Singer says pregnancy led to suicide attempt, probation violation

McCready, 29, testified in a Williamson County court Monday that the pregnancy also was the reason she broke her probation on a drug conviction by going to Florida. The singer was in court to appeal the terms of a $50,000 bail agreement she made to stay out of jail on a probation violation charge.

McCready said she went to Florida in July to be with family after a series of problems that included a drunken driving arrest in Nashville, a beating by her boyfriend and an arrest in Arizona on charges stemming from her involvement with a con man she said she was trying to help police catch.

“I had just been through a horrible ordeal,” she said in court. “I was going to visit family.”

Pinellas County, Fla., authorities said they found the singer unconscious from a drug overdose in a hotel lobby on July 22. The man charged with attempted murder in the beating, William McKnight, was with her.

“I attempted to commit suicide after I found out I was pregnant,” McCready said in court.

McCready was on three years’ probation after pleading guilty last year to obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy in Williamson County. She also was fined $4,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Authorities said McCready left Tennessee without getting permission from her probation officer and did not report to the officer the entire month of July. It was her second probation violation.

She was arrested Aug. 26 in Florida — after treatment for the suicide attempt — and taken to the Williamson County Jail, where she spent 10 days before being released on bail.

Prosecutors said part of the reason they agreed to her release was because she was experiencing medical complications from the pregnancy.

Under terms of her bail, she must remain within a 50 miles of Williamson County, submit to random drug screens, wear an ankle monitoring device, meet with a probation officer twice a week, and be home between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

McCready said the curfew would conflict with her agreement to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at the end of the month.

Judge Jeff Bivins told her she could break curfew with her probation officer’s permission and rejected her request for the bail provisions to be eased. He also ordered her to begin serving eight hours of her community service sentence each month.

McCready, who had a No. 1 hit in 1996 with “Guys Do It All the Time,” is scheduled to face trial for probation violation Nov. 14.