Usher on grief, infidelity and fatherhood

(File image) Usher and Tameka Foster with their boys including Tameka's late son, Kile, centre.

(File image) Usher and Tameka Foster with their boys including Tameka's late son, Kile, centre.

Published Sep 19, 2012

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US superstar Usher Raymond invited into his home to talk about his failed marriage, infidelity and the death of his stepson.

The singer opened up on ‘Oprah's Next Chapter’ about his relationship with ex-wife Tameka Foster in the wake of their divorce, which involved a bitter custody battle over their sons.

In a Daily Mail report the singer’s frank statement: “We don’t see eye to eye. The friend that I was to Tameka, I don’t know that I could ever be again, because I really felt like we were friends. She made us enemies in a way that I could never have understood. It wasn’t until I was on the stand, where I cried, that I realised: ‘Oh this is an attack.’”

On rumours of being unfaithful to Foster, he revealed: “Towards the end of our marriage I found myself lost, and I just wanted out. No. I was faithful at heart, but not faithful all the way.

“Even having a conversation with another woman, period, about matters of your relationship or emotions is, in my opinion, not being faithful.”

But the talk show host probed, prompting him to make a painful admission to being unfaithful sexually: “When we were separated, yes, I was. We were not divorced.”

The singer also confessed to having been romantically involved with Foster’s bridesmaid, Maya Fox-Davis, according to the Daily Mail.

“Outside of my marriage and our separation and our divorce, I did have exchanges with the bridesmaid. We were friends.

“She was someone who was part of the children’s lives before.”

Then unimaginable tragedy put further strain on the singer.

Both Usher and Tameka were left devastated when 11-year-old Kile Glover was killed in a jet ski accident, reports Bang Showbiz.

He said: “I miss Kile. We cooked together, we laughed, we sang. He loved to sing and dance. He loved to tell jokes.”

Usher - who was recently given primary custody of his and Tameka's two sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd - insists he went to Kile's funeral as well as the burial service and gets upset when people say he wasn't there.

He added: “It hurts me to hear people speculating that I wasn't at the funeral. I absolutely was at the funeral. I was at the burial as well.”

The singer has also had to fight off his ex-wife’s claims that he is an “absentee” parent.

He said: “Absentee from the aspect of having to go and work, that probably would be her version or idea of what absentee would be. But no, I’m not an absentee father at all.

“I was born to do what I’m doing as a dad. I realised that once I had a child. When I had them, that’s when they became a priority.” - IOL

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