Quick Take: ‘I just wanted out,’ Fantasia Barrino says of suicide attempt

“American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino said she intended to take her own life when she overdosed on aspirin and sleeping pills two weeks ago, according to a TV interview released Monday.

“I didn’t have any fight in me. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted out,” the 26-year-old singer told cable channel VH1 in an interview to be aired Tuesday. Celebrity website People.com ran advance excerpts Monday.

The R&B singer, who won the TV singing contest in 2004, took an overdose after being named in divorce papers filed by the wife of her longtime boyfriend and was overwhelmed by media attention.

Fantasia thanked the nurse who helped her after her overdose, saying she had been “a blessing.”

—Reuters

Van Gogh theft probed

Egypt’s top prosecutor on Monday ordered the detention of the deputy culture minister for four days in connection with the theft of a Vincent van Gogh painting, state media reported.

Thieves made off with the canvas, known by the titles of “Poppy Flowers” and “Vase With Flowers,” on Saturday from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo. None of the museum’s alarms and only seven of 43 surveillance cameras were working at the time of the robbery.

The prosecutor general ordered the detention of Deputy Culture Minister Mohsen Shalaan and four of the museum’s security guards while they are investigated on suspicion of neglect and professional delinquency, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency.

No charges have been filed.

Shalaan “neglected his duties and didn’t improve lax security measures by replacing the broken cameras and alarms,” MENA quoted the prosecutor as saying.

The Van Gogh painting is worth an estimated $50 million.

—Associated Press

Writer loses ‘Diary’ appeal

A federal appeals court has upheld a jury’s verdict that actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry didn’t steal material for his 2005 movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

Two years ago, jurors in East Texas found actress and writer Donna West failed to support her copyright infringement claim.

West appealed the verdict. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday there was nothing improper in the way the trial was conducted.

—Associated Press

‘Piranha 3D’ may spawn

“Piranha 3D” may have only bit off a small portion of box-office receipts last weekend, but the cash-strapped Weinstein Co. is already ready to take another dive into risky waters.

On Monday — after an opening weekend during which “Piranha 3D” lured in a moderate $10 million in ticket sales — Dimension Films said a sequel to the movie about flesh-eating fish is already “in the works.”

A news release about the sequel touted the film’s “80%-82% favorable reviews” on Rotten Tomatoes, along with “rave reviews from top critics” as evidence of the film’s success.

Still, with news coming so quickly after the film’s release, the announcement seems somewhat … well, fishy.

Just a year ago, immediately after the opening of the Weinstein Co’s “Halloween II” (which also fared modestly at the box office), the independent studio’s co-chairman, Bob Weinstein, said a 3-D sequel was being developed. It hasn’t materialized.

—Amy Kaufman

Vienna regains Schiele work

A painting by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele was rehung Monday at a Vienna museum after a 12-year possession battle over the artwork stolen by the Nazis.

The painting was returned over the weekend after the Leopold Museum agreed to pay $19 million as part of the settlement. U.S. authorities had refused to return the painting after it was exhibited in New York because heirs of the owners laid a claim to it.

—Associated Press

Trial date set for Fairey

A March trial date was set Monday to decide whether the artist who created the Barack Obama “HOPE” image violated the Associated Press’ copyright when he based the image on one of the news agency’s pictures.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that the selection of eight jurors for a three-week trial will start March 21 in New York.

Artist Shepard Fairey appeared in court with his lawyers but declined to comment afterward. Fairey sued the AP last year, arguing that his artwork during Obama’s 2008 run for the presidency did not violate AP’s copyrights.

The news cooperative countersued, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of its picture violated copyright laws.

—Associated Press