(Photo: Frederick Breedon)The country music world reeled in shock over the weekend when long-troubled singer Mindy McCready apparently committed suicide on Sunday, one month after her boyfriend David Wilson allegedly did the same. However, one person in McCready's life says he isn't surprised--and he's unfortunately having to deal with yet more troublesome aspects of the tragedy.
Today spoke with McCready's ex-boyfriend, Billy McKnight, who is also the father of her older son--who is currently hung up in foster care in Arkansas. "As sad as it is, it didn't come as a major shock," he noted. "She's just been battling demons for so long."
"I was around her when she attempted suicide twice, so I knew it was in her," he added. "I feel for her mother, her family, and especially my son--but I can't say that it shocked me."
Understandably, McKnight's main concern at the moment is his child, 6-year-old Zander, who was taken from McCready by state family services following the death of David Wilson. McKnight had filed a court request for full custody of Zander shortly after Wilson's passing, and now he wants his son back immediately.
[Related: Mindy McCready Mourns Untimely Death Of Boyfriend David Wilson]
"He shouldn't have been taken from me to begin with," McKnight asserted. "He has a happy home here, I can provide for him. It's just been a big mess. Enough is enough.
McKnight noted that his son is currently all alone at the moment except for his baby brother Zane. "He has no family in Arkansas--he has plenty of family who love him here. Cousins, aunts, uncles. He needs to come home."
"He's had a rough first six years," McKnight said. "He deserves better than this."
As for 10-month-old Zane--who was fathered by Wilson--McKnight says he doesn't know what will happen. However, he hopes the boy will be given to McCready's family, who live an hour and a half away from him.
"I'd like to keep those boys being brothers together," he told Today.