage spectacular last year, sparked media rumors of pregnancy when she missed a run of shows and her publicist merely told the media Barrino was not well. Now Fantasia is confirming her battle to stay healthyand says it took a lot out of her and left her feeling drained and too tired to perform every night. She tells Sister 2 Sister magazine, "I couldn't get enough sleep and sometimes onstage, I could taste blood ... every now and then."They (producers) would send me to the hospitals and they would say, 'Well, she's dehydrated; that's what's making her tired.' They would put IVs in me. But it just wasn't enough."Eventually, Barrino realized something more serious was wrong and she called on the advice of a top throat doctor in Los Angeles California, who put a camera down her throat and discovered she had what he thought was a cyst.The singer recalls, "I went into surgery and he (doctor) came out and told my mother it was a tumor."Now healthy again, Barrino is still frustrated about all the negative publicity she received for pulling out of shows. She adds, "It really hurt my feelings. ... I told my manager, `Please, somebody protect me,' because I've never missed a show. ... I like to perform."I felt like, after I had my surgery, nobody knew about it. 'The Color Purple' didn't know about it, my record company didn't know about it, and I was very hurt by that. ... I wasn't receiving any flowers, any balloons."
Photo By: Steve Buckley/BuzzFoto