Watch CBS News

"America's Got Talent" singer lied about singing experience too, says ex-wife

Timothy Michael Poe appears on "America's Got Talent," on the episode that aired on June 4, 2012. Virginia Sherwood,AP Photo/NBC

(CBS/AP) "America's Got Talent" contestant Timothy Michael Poe, who is under scrutiny for his claims of suffering a brain injury after blocking a grenade blast in 2009 to save his buddies in Afghanistan, may not have  been telling the truth about his singing experience either, according to his ex-wife.

Read More: "America's Got Talent" contestant was not vetted, says source

On Monday's show Poe said he suffered a stutter due to his injury, but when asked where it went during his cover of a Garth Brooks song, he said he discovered his talent only after his speech therapist suggested he sing in the shower to help with the stutter.

The truth, according to an ex-wife, was that Poe not only was never hurt on the battlefield, he had been singing "pretty much his whole life" and spent four years fronting an alternative rock and cover band in Rochester, Minn. A MySpace page last updated in February 2009 for the Rochester band Crawl Space lists Poe as vocalist.

Singing was the least of Poe's fictions, according to the Minnesota Army National Guard, which has issued statements contradicting Poe's account on the television show, igniting a firestorm online, especially among veterans and on military blogs, over Poe allegedly claiming glory and sympathy to which he's not entitled.

The Guard says its records show Poe never was injured in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq.

"It's embarrassing for me and it's embarrassing for his children and it's embarrassing for the military," said Shannon Conroy, who was married to Poe from November 2005 until this April.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.