‘Nashville’ Winner Is Mom Who Had Dream

The HUB:

When Melissa Lawson became a “Nashville Star” champion Monday, NBC had the reality-show ideal.

This was a “Rocky”-style finish, a win for someone who had been considered an underdog.

“NBC really did portray me as who I am,” Lawson said today. “I’m just a mom who had a dream.”

She’s a mother of five boys. She’s 31 and once spent three years without singing. “I’ve been knocked around so many times,” she said of the music business.

It’s a business that seems to expect its women (but not its men) be slender. Lawson said she shuddered when she saw her weight hit 298 pounds and when “I pulled my back without doing anything.”

That led a fresh effort to change the eating habits for herself and the boys. Fast food is out, she said; she’s lost 70 pounds, 45 of it since the “Star” competition began.

What emerges is a straightforward, mom-next-door persona. “People like me represent 95 percent of America,” she said.