American Idol Season 3 champ Fantasia Barrino will return to reality television in a new unscripted series on VH1 that will premiere in early 2010.

The project will chronicle the nine-time Grammy Award nominated singer’s life as a recording artist and single mother.

“Fantasia’s life has been an open book, but at 24 years old, her story has just begun,” executive producer Randy Barbato says. “We look forward to smashing expectations and revealing the fresh, funny and unexpected side of this one-of-a-kind country girl and superstar.”

The nine-time Grammy nominee, who has also been on Broadway and played herself in the Lifetime movie version of her autobiography Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, will chronicle her life as a recording artist and young single mother on the series.

“Fantasia has one of the most fascinating stories in show business, from her tough upbringing to her meteoric rise on the national scene thanks to American Idol,’” Jeff Olde, executive vp original programming at VH1, said in a statement Thursday.

“Her challenges from fame and her unwillingness to fail have combined to create a larger-than-life talent who appeals to music lovers around the world. So many people wanted to work with her on this, but Fantasia is now part of the VH1 family, and we’re so happy to have her.”

The 24-year-old North Carolina native will reprise her role as “Celie” in The Color Purple: The Musical playing at the Kennedy Center in Washington this summer. Her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, led to a Lifetime movie in which she played herself.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, the season-three winner says she expects 28-year-old widower Danny Gokey to claim the title of in this year’s competition.

Fantasia says she loves singers who can “take a song that’s not theirs, but make it their own” and Danny moves her each time he sings. So much so, that the Grammy-nominated star votes for him regularly.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee native took Idol fans back to 1983 with a performance of Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit “PYT.” Danny’s wife Sophia died of a congenital heart defect seven months before he made the final 13.

Former American Idol Fantasia Barrino has acid-tongued music mogul Simon Cowell to thank for paying off her debt and saving her Charlotte, North Carolina home from foreclosure last month.

The singer purchased the six-bedroom house in Charlotte in March 2007 for $1.3 million, but nearly lost the property after failing to keep up with mortgage payments.

The Mecklenburg County home was due to be auctioned off by the local Sheriff’s Office on January 12 , but the sale was called off at the last minute after Fanny reached a deal with financiers.

“Very quietly, Simon promised to help Fantasia take care of some of the back payments she owed so the house wouldn’t go on the block,” an informant tells The National Enquirer.

“His offer of monetary support helped her stave off the creditors, at least for the time being. Simon didn’t want to take any credit for it, he just wanted to help her out of a jam. He was hoping to keep his good deed a secret. He didn’t want to cause Fantasia any further public embarrassment.”

Here is a video of American Idol Season 3 champ Fantasia Barrino performing “Bore Me” on the Idol 7 Semi-Finals Results Show. Florida hummingbird Syesha Mercado was eliminated.