Post by BoandNora-SexyLove4Ever on Nov 16, 2007 3:49:39 GMT -5
11/07/07 --RALEIGH) - North Carolina native Kellie Pickler breaks her silence about her mother who abandoned her as a baby. Pickler wrote a hit song about being abandoned called I Wonder, about a woman who now lives in the Triangle.
Recently both mother and daughter were in Raleigh, but there was no reunion and no reconciliation. Just two women trying to deal with the past in raw, emotional interviews exclusively with ABC11 reporter Shae Crisson.
"This is the closest you're ever going to get to me because I'm done. I'm done!" To understand that Kellier Pickler you would have to know another Kellie Pickler. She went from small town Carolina girl to big time country star almost overnight. She did it despite a painful past.
Kellie had mixed emotions before her recent State Fair performance in Raleigh. She knows Raleigh is where her mother lives. The mother who left her when she was a baby and the same mother she sings about in her hit song, I Wonder. Words of the song question, "If you ever came back home to Carolina I wonder what would you say to me?"
Kellie says the song is therapeutic. "This song has not only helped me, writing it, performing it every night has been kind of like therapy for me but I think it's really helped a lot of people who might be going through similar circumstances," she said.
Kellie's mother, Cynthia Malone says she does think about her daughter. "I did what was in the best interest for her, Miss Kellie," said Malone who used to be Cynthia Pickler. Now she volunteers for InterAct, the Wake County agency for domestic violence victims.
Malone says by sharing her story of abuse and the difficult decision as a teenager to abandon Kellie, she hopes to help others avoid what happened to her.
"The beatings came more frequent," Cynthia said, "I knew I was going to lose my life if I didn't leave. And I didn't know how to leave. So I packed up one day and I left."
Cynthia says she left Kellie with her grandparents, "Nobody knew that I was leaving. Nobody knew what I was going to do."
Cynthia says she didn't know how that decision would affect her and Kellie -- who she hasn't seen since she was 11 years old.
Now 21, Kellie uses her celebrity to raise money and awareness for an organization that helps grandparents raising grandchildren. When we asked about her mother's cause of choice, we opened up deep wounds.
"She's supposed to be speaking on domestic violence. Okay. A lot of it are complete lies," Kellie said. "I'm not mad. I'm not upset. I'm just hurt because she continues to make herself look like the victim and she just tells.. you tell everyone," Kellie begins to cry as she tries to answer the question.
As she composes herself Kellie says, "I just wish that, I don't know why you want anything to do with me now when you never wanted anything to do with me in my whole life ever."
But is that true? Eyewitness News went to Albemarle where the Picklers lived and found records that Cynthia did fight for custody. We also found divorce documents where Cynthia claimed Clyde Pickler was an alcoholic and also abused drugs. The documents also state he beat Cynthia throughout their marriage. All claims Clyde Pickler has denied, but he's been in and out of jail since the 80's for DWI and breaking into cars.
Clyde Pickler is currently behind bars for breaking into a car. His only assault conviction related to Cynthia was in 1985 for pointing a gun at one of Cynthia's relatives never for an attack against her.
Kellie did not respond to the information Eyewitness News found and she questions her mother's story of abuse. "There's so much that's just not out there and I'm sick of people looking at me and thinking that, 'oh, her poor mom. She should give her another chance.' If my dad or anyone was abusive to her, you're going to leave your kid there to be in the abuse as well? It doesn't make sense there's so many puzzles to this story that have not been put in there," she said. Meanwhile, Cynthia sticks to her story.
We interviewed Cynthia in Victims' Memorial Gardens a place she feels her name could have ended up. We asked her why she didn't take Kellie with her. "I tried one time and he ran my car off the road," Cynthia said. "I ran just as hard as I could in my car to the police department. Now mind you I still had a bruised face. The police officer seen him snatch Kellie away from me and she became 50/50 property so in order to get her back I had to go back."
Cynthia offers some advice for Kellie and for everyone else. "What I would say to anyone that is going through that or who has been through that, there is life out there. Get help," she said.
Cynthia also ask for forgiveness, "If I could go back into time with the tools that I have today, yes, I would have done things a heck of a lot different. But I can't. I'm human. I make mistakes."
Mistakes that Kellie is far from ready to forgive. "If she wants to give me any peace at all then she will stay away from me and not hurt me anymore than what she has. Just leave me alone," Kellie told Shae Crisson.
To make sure she was left alone, Raleigh Police officers working Kellie's concert kept a picture of her mother in their pockets and kept an eye out for her in the stands in case she showed up and tried to contact Kellie.
Kellie Pickler's mother had tickets to her daughter's concert at Dorton Arena but once Eyewitness News told her that her daughter didn't want to see her, didn't want to talk to her, she changed her mind about attending the concert. Cynthia says she doesn't want to hurt Kellie again. She says she will leave Kellie alone and leave her to live her new life, but like Kellie, she too will wonder what could have been.
