from www.popeater.com – Like the heroine of any good country song, Mindy McCready has suffered intense heartbreak and loss. But despite being worn down from a ridiculously long list of indiscretions — an affair with baseballer Roger Clemens, drug addiction, three suicide attempts, numerous arrests and even jail time — this sassy cowgirl has made it through on her own terms. Perhaps the most trying of her many tribulations was her involvement in an infamous sex tape … wait, make that two infamous sex tapes.

In an exclusive interview with The Boot, McCready claims she had nothing to do with the first. Kari Ann Peniche blamed McCready, her ‘Celebrity Rehab’ roommate, for leaking a homemade sex tape starring actors Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart and Peniche. McCready admits she was shocked when Dane contacted her. “I went back to Florida and got a phone call a few days later from Eric Dane saying, ‘I understand you have a video that belongs to me,’ and I said, ‘I don’t even know what you’re talking about.'”

The already difficult situation was exacerbated by Peniche, who blamed McCready for leaking the tape.

“She [Peniche] is an extremely disturbed and very sick individual,” claims McCready. “The thing that she craves the most — to be famous — is also the worst thing for her, because she is such a sick person. I do want people to understand what happened in that situation is not at all the story that she’s told, and everything that comes out of her mouth is complete and utter bull. … I hope that she does get help, and I hope that she does get better.”

McCready says Peniche’s stalling complicated matters futher.

“So I sent my computer person the hard drive and went to Eric Dane’s lawyer’s office. … They took Kari Ann’s information on a separate hard drive,” she says. “We all signed the confidentiality agreement that said none of us would talk about what was on there, none of us had any other copies of it. Except, the day that Kari Ann was supposed to sign the agreement, she didn’t show up. And the next day the video was on Gawker.com.”

And if you thought one sex tape wasn’t complicated enough, try two. McCready’s world became even more toxic when her own sex tape surfaced.

“It’s another stupid life decision that I look back on now and go, ‘Why would you do such a thing?’ … Unlike other celebrities who have sex tapes, I am not going to make a deal to release the sex tape. … I think it is absolutely horrible. I do not like porn. I have a four-year-old child who is the most important thing in the world, and I don’t ever want him to be able to go onto the Internet and look at his mom in that situation.”

McCready also dismisses allegations that the sex tape’s release was purposeful, as she had a new album to promote.

“I read a million articles where people said that I did that on purpose,” sighed McCready.

“Of all the things I’ve done in my life, I’ve not been a person that has done crazy stuff like that. I’m a country music singer. I’m a Southern girl. I do have morals, and I do have ethics, and I do believe in doing the right thing. I believe the porn industry is not a good industry. … So I hope that we are able to stop it from ever coming out. But if not, I’m certainly going to fight to let people know that that is how I feel.”