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Mindy McCready in hospital after another suicide try

BY ROBERT KAHN | robert.kahn@newsday.com

December 18, 2008

McCready hospitalized for overdose
Troubled country singer Mindy McCready has been hospitalized in Florida after an overdose. McCready, 28, was found unconscious on July 22 in a hotel lobby, according to authorities in Pinellas County, Fla. An incident report did not list the nature of the overdose. Last week, McCready was charged in Arizona with identity theft and other counts. Within the past two years, she has also faced allegations of driving under the influence and a drug violation. (AP)

Anguished country crooner Mindy McCready has been hospitalized after what appears to be her second suicide attempt this year.

McCready, who was treated at a Texas rehab center this summer after an attempt to kill herself, was taken to a Nashville hospital yesterday morning with wounds to her wrists, according to local police officials.

The attempt comes at the end of a tumultuous year for the 33-year-old singer, who went public in April with claims that she was the other woman in an adulterous affair with superstar pitcher Roger Clemens. Clemens has never acknowledged such a relationship took place.

-Click here to see photos of Mindy McCready through the years

Nashville police last night said that McCready, whose legal first name is Malinda, called her assistant, Brent Young, at 7:50 a.m. to say she needed him to come over, because "she had done something bad." Young arrived at 10:15 a.m. "and discovered that she had cut her wrists and taken several pills." McCready was taken to Centennial Hospital, according to the report.

McCready's attorney, Lee Offman, told Newsday last night that he was "still trying to gather details." A call to Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, was not immediately returned.

As recently as last month, McCready was publicly discussing the alleged affair with Clemens. "Carrying on a relationship with him is not something I'm proud of," McCready said on the syndicated program "Inside Edition."

McCready met Clemens at a Florida karaoke bar when she was 15 and he was 28. She has said her attraction to the athlete was instant.

"He treated me like a princess," she said. McCready says the relationship did not become intimate until several years later. Her mother has said she believes the pair shared a "platonic" friendship.

Clemens has only apologized for "mistakes" in his personal life. Congress this year held hearings on the baseball pitcher's alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. Even as she attempted to refocus on her music career, McCready was interviewed by FBI agents for Clemens' perjury investigation.

McCready suffered what she called a "nervous breakdown" in July and entered into rehab. After her release in September, she told reporters she was excited about recording a new CD.

The singer, who was once engaged to " Superman" actor Dean Cain, has written a song about the tumultuous past few years in her life, "I'm Still Here."

A prescription drug problem has landed her in jail twice. She most recently served time for violating probation after a drug arrest. Last month, she told "Inside Edition" she was optimistic about her future. "Redemption is out there for everybody to get, and just watch me. I'm gonna show you how to do it."

-Click here to see photos of Mindy McCready through the years