Usher: “I Did Not Fire Mom!”
Despite many rumors Usher is making sure that people understand that he did not fire his mother – Jonetta Patton. In 2007 there was a rumor that he had fired her as his manager because she was not getting along with his wife Tameka Foster.
But in the July issue of Vibe magazine, the new dad, 29, says, “I decided to not fire, not get rid of, but to give [my mother] the ultimate compliment - to retire her to be a full-time grandmother. My mother and I decided to change her situation, together,” he adds. “There was a conversation. I didn’t write her a letter or pink slip her.”
Usher faced criticism when he proposed to Foster, his former stylist, in 2007 (some speculated it was just a publicity stunt). Their first wedding was canceled at the last minute, but the two later tied the knot in Atlanta.
“Am I so much of a bad guy because I decided to get married?” Usher says. “Am I so much of a bad guy [because once I got in the situation] I decided to stand for something, build a foundation, and think about my future? As a man, you would respect me for not turning my back on it.”
They welcomed their son, Usher Raymond V, last November. ”The swagger I possess now definitely comes from my wife,” he says. “And my son completes me. He changes my perspective on what life is, and what matters.”
Balancing fatherhood and work is still tough. “It gets harder because I don’t want to be [in the studio]. I want to be in the house,” Usher says. These are the days of my son’s life, these first three years. I want to be there. The challenge is having it all.”