Jenice Armstrong: Barrino's agony

FANTASIA BARRINO sure was stupid. And, no, she didn't do her homework. And, yes, she should have cut things off as soon as she realized the man she was seeing was still married.

Now that we have that out of the way, can you cut the girl a break? By now, we all know that she was involved with a married man and two weeks ago wound up hospitalized after swallowing a handful of sleeping pills and

aspirin in a botched suicide attempt.

Instead of coming down so hard on this clearly damaged woman, maybe people can learn something from this latest chapter of the Fantasia Barrino saga - and not just about the dangers of being a "home wrecker" as the Associated Press labeled the "American Idol" winner yesterday. The lesson, though, can be hard to get to. It's tempting to join into all the heavy-handed judgment being leveled in the direction of Barrino, whose romantic entanglement with a married man has made her into a national laughingstock.

But, instead of snickering at Barrino's foolish choices, maybe what some of her fair-weather fans should do is offer up a dose of compassion for the 26-year-old single mother, who stumbled in the same way that so many other women do: by allowing their longing for male companionship to get in the way of their common sense.

Many a woman has fallen for the old okey-dokey from a guy about his being separated, as Barrino apparently did, only to discover later that the man they thought was on his way to becoming single again was still very much married.

Once she found out about his wife, Barrino should have cut things off, if not out of respect for T. Mobile salesman Antwaun Cook's family, then for herself, and because it would have been the decent thing to do. Regardless of what complaints Cook may have had about his marriage, he should have been off-limits.

But I'm not for piling on Barrino.

The game she's playing is a dirty one, but one that numerous other female celebrities get away with. Angelina Jolie, Alicia Keys and Gabrielle Union can be photographed on the arms of their married lovers, but when Barrino clumsily tried to play the same game with Cook, she was treated differently. TheRoot.com was the first to raise the question as to why this is and theorized that it may come down to looks. Nsenga Burton wrote that she thinks that Keys' attractiveness may have allowed her a pass that wasn't afforded to Barrino. (Keys, who's pregnant, recently married her now-divorced boyfriend, Swizz Beatz.)