Tameka Defends Her Custody Battle With Usher: ‘I Begged Him To Withdraw The Petition’

June 1st, 2012 - By Brande Victorian

Source: Thegrio.com

Tameka Raymond is still making her PR rounds when it comes to the disastrous custody case going on between her and Usher. Though most people aren’t particularly in either parent’s corner, Tameka tends to catch a little more of the grief, and in an interview with The Grio, she attempted to clear her name and explain her side once again.

“I did not start this,” she said. “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.

“My ex-husband and I are not enemies. We’re not. 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.”

Tameka’s pretty much been the villain from the very beginning, with people assuming the single mother was just out for Usher’s cash. She insists despite the public not taking a liking to her—or Usher’s mama— things were good when the couple first started out. But there seemed to be one particular event that made things go south.

“Well, if I had to point to one thing, one time, it would be after the birth of our second son, Naviyd,” Tameka said. “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.”

That’s clear from her allegation that Usher was dipping all up and through her bridal party. I’m not sure he ever pretended to not be available but hopefully they can wrap up that legal mess soon before any more of their behind-the-scenes buffoonery gets exposed. What’s interesting is that although we saw Usher break down on the stand a couple of weeks back, Tameka appears to still be as cool as she looked in this photo last week. For any woman going through what she is, she has this advice:

“Always keep your dignity and stand firm. My marriage was a beautiful thing, but I’m not stuck in that time. I loved my ex-husband more than air, but it’s over and that’s fine. I would rather have loved and lost, than to not have these memories. Life is nothing without real love – at least once.”

Hope it was worth all this aftermath.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • Sha Sha

    Um, I was talking about Usher being the cheater…not her.

  • FromUR2UB

    I don’t know which of them is to blame. I’d always felt though, that people were unfair to her, saying that she was too old for him although she’s only six years older. The age difference is not as wide as JLo’s and her guy, or Vivica Fox always going after guys in their 20s. It seemed that people were just mad because they didn’t think she was pretty enough, not worthy enough to be “the one”. There was a lot of pressure on him to not be with her, so I guess that finally got to him. I don’t know what happened between him and his mother, but unless he told her to get out of his life or something like that, I couldn’t understand how it could be so serious that she refused to attend the wedding. That seemed kind of wrong. You don’t cut people off just because they don’t always follow your advice.

    • Candacey Doris

      Isn’t she 8 years older? Plus she already had kids and seemed to be out for a paycheck. That’s why people were hating.

    • Sha Sha

      Maybe mom KNEW what we were all thinking…

  • BlackNGreen

    I like her, she’s unorthodox. People bashed her because they didn’t think she was Ushers type. That he should have married a latina model that’s at least 6 years younger than him. But I can tel l she’s genuine, she didn’t marry for money. Usher cheated on her left, right, and diagonally before filling divorce. Leave this woman alone, she’s trying to be cordial throughout this case involving her children,but Usher has broken orders set fourth mutually and by the court. It doesn’t help that people drag her name through the mud without knowing essential details. I hope she brings all his dirt to light.

  • ladyspencer58

    Can’t wait for the book, you know that’s coming next . Right?

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  • http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Peaches%20The%20Writer PeachesTheWriter

    The more you talk, the less I believe you.

  • LESY

    Girl stop media whoring. She is a mess. I knew she was no good when I 1st heard her on Wendy … she claimed to come on to tell a secret about usher being gay … well when she got on she played dumb and wendy went in on her saying you approached me!!I did not know you…. you told me to let you on and you will tell me exclusive info. She is a mess. I dont know what made him marry her but he is paying for a dumb decision now and will be for the rest of his life.

  • Sha Sha

    I think the correct quote was “I would rather have loved and lost, than to not have these two babies who will keep me paid for the rest of my life”. Gold diggers and cheaters get what they deserve. I have no sympathy for either one. It’s the children I’m concerned about!

  • Sara

    I really like her. Maybe its her always been blunt honest. But I hope they work something out before he becomes too much of a rolling stone. Just figure out where the children will school, who picks ups, where they will vacay, who they will stay with term time, who visits etc not that hard, if they were made out of love to begin work it out, darn it. They do not belong to one exclusively, those handsome boys didn’t ask to be here, they were brought here now be adults!