Recently both mother and daughter were in Raleigh, but there was no reunion and no reconciliation. Just two women trying to deal with the past in raw, emotional interviews exclusively with ABC11 reporter Shae Crisson.
"This is the closest you're ever going to get to me because I'm done. I'm done!" To understand that Kellier Pickler you would have to know another Kellie Pickler. She went from small town Carolina girl to big time country star almost overnight. She did it despite a painful past.
Kellie had mixed emotions before her recent State Fair performance in Raleigh. She knows Raleigh is where her mother lives. The mother who left her when she was a baby and the same mother she sings about in her hit song, I Wonder. Words of the song question, "If you ever came back home to Carolina I wonder what would you say to me?"
Kellie says the song is therapeutic. "This song has not only helped me, writing it, performing it every night has been kind of like therapy for me but I think it's really helped a lot of people who might be going through similar circumstances," she said.
Kellie's mother, Cynthia Malone says she does think about her daughter. "I did what was in the best interest for her, Miss Kellie," said Malone who used to be Cynthia Pickler. Now she volunteers for InterAct, the Wake County agency for domestic violence victims.
Malone says by sharing her story of abuse and the difficult decision as a teenager to abandon Kellie, she hopes to help others avoid what happened to her.
"The beatings came more frequent," Cynthia said, "I knew I was going to lose my life if I didn't leave. And I didn't know how to leave. So I packed up one day and I left."
Cynthia says she left Kellie with her grandparents, "Nobody knew that I was leaving. Nobody knew what I was going to do."
Cynthia says she didn't know how that decision would affect her and Kellie -- who she hasn't seen since she was 11 years old.
Now 21, Kellie uses her celebrity to raise money and awareness for an organization that helps grandparents raising grandchildren. When we asked about her mother's cause of choice, we opened up deep wounds.
"She's supposed to be speaking on domestic violence. Okay. A lot of it are complete lies," Kellie said. "I'm not mad. I'm not upset. I'm just hurt because she continues to make herself look like the victim and she just tells.. you tell everyone," Kellie begins to cry as she tries to answer the question.
As she composes herself Kellie says, "I just wish that, I don't know why you want anything to do with me now when you never wanted anything to do with me in my whole life ever."
But is that true? Eyewitness News went to Albemarle where the Picklers lived and found records that Cynthia did fight for custody. We also found divorce documents where Cynthia claimed Clyde Pickler was an alcoholic and also abused drugs. The documents also state he beat Cynthia throughout their marriage. All claims Clyde Pickler has denied, but he's been in and out of jail since the 80's for DWI and breaking into cars.
Clyde Pickler is currently behind bars for breaking into a car. His only assault conviction related to Cynthia was in 1985 for pointing a gun at one of Cynthia's relatives never for an attack against her.
Kellie did not respond to the information Eyewitness News found and she questions her mother's story of abuse. "There's so much that's just not out there and I'm sick of people looking at me and thinking that, 'oh, her poor mom. She should give her another chance.' If my dad or anyone was abusive to her, you're going to leave your kid there to be in the abuse as well? It doesn't make sense there's so many puzzles to this story that have not been put in there," she said. Meanwhile, Cynthia sticks to her story.
We interviewed Cynthia in Victims' Memorial Gardens a place she feels her name could have ended up. We asked her why she didn't take Kellie with her. "I tried one time and he ran my car off the road," Cynthia said. "I ran just as hard as I could in my car to the police department. Now mind you I still had a bruised face. The police officer seen him snatch Kellie away from me and she became 50/50 property so in order to get her back I had to go back."
Cynthia offers some advice for Kellie and for everyone else. "What I would say to anyone that is going through that or who has been through that, there is life out there. Get help," she said.
Cynthia also ask for forgiveness, "If I could go back into time with the tools that I have today, yes, I would have done things a heck of a lot different. But I can't. I'm human. I make mistakes."
Mistakes that Kellie is far from ready to forgive. "If she wants to give me any peace at all then she will stay away from me and not hurt me anymore than what she has. Just leave me alone," Kellie told Shae Crisson.
To make sure she was left alone, Raleigh Police officers working Kellie's concert kept a picture of her mother in their pockets and kept an eye out for her in the stands in case she showed up and tried to contact Kellie.
Kellie Pickler's mother had tickets to her daughter's concert at Dorton Arena but once Eyewitness News told her that her daughter didn't want to see her, didn't want to talk to her, she changed her mind about attending the concert. Cynthia says she doesn't want to hurt Kellie again. She says she will leave Kellie alone and leave her to live her new life, but like Kellie, she too will wonder what could have been.