Bumbly’s Music

Original post: 

Before you read this I ask that you find it in your heart to donate. What I’m about to share is deeply personal. I’m doing this to empower myself and be there for my mother and sister. We really need to find a safer new apartment and anything you can donate will help us keep it. 

My name is Cristina Contreras. I am a musician from New York City. I was a Top 20finalist on American Idol Season 2 2019. 

However after being on the show reality hit and my career was on pause. The relationship I was in at the time because physically and mentally abusive and I had to press charges. 
Then the pandemic affected my work which was singing in the subways and I couldn’t make money for months. I was living with my mother in a tiny apartment with my little sister and I couldn’t always sing because it wasn’t fair to them. My mother truly kept me alive during quarantine and she and my sister are the reason I am still here telling you this story today. 

I found out I have Bipolar Manic Depression 1. I suffered manic episodes back to back and ended up in two different psych wards. The manic episodes happened while I was far from home and they were completely dangerous. It happened while I was editing a music video with a friend who at the time had no idea I was manic. I was sleeping at their house because it was a big project but I wasn’t comfortable and so the lack of sleep caused the mania and I ended up doing things I’d never do. When I left his place to go home I had delusions about police chasing me and so I payed a man $300 to drive me back to where I was staying. He took the money and drove me back to my friends house and when they saw I was manic they drove me home. When I went home my mother and my sister saw how I was acting. I was dancing crazily, I forgot how to eat food, I was delusional. They drove me to a hospital. I stayed for 7 days. It was jail. The staff were really hostile to the patients and I couldn’t see the light of day. I made some good friends there and I was able to sing to the patients and some staff. I started taking medication but I couldn’t work because it would make me drowsy. So I got off my meds entirely. I decided to keep going without them and keep working on the video. That was a big mistake because I ended up being manic again to the point where I was acting rude to guests at their house! The videographer had to go work somewhere else at the time so he drove me home. He couldn’t walk me in the door and he was running late and so he pushed me out of the car. He was going to miss out on $2,500. That’s how much my life was worth to him at the time. I wonder if he was to help me get to a hospital everything that happened after could’ve been avoided. A man sees me and asks me if I’m ok. He too was suffering from something mental. He shows me his wife on his phone screen and says something happened to her. I walk with him and he talks to me about a prophet. The whole time I’m hallucinating that his face is turning into the grinch when he’s upset and Santa Claus when he’s normal. I walk him all the way into the subway I say goodbye and then I walk back home. When I get home I start talking with my mom all delusional. My step dad is there as well. He sees how I’m acting and at first he starts to laugh when I tell him I am half boy. But then when he sees Im delusional he started to cry. My mom didn’t want to take me to another hospital because of my last experienceso she gives me my medication in hopes that I fall asleep. I end up locking myself inmy sisters room and escaping through the fire escape to the other side of the building. A creepy man sees me. I am naked in a bath robe with no shoes. He knows where I live and sees Im not ok but walks me into his apartment anyway. I won’t get into detail as to what happened but either way I was taken advantage of. I know now what PTSD feels like. And if you’re a survivor of abuse you are not alone. My mom reports me missing to the police and they look at the building camera footage and find me in his apartment. Then they take me to another hospital which was even worse then the first one. It was disgusting and the patients there were violent. The showers didn’t function normally and you would have to hold the water down as you showered. The staff was nicer for themost part. I still made friends and sang for them. I reported both my friend and the perpetrator from my building to the police. I dropped the charges against my friend and forgave him after he traveled really far from his home to meet me at a bar someone told him I was in and apologized to me. It was sincere and I forgave him and we are still very good friends.  However I didn’t have any luck the perp. He was investigated by detectives but he lied to them saying I wanted to be there. The only reason I went into his house was because I was hallucinating that it was the last day on earth and my mom was okay with going to sleep but I didn’t want to die so I escaped into the night. When I saw him I thought I had to pray for him because he neeeded forgiveness for something really bad. He lied to the police and they did nothing. They believed him. They told me I chose to do everything. I repeated over and over to them that I was MANIC. I WAS NOT ABLE TO CONSENT. To this day they are trying to close the case by saying there was no crime. The perp is still living inthat building.

My mother and sister live in that building. I have been looking for apartments everyday since then. I haven’t been able to sing or make money because she works for the board of education and she can’t afford to lose her job taking days off to look for apartments.

I’m starting this Gofundme because I have 10,000 followers on my social media account. If everyone gave a dollar that could help my mom afford a safer apartment for me and my sister to stay in while we both focus on our careers. My music career and her nursing one. I know that everything that has happened to us was not in vain and I haven’t and I’m never leaving their side no matter how dangerous. Anything you can donate can help us take back this year and make a better beautiful future with our talents. 

If you are survivor you are not alone. My dream is to keep recording songs I’ve written that empower women who are survivors and know their worth. Thank you for your time and thank you for your donation. My music will be dedicated to you. 

1. Who you are and where you are from
2. Your relationship or contact to the parties you are raising funds for
3. How the funds will be spent (be as specific as possible)
4. Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary or beneficiaries. 

I will be answering those questions and also adding new information about the situation to reach a better understanding of what our needs are and why I even made this thing.

1. I am Cristina Contreras. I am from New York City. 

2. I initially raised the funds to help my mother be able to afford a new apartment but because I have faith that I can help her with it through my hustle I have decided to use the funds raised for my music instead. It’s the best way I know that I can give back to everyone who loves and supports me. 

3. Because of everything that happened in the building where my mother is living she has decided she is no longer comfortable and needs to find a new place. However that would require finding a new apartment but my mother can’t afford the new higher rent alone. She can afford the deposit and her half indefinitely. I on the other half am still unemployed but I still hustle and can make rent. I initially made the GoFundMe to help be able to keep the apartment and I can’t believe how much was raised. However I know I shouldn’t rely on the donations alone and so we will both make sure we have rent and keep striving! 

As you know I have a music career I would love to continue. My mother wishes I would use the funds raised for my music and I think that is a beautiful way to pay everyone back for their huge efforts to help us! It would also help with time lost on my music looking for apartments. It’s a great idea and so I’m renaming the GoFundMe and raising money for my music. 

The funds will be spent on music production recording, mastering, album artwork, distribution, and promotion. 

4. I will withdraw the funds by linking my bank account and the funds will be managed by myself (beneficiary) and my mother who is a saint. She and I will make sure we spend it solely on the music. The beneficiaries will be us all!

I also want to apologize if anyone is confused and scared for us. I realized that I left out some details to the story and I was very emotional and desperate for a change at the time.  Details:

The perp who still lives in the building is shorter than us so we have a good chance in defending ourselves if needed. (I will call the cops if necessary.) Also I think if he’s clever enough to lie to the cops he’s smart enough not to mess with us because we have a case built against him. 

I charged him for sexual assault. I didn’t want to trigger anyone but I feel the need to mention I was not violated/raped. I was taken advantage of because he fed my delusions by agreeing that the world was ending and we couldn’t go outside. The police rescued me from the apartment in time for anything else to happen to me. 

Also me and my mom can afford the rent TOGETHER. We will keep working really hard as always for my sister and for all of our careers. 

I admit I was insecure about the rent at first but then I realized who isn’t during these times. I will keep working just as hard to survive like everyone else and I will keep striving for my dreams just like everyone else. Thank you for your support.