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Awww, isn’t this nice news to hear on Mother’s Day?

On Saturday night, after she was fully dressed for her show in Chattanooga, TN, Monica posted a picture of her protruding belly.  In a gorgeous royal blue dress, Monica didn’t need to say anything because it was clear a little one is on the way.

On Twitter, Monica replied to Niecy Nash’s well wishes with a thank you and also revealed that she’s five months pregnant!

She and husband Shannon Brown, a shooting guard for the Phoenix Suns, have been married since November 2010.  Monica has two sons, Rocko and Romelo, with former fiancé, rapper Rocko. She’s also been a very strong parental figure to Rocko’s older son Malik and considers him her son as well. Shannon also has a son, Shannon Jr., from a previous relationship. This will be their first child together.

Since they’ve been together, Monica has been on “pregnancy watch.” She’s openly stated that she feels her purpose in life is to be a mother so fans are excited as though this is “everyone’s” baby.

While Monica and Shannon are surely just hoping for a healthy baby, wouldn’t it be nice if she had a little girl?  There’s a lot of testosterone in the house already so it’d be cute to have a little girl there for them to start protecting.

Congratulations to the Browns on their new bundle of joy on the way!

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Well, I suppose this was his moment of clarity.

In an interview with Vibe, EURweb reports that rapper The Game was reflecting upon his career and really wished he hadn’t dissed Jay-z (along with seemingly every other popular rapper at the time) in a few of his songs a few years ago.

“I think I f***ed that up early in my career.  I’m probably one of the only cats that went at Jay-Z’s neck and had a career after.”

He’s probably right. Much like Biggie did the polka dot wearing rapper Kwamé back in thr day, Jay-Z does seem to have that rap power to make sure either your music doesn’t see the light of day or that no one really buys it if you cross him.  Of course, he does it all with one of those boyish grins and the “it’s nothing” attitude.

The Game said he even got into an argument with his kids’ mom (not sure they’re still in a relationship) because she knew the power Jay possessed:

“I remember having a real altercation with the mother of my children.  She was like, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing. He’s going to come back and we’re not going to be able to survive.’ Jay and Beyonce are a powerful couple, they will turn your whole family against you.”

Hilarious! I don’t if the Carters will turn your entire family against you but they can get to your fan base. Luckily for The Game, he’s been able to maintain a decent career, even if he is more popular on the West Coast.

And who knows: maybe Jay will hear about this and grace him with a verse for a song in a couple of years. Yeah…probably not.

Photo Credit: Alberto Reyes/WENN.com

From Essence

For seven weeks this summer, TV personality Wendy Williams will step into the spotlight and play Matron Mama Morton in Broadway’s Chicago. But before she kicks it into high gear, the former radio host and powerful media player according to The Hollywood Reporter, will host the 2013 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards this Sunday.

ESSENCE.com caught up with Williams to chat about all things Broadway—from her upcoming debut and rehearsing to hosting this week’s fan-driven annual audience awards ceremony in New York City.

What she’s excited about when she hosts the awards show:

I love award shows where there are tables. I’ve never been to one, but I watch on TV—the Golden Globes—it just looks like everyone’s having a good time eating, drinking, having casual conversations at tables with friends, while going up to accept awards. I love that. So, I’m really excited to razzle dazzle the crowd with entertaining and hosting duties and sitting at the table with my glam squad, who I also adore.

How’s she’s prepping for her role as Mama Morton:

I start vocal lessons in two weeks and then we start rehearsals in three weeks. It’s something I wanted to do because I need to know how to change my voice. Even though my voice has been my money-maker my whole career from radio and now to TV, talking in regular tones for an hour on a talk show is easy. But I don’t want to test it by screaming on Broadway, where you have to talk a little bit louder. Then of course the singing number—I want to give it my all and that will mean perhaps blowing a vocal cord so I want to know how to pace myself to make sure that my voice is optimum.

How she’ll balance Chicago, her talk show and family life:

I will make it work. I’ve got cooperation with all the people around me, thank God—from my parents to my son, my husband and my staff. Every last intern, my producers, everybody understands that this is a great opportunity; I’m going to be doing it. But I’m also going to be counting on everybody to step up to the plate and do their part and I promise that I will step up to the plate and continue to do my part.

Say what you want about her but one thing for sure: Wendy is a hustler and she works hard. You can check out the full interview over on Essence.com.

Source: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Well, apparently, somebody asked this man to open his mouth.

The NY Daily News caught up to Chris Brown’s dad, Clinton, to talk to him about his son and Rihanna’s relationship.  Seeing as though we’ve never heard much from him in the past, you know he took every opportunity to chat it up.

When asked about the twosome, Brown said:

“I personally really didn’t want him and Rihanna back together.  You have to have a balance in a relationship. You have to have someone who is spontaneous and whimsical but you also have to have someone who is grounded and logical.”

You know, it’s not that what he’s saying is incorrect but why even talk about it?  I get it, everyone else has publicly had their say so why not Papa Brown?  But by now, he should know that neither Chris nor Rihanna care about what people say about their relationship.

Clinton also added that his pick for his son would have been Jordin Sparks who he called a “wholesome young lady” who’s also very pretty.  A few years ago, Jordin would have agreed with him because she had quite the crush on him for a long time.

Thankfully, he didn’t “down” Rihanna. He said he met her a few years ago during the first go ’round of “Chrianna” and said she was very respectful and polite.  Still, he just feels like his son could have moved on from her and found someone better.

I wonder if Chris or Rihanna will respond to this story.  Neither of them is known for staying quiet when someone has something to say about them.

What do you think? Should Chris’ father just have stayed quiet about this whole thing, especially since the “talk” has died down a lot?

source: shutterstock

There will always be debates on how to show a man you’re worthy of him keeping you around by doing certain things. I’m not too sure what works and what doesn’t work in terms of making a man stick around and showing him you’re not just wifey material but should be his wife. What I do know is,  you should’t knock it until you try it and do what you feel is appropriate because every man– and woman — is different. Check out some of the most notable “make him keep you” advice around. What’s worked for you and what hasn’t?

Source: WENN

From Essence

When Iyanla Vanzant sits down with DMX, everyone had better tune in with a notebook and pencil because it’s going to be explosive. Vanzant meets the embattled rapper on the season 2 premiere of Iyanla: Fix My Life to offer “support” around his issues with drug abuse, women, his extensive arrest record (“roughly 30 times,” he tells her), and his relationship with his family, particularly his son.

Vanzant spoke to ESSENCE.com about the episode, where she thinks DMX went wrong, and what we can all learn from him.

On where she thinks DMX went wrong in his life:

I don’t think that he went wrong. All of us have ways in which we mask and cover our pain. This is a man who is in a tremendous amount of pain. Some of us eat; some of us shop or eat chocolate. What he is doing is a less socially acceptable way to mask and cover his pain because he doesn’t have the skills and the tools to deal with it otherwise. So I don’t think he went wrong, it’s just a defense mechanism.

The breakthrough moment:

Sometimes you go on to do one thing and something else unfolds. When you’re dealing with the ravages of long-term drug abuse you’re also dealing with the impact of the entire ecology of the environment. What we discovered was that the greatest healing was for his son Xavier who had not had the ability to address what he was feeling about his father. Xavier really got the biggest breakthrough.

This was a really good interview and you can read the rest over at Essence.com.  While this episode is clearly going to give us every level of entertainment we need, it is possibly the chance for us to learn something about ourselves and not just using it as a moment to laugh at someone else’s situation.

The second season of Iyanla: Fix My Life premieres tonight at 9p ET on OWN. Will you be watching?

Source: Shutterstock

From StyleBlazer

As a woman, what are the things you worry about the most? A new study found that British women worry about their weight more than their finances, personal relationships, or their overall health. Although children and family came in first, weight came in second. Does this have anything to do with pressure from society to be a certain size, or are we putting pressure on ourselves to look good?

Check out the other concerns that made the list:

1. Children and family: 84%
2. Weight: 67%
3. Money: 64%
4. Relationships: 52%
5. Health: 43%

Get more details on the other findings on StyleBlazer.com.

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For many minorities, graduating from college is still a huge achievement. A large number of minority students don’t have parents or relatives who have attended college to assist them with college preparation or the skills that will help them succeed academically. More than 25 percent of low-income first-generation college students leave after their first year and 89 percent fail to graduate within six years.

However, once you prance across that stage into your new life, studies show you are likely to make significantly more money than non-college graduates. And this in turn, means there is a good chance you will be bringing in checks larger than anyone in your family has ever earned.

Being the big shot earner in your family is a fine line to walk. You want your family to know you are successful, but not too successful to avoid getting frivolous requests for money. You want to do nice things for your family, but not too much that they start to expect it. You want to give gifts, but not so often that your family members become ungrateful.

Not only is being the first in your family to make a good living stressful, but if you’re not careful with your giving it can lead you to being broke. So here are some things to keep in mind when dealing with your family and your money.

Only Give What You Can Afford. After graduation and the start of your “fancy” job, even if you don’t say a word about your salary many people in your family will assume you are making lots of cash and don’t realize the debt that can come along with going to school. With the average student loan debt at $27,253, the monthly payment for your education can be one of largest bills eating up your paycheck every month and prevent you from having much to give away to your family. But whether it is student loan debt, trying to catch up on your retirement, or trying to build up your savings if you can barely take care of your own financial responsibilities, you don’t have it to give others. Learn to say no.

Don’t Fall for the Guilt Trip. You’d be surprised how fast people will tell you how you had it so much easier than they did and all the benefits you were given, even if you grew up in the same house. Don’t let this get to you. You should not be penalized or feel guilty about your success. Many times family will ask you for things just because they feel like you have it to spare. When you say no, they somehow make a way to pay for it on their own. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories of someone giving a family member money to pay an important bill, and the next week they somehow