Last week, during his Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the 2024 BET Awards, Usher gave the audience and millions of viewers watching at home a 13-minute sermon about fatherhood.
The singer even said he looked up to other co-parenting couples models of producer Swizz Beatz, his current wife, Alicia Keys, and Swizz’s first wife, Mashonda Tifrere.
“Good Good’ is more than just a song. I’m trying to I’m turning a new leaf, you know. We got to be cool for the sake of the kids,” he said. “I look at Swizz Beatz and his ex-wife and Alicia Keys and the fact that they managed to pull things together.”
After giving them their flowers, Usher pointed to the side of the auditorium, where his ex-wife, Tameka Foster, was sitting. He looked directly at the mother of his two oldest sons and said, “I’m trying, Tameka.”
While Foster’s response could not be heard from the crowd, many understood that the two have been “trying” to co-parent for years.
In a candid conversation on “The Culture Club” with hosts Osei the Dark Secret and Claudia Jordan in 2021, she revealed that she and the eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist had been working hard to master the art of co-parenting after years of public and private disputes.
According to Foster, the former couple has been navigating the complexities of raising their two sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd Ely Raymond, since their 2009 divorce. Their separation led to a highly publicized and contentious custody battle, culminating in Usher being awarded primary custody in 2012.
During her sit-down, Osei asked Foster how she and her ex-husband manage spending time with the kids on holidays. Foster, a stylist to the stars and a mother with children from other relationships explained that she used to split holidays between her children’s fathers.
Things have since loosened up as the kids got older, highlighting the progress Foster and Usher have made in prioritizing their sons’ well-being by maintaining a united front.
“We just kind of just either alternate the holidays,” she said, adding that one year, she was traveling out of town for the Christmas holiday, and the boys spent the day with their father.
“We work it out,” she continued. “It’s never anything contentious, though.”
Over time, however, both parents have learned to foster a more cooperative relationship for the benefit of their children.
Osei pressed further, addressing rumors about Foster’s relationship with Usher’s mother and former manager, Jonnetta Patton.
“We had a good Christmas. We’re good. We had good holidays together, and that’s another misconception,” Foster shared. “Everybody was like, ‘Ohh, she hates you,’ but it was never anything I felt once we were married.”
Foster said, “She was cool. We didn’t have a problem. She just didn’t want us to get married initially, but once we were married, you know, she was respectful and cool.”
Foster said that her mother-in-law even had an ornament on her Christmas tree with Foster’s picture on it, so she believes that the relationship is good. The Kountry Wayne skit guest noted that all mothers are protective of their high-value sons, especially if they are wealthy, as they want to ensure that the financial support from their sons continues.
Foster was Usher’s first bride, and they were married from 2005 to 2009. The conversation then shifted to his second marriage to Grace Miguel, now known as Grace Harry.
“My ex is [married to] someone, and I actually like her. She’s cool. Like, she’s been helpful, I think. I don’t see a hidden agenda,” she said at the time, before noting another reason for her positive feelings toward the new wife.
Little is known about this relationship except that at one point Harry served as Usher’s manager. The two eloped in 2015, just months after Usher proposed, and divorced three years later in 2018.
During the hour-long sit-down, which also featured Kevin Hart’s ex-wife Torrei Hart, Osei asked Foster about her feelings towards her ex’s new spouse.
“I feel it just depends on how they got into the relationship, too. Like if she’s a mistress turned wife, the respect level is different, you know what I mean? In this case, this was clean,” Foster explained. “This woman that he’s with, this is somebody that was not involved in our relationship and there was no infidelity while I was with him with her. So, I like her. She’s cool. We have a clean slate until she proves otherwise.”
USHER RAYMOND'S 4 KIDS: ALL ABOUT USHER CINCO V, NAVIYD, SOVEREIGN AND SIRE
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Usher has two children with his ex-wife Tameka Foster and two kids with his wife Jenn Goicoechea
Grammy-winning artist Usher has one of the most versatile careers — having acted in films, performed on… pic.twitter.com/m8xRkGsP6H
Usher is currently married to music executive Jennifer Goicoechea. The couple reportedly started dating in October 2019 and tied the knot on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas, after his Super Bowl halftime performance. They have two children: a daughter named Sovereign Bo Raymond, born in September 2020, and a son named Sire Castrello Raymond, born in September 2021.
Foster admitted that cheating wasn’t an issue in their marriage, but it’s unclear if there was overlap in his relationship with Harry and his current wife Jennifer. However, what is clear is that in this new season of his life, Usher is committed to being a better man.
