Jeff Frank/ZUMAPress.comMindy McCready's hope for a comeback just got pushed back, after a drug and booze binge landed the troubled country songbird first in the emergency room of a Tennessee hospital and then in an Arizona rehab center.
"Mindy McCready did receive emergency care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center," her publicist tells E! News. "Other issues made it prudent for her to seek longer-term and broader-based treatment."
"To her credit," says the singer's publicist, "she has entered into an extended-care facility where she will receive the care needed. And for the moment we ask that everyone respect her privacy."
A source close to McCready’s management tells E! News the 32-year-old, who has a history of substance-abuse issues, checked into the Nashville hospital July 16 following an overdose of the sleeping pill Ambien, in addition to ingesting vodka. “She’s headed west for rehab,” the insider says.
McCready’s 2-year-old son, Zander Ryan, is in the care of her mother, Gayle Inge.
The New York Daily News, which first broke the story of McCready's years-long affair with Roger Clemens, claims the performer suffered a nervous breakdown, triggering the overdose. Both the Daily News and TMZ reported that before her hospitalization, McCready had planned on appearing on Dr. Phil for some kind of intervention.
There was no immediate comment from producers of the show.
In between probation violations and headline grabs earlier this year, McCready managed to put the finishing touches on a long-awaited studio album, which was slated to come out later this year.
(Originally published July 23, 2008 at 2 p.m. PT.)