FANTASIA’S voice was America’s choice. Fantasia Barrino, the 19-year-old single mom from High Point, N.C., who was the favorite going into last night’s “American Idol” finale on Fox, wept uncontrollably when she was declared the winner on live TV.
“Thank you so much – I broke my shoe!” Barrino blurted out through tears of joy after host Ryan Seacrest announced her name a few minutes before 10 p.m. on the stage of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
“I’ve been through some things, but I worked hard to get to where I’m at!” she declared.
The thoughts of a jubilant but exhausted Barrino turned to her daughter backstage after the show.
“I want to be a good mommy, and now I can do that. I don’t have to borrow [money] anymore.”
Her fellow finalist – Diana DeGarmo, 16, of Snellville, Ga. – was a gracious loser.
“Not only have I grown as a singer and a performer, I have grown as a person so much all because of you guys – so, thank you!” said DeGarmo, addressing her parents, friends and fans.
More than 65 million votes were phoned in to “American Idol” in the hours between Tuesday night’s face-off between Barrino and DeGarmo and last night’s finale.
Barrino won by the slim margin of about 1.3 million votes, Fox announced.
Barrino won likely because she aced her performances on Tuesday, while DeGarmo’s voice appeared to weaken in her third and final song of the night.
Following their performances, judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson raved about Barrino – which probably set the stage for her victory last night.
“America definitely got it right!” said the typically deferential Abdul backstage last night, adding that “there was going to be a riot” had Barrino not won.
“100 percent right!” the sharp-tongued Cowell said about Barrino’s coronation. “I would say America is almost becoming as good a judge as me.”
Even a former “Idol” was impressed.
“[When she sang] ‘Summertime,’ that’s pretty much when [Barrino] took it,” said the winner of the first “American Idol,” Kelly Clarkson, who added she wants to tour with Barrino. “There’s so much grit, so much emotion in her voice.”
While Barrino cried tears of happiness, she was cheered by friends, family and fans back home where 6,000 of her fellow North Carolinians packed the Greensboro Coliseum to show their support. They waved homemade signs and screamed wildly throughout the two-hour show.
The Greensboro event, hosted by former “American Idol” runner-up and Raleigh native Clay Aiken, was much better attended than a similar rally at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta that was held to support DeGarmo.
Just over 2,100 attended that event, hosted by former “AI” contestant Kimberly Caldwell.
But the real action was in Hollywood, where fans packed Hollywood Boulevard outside the theater.
Inside, Barrino and DeGarmo were cheered by several celebrities, including Ray Romano, Henry Winkler and Macaulay Culkin.
Additional reporting by David K. Li