Fantasia Barrino: "I Can Barely Read or Write"  10/1/05

American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino has stepped forward to announce that she can barely read or write.

The 21-year-old single mother, who was crowned American Idol last year (04), admits to hiding her illiteracy - sometimes having to fake lyrics and not even understanding her record contracts.

And Barrino has found that her inability to read or write is like having on blinders to the world.

She tells US TV show 20/20, "You're illiterate to just about everything. You don't want to misspell. So that, for me, kept me... in a box and I didn't, wouldn't come out."

Barrino also explains how she was able to deliver scripted segments on American Idol: "Somebody would say, 'You know, it's pronounced this way,' and I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, you know, I'm country, you know."

The most difficult aspect of her illiteracy, she says, is that she can't read a book to her four-year-old daughter, Zion.

She admits, "That hurts really bad."