After witnessing her personal struggles over the years, the father of one of Mindy McCready’s two children was grief-stricken but not surprised after hearing the country singer died Sunday from what police say was a self-inflicted single gunshot wound to the head.

“As sad as it is, it didn’t come as a major shock because she’s just been battling demons for so long,’’ ex-boyfriend Billy McKnight told Carl Quintanilla on TODAY Monday. “Of course, I was around her when she attempted suicide twice, so I knew it was in her. I feel for her mother and her family and especially my son, but I can’t say that it shocked me.’’

Country singer Mindy McCready dead in apparent suicide

McCready was admitted to an inpatient facility for unspecified causes on Feb. 6, according to her publicist, and her two sons were placed in foster care during that time. She was still grieving the loss of boyfriend David Wilson, who died of a gunshot wound in his home in Heber Springs, Ark., in January. His death is still being investigated by police, and McCready had not been named a suspect. She denied shooting Wilson in an interview with NBC’s Andrea Canning in January.

“It was hurting so bad and then they just did what they could to make it hurt even more,’’ McCready told Canning. “My life hasn’t really ever made sense to me because I do know what kind of person I am, and I do know that I try to be as good a person as I can possibly be every day.’’

McCready’s body was found on the same porch at the home in Heber Springs where Wilson’s body was found. Had McCready remained in inpatient care, McKnight believed there is a possibility it might have prevented her from apparently taking her own life.

“I would like to think that,’’ McKnight said. “I don’t know how she got out. I don’t have those exact details. Mindy does have a way of talking her way out of situations that maybe she shouldn’t have been so good at.

“Perhaps staying in there and grieving around people that could help her over the death of her fiancé could’ve calmed her down, but the demons that she hasn’t beaten were there, and until she was going to face them, something was going to happen and everyone who knows her personally knew that. She would’ve had to probably stay in somewhere quite a long time until she really healed and started looking into herself for getting better.’’

McKnight, who knew McCready for 15 years, is hoping to regain custody of their 6-year-old son, Zander. In 2011, Zander and McCready were reported missing by McCready’s mother, who was Zander’s legal guardian at the time, and Zander was returned by order of a judge. McCready also had a son with Wilson, 9-month-old  Zayne. Both boys were placed in foster homes during her treatment earlier this month and remain there at this time.

“(Zander) shouldn’t have been taken from me to begin with,’’ McKnight said. “He was taken out of Florida, and he has a happy home here. I can provide for him, and it’s just been a really big mess and enough is enough. He’s up there all alone. He has no family in Arkansas. He has plenty of family who love him here. He needs to come home.

“I would like to keep those boys being brothers together and try to turn my son’s life around. He’s had a rough first six years, and he deserves better than this, and my heart’s broken for him right now. I’m very worried.’’

McKnight and McCready had a tumultuous, sometimes violent relationship. In 2005, McKnight pleaded guilty to domestic assault after injuring McCready and sending her to the hospital. He served 30 days in jail. 

In the days leading up to her death, McCready wrote a song called “I’ll See You Yesterday” to help those contemplating suicide. She shared it with friend Danno Hanks, a Los Angeles-based private investigator, and asked him to help her put together a video for it.

“I would’ve never guessed that she would’ve gone ahead and done what she did,’’ Hanks told NBC News. “Now it’s real clear that’s what she was doing. It’s like she was preparing her last statement in this video.’’

Read more: 

Mindy McCready denies shooting boyfriend: 'He was my soulmate'

Authorities: Mindy McCready's boyfriend shot himself

McCready's sons placed in foster care

McCready denies shooting boyfriend

Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead Sunday "from what appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound," police said.

Deputies investigating a report of gunshots found McCready's body on the front porch of a home in Heber Springs, Ark., according to the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office.

McCready, 37, had battled substance abuse. 

“As sad as it is, it didn’t come as a major shock, because she’s just been battling demons for so long," Billy McKnight, McCready’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her 6-year-old son, told TODAY on Monday. “I was around her when she attempted suicide twice, so I knew it was in her.”

Story: McCready's ex: Apparent suicide 'didn't come as a major shock'

She had a No.1 country hit in 1996, when she was just 21, with "Guys Do It All the Time." Her other popular songs included "Ten Thousand Angels" and "A Girl's Gotta Do (What A Girl's Gotta Do)."

"I grew up listening to Mindy McCready...so sad for her family tonight," Grammy-winning country singer Carrie Underwood tweeted. "Many prayers are going out to them."

Wynonna Judd tweeted, "Oh my! Mindy. Dear sweet girl. This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life."

McCready, who has dated such famous men as "Lois and Clark" star Dean Cain and Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens, has had more problems than hits in recent years.

Mark Humphrey / AP file

Mindy McCready in 2008.

Her relationship with Clemens made headlines in 2008. McCready told "Inside Edition" that she was just 16 when she met the married Clemens, but said their relationship did not become sexual until years later. Clemens issued a statement saying only, "I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry."

On Monday, Clemens released a statement calling McCready's death "sad news," and adding, "I had heard over time that she was trying to get peace and direction in her life."

In 2010, she appeared on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" seeking help for her battle with substance addiction.

Her biography for the VH1 show states, "Although she was arrested and jailed for trying to buy OxyContin with a false prescription and attempted suicide with an overdose of drugs and alcohol, Mindy believes her only true addiction is to violent relationships."

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2010, McCready called her life "a beautiful mess." 

She added: "My entire life things have been attracted to me and vice versa that turn into chaotic nightmares or I create the chaos myself." 

In 2011, McCready's mother reported that the singer and her young son Zander were missing. McCready's mother was Zander's legal guardian. The singer returned her son by order of a judge. She gave birth to another son, Zayne, in April 2012.

In January, her boyfriend David Wilson died of a gunshot wound in his Heber Springs home. McCready later appeared on TODAY and called Wilson her "soulmate." When asked by NBC's Andrea Canning if she shot Wilson, McCready replied, "Oh, my God, no. He was my life. We were each others' life."

Authorities are still investigating Wilson's death and have not named McCready as a suspect.

On Feb. 6, McCready's publicist said the singer was admitted to an inpatient facility, though the cause was not specified. Her two sons were placed in foster care while McCready was being treated.

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This story was originally published on Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:07 PM EST

The past few years haven't been easy for Mindy McCready; the country singer has dealt with drug addiction and jail, plus a protracted custody battle over her son with Billy McKnight. But Jan. 13, the day her boyfriend David Wilson died of a gunshot wound, was likely her lowest point in recent memory, as she told NBC's Andrea Canning on TODAY Tuesday.

"I have never gone through anything this painful," she said in an interview at her home in Little Rock, Ark. "He didn't just touch my heart, he touched my soul. He was my soulmate."

Wilson, a 34-year-old record producer, was initially rushed to the hospital earlier in January after suffering reportedly self-inflicted gunshot wound that did not immediately kill him. McCready was with him after the shooting. "I just started screaming, calling 911," she said. "I lay down next to him and just just pleaded with him not to die."

"He was responding," she added, saying he was only making "sounds," not words.

The investigation as to the cause of death remains open, and there are no suspects in the case (including McCready), Cleburne County Sheriff's Department said. Tests that will determine whether it was suicide or murder are due back in a few weeks.

But there remain lingering questions. McCready denied that Wilson, the father of her other son Zane, was having an affair, and explained that the bullet wasn't found until the next day because "it was in the dog's mouth." 

And when asked directly whether she shot Wilson, she was adamant: "Oh, my God, no. He was my life. We were each others' life."

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• Authorities: Mindy McCready's boyfriend shot himself

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