They’ve been divorced for three years but Tameka Raymond tells Grio magazine that despite recent stories, she and ex-husband Usher, are on good terms.
“My ex-husband and I are not enemies. We’re not,” she told the magazine. “But people still find a way to make it more salacious than it has to be. I don’t know how he deals with it, but I refuse to let the media manipulate what should be a personal situation and turn me into the villain.”
It wasn’t always like this for the fashion designer and the music star but Tameka admits the pressure of fans and fame got to be too hard for the couple to ignore. “Well, if I had to point to one thing, one time, it would be after the birth of our second son, Naviyd. Until that point, we were a very passionate, very loving couple, but then the pressure of the entertainment industry began to slowly creep in and poison our marriage. There comes a point when as a married man with throngs of adoring female fans, you still have to pretend you’re available, but he wasn’t available… and that began the problems.”
The couple are currently fighting it out in a custody battle for their two children, Usher and Naviyd Ely. Bitter back and forth stories full of salacious tales of infidelity and drug use have been plastered all over the internet but Tameka insists she never meant for it to end up that way. “I did not start this. I did not file this. Usher did. I begged him to withdraw the petition, but he didn’t listen. The media jumped on my answer to his petition for custody as if I initiated it, and I did not. Why would I try to keep his children away from him? We have joint custody and I want to continue to have their father around to help out. Raising children is a lot of work.”
Hopefully the two can sort something out before any more damaging information is said, for the kids at least. Do you see this ending any time soon? Do you believe Tameka and Usher are not enemies despite the verbal beatings they’re giving each other in the courtroom?
