American Idol alum Antonella Barba was reportedly arrested on a domestic violence charge.
According to TMZ, who claimed to have spoken to a representative for the U.S. Marshals on Tuesday, April 1, Barba, 38, was arrested by New Jersey’s Pt. Pleasant Beach Police Department on Sunday, March 30, during “a vehicle stop.”
The outlet detailed that the rep said there was “a warrant out for Antonella’s arrest on a domestic violence charge from two weeks ago.” Additionally, Barba, who served prison time on a drug charge from 2019 to 2021, was allegedly in violation of her federal probation from the 2019 drug charge.
Us Weekly, who obtained legal documents from the United States District Court on Tuesday, confirmed that Barba was confined to home detention after being released from the Essex County Correctional Facility earlier that day. She was also ordered to cease all contact with “K.H. and family.” (Barba was involved in a domestic violence incident with her ex-partner, named as K.H. in court documents also viewed by Us, in late November 2024.)
Barba is set to leave home detention on April 29 to attend a court hearing. Us has reached out for comment.
Barba rose to fame as a contestant on season 6 of American Idol, which aired in 2007. She reached the top 16 but was eliminated prior to the series announcing the top 12, amid semi-nude photos of Barba surfacing online.
Barba was taken into custody in February 2019 after trying to deliver nearly two pounds of fentanyl. She served 45 months behind bars. Upon leaving prison, she was reportedly put on five years of supervised release, per TMZ.
The outlet claimed that Barba “moved out of her approved residence in Point Pleasant” in July 2022, as discovered by her probation officer who then placed Barba on a curfew. She agreed to wear an electronic ankle bracelet at the time.
As for Barba’s recent alleged domestic violence incident in November 2024, K.H. was accused of hitting her “with an open fist … and cut her face open with a ring.” Just two months later, she was “kicked out of a domestic violence shelter … for compromising its location by sharing it with K.H.” per TMZ.
If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
