Mindy McCready’s Son Is ‘Rebuilding’ His Life Following Her Suicide

August 1, 2013 by Lindsay Cronin

Mindy McCready committed suicide five months ago after a long battle with addiction. The country star was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot on the porch of her Arkansas home in February just one month after her former boyfriend David Wilson had allegedly done the same. Following his death, McCready seemed to spiral out of control, reportedly taking Rx drugs and failing to bath herself and care for her children. It was an incident plagued by tragedy, but nothing was more tragic than the fact that she left her two sons, Zander, 6, and Zayne, 9 months, without a mother.

Raising McCready’s eldest son now is his father, and her ex, Billy McKnight, 47, and in a new interview with The National Enquirer, McKnight is opening up about how Zander has dealt with his mother’s passing.

“Zander finally has a real chance in life,” McKnight, who is the lead singer of the popular country group Soul Circus Cowboys, tells the mag. “He’s rebuilding his life and becoming a very happy boy.”

Still, his mother is often the topic of conversation and McKnight deals with it in the best way he knows how. “Zander often asks me, ‘Did you love my mom?’ I’ve told him that he was deeply loved by both his mother and me, but we don’t focus on how Mindy died,” he explains. “Zander understands what happened and says he knows that his mother is in heaven. I tell him that his mother still loves him and she’s watching out for him. Those are the thoughts that Zander needs to hold close.”

Prior to McCready’s death, Zander was put into foster care where he remained for months until his father was able to regain custody. Having battled his own demons in the past, McKnight is now 7-years sober and proud of the father he’s become.

“I’ve become the man I’ve always hoped to be, for my son’s sake as well as my own,” he says.

Zander’s half-brother Zayne is being cared for by relatives on McCready’s father’s side.