OK FOLKS, EITHER YOU WILL TAKE OUT YOUR HANKIES AND TISSUES OR THE CYNICS AMOMG YOU WILL JUST SNEER, BUT HERE's THE STORY FOR WHAT ITS WORTH ...
'Idol's' Kellie: A pop (but not mom) fan
Kellie Pickler
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
May 30,2006
Kellie Pickler showed some class toward her jailbird father recently — but the "American Idol" vet is not as easy on her mother, who dumped her at age 2.
The trailer teen reunited with right-out-of-central-casting dad, Clyde (Bo) Pickler, after his release from a four-year jail sentence on stabbing and robbery charges.
"It was a very, very sweet moment," Pickler said in Chaunce Hayden's current Steppin' Out magazine. "When I first saw him, we just walked up to each other very slowly. It didn't seem real. I felt like we had to touch each other to make sure it wasn't a dream. He picked me up and hugged me. It was the longest hug of my life. He just said, 'I love you baby, I'm so sorry!' And 'I'm so glad you're here!' I had no idea what to say. I just said, 'I love you too, and I missed you.' It was just so sweet. Neither of us knew what to say.
"He just kept apologizing to me. But I said, 'Dad, don't apologize anymore, because I've prayed about it, I've forgiven you and it's forgotten. This is our future now. We're going to leave the past in the past.' "
But the Southern blond, who will go on tour this summer with other "American Idol" finalists, understandably can't forgive her mother.
"I just keep wondering if she watched the show," Pickler said through tears. "I wonder if she knows. She must know. You can't turn on the TV without seeing something about 'American Idol' or pick up a magazine. … So it's made me wonder if she ever picked up the phone and voted for me. How weird would that be? I don't know if I've even bumped into her at the grocery store.
"I just don't know if I'll be able to accept her back into my life, because we were never close in the first place," the singer went on. "She just walked out on me. I wouldn't even know what I would say to her. She hurt me a lot. I didn't even think about my mom until I picked up a copy of Star magazine and saw her in there. I just cried."
With good reason.