Not long after came false reports that Jeff had been banned from the "American Idol" set. And a "made up" report that he'd been banned from the set of "Star Search" when David was a 12-year-old contestant on that show.

"All these things kept coming up. And it was, like, 'Oh, where there's smoke there's fire.' I heard that argument," Archuleta said. "Well, what if there isn't? They made one thing up and they realized I didn't say anything, so they were, like, 'OK, let's make something else up.' They knew I couldn't say anything, so they could say anything they wanted."

Adding to his frustration was the producers' refusal to set the record straight. "They said, 'Well, it's a fairness issue.' And then I understood," Jeff Archuleta said. "It's their blanket policy that they don't comment on anyone's personal lives. So I accepted that and I understood that. But it made it difficult.

"They'd say, 'Oh, don't worry, it'll blow over.' And then something else would pop up."

Of course, it's also a fact that "Idol's" ratings were down this past season and at times it seemed the only national buzz the show was getting was from tabloid stories attacking Jeff Archuleta. And television producers and networks have been known to use negative publicity to pump up ratings.

"I can't judge the motivation behind whatever happened," Archuleta said. "But I can tell you that the stuff that they reported — there wasn't one thing that was true."

Jeff and the rest of the family kept all of this from David as best they could. When he was occasionally questioned about the reports by reporters granted the rare interview, David, without exception, declared all the stories to be false.

"David is such a black-and-white type of person, that I think it would have really troubled him to know that people were saying that kind of stuff," Jeff Archuleta said. "The only time it really became an issue was the last week or two. It's like it was everywhere. It was on TV, it was on the (Associated Press).

"That's one thing that's weird, too. The AP releases something based on a TMZ article? And then it's in every newspaper, and it's on the talk shows. It was on the 'Today Show,' 'Good Morning America.' All these shows were bringing it up. Unbelievable. Why would the AP use TMZ as a source and not even verify it?"

But, Jeff said, it was all worth it. "Everything is just fine" for David and the rest of the family. And fans are "saying, 'We love David so much. And thank you for bringing him into the world and supporting him so he could share his talent with us.' I mean, it was just very sincere, genuine and heartfelt. I was just so overwhelmed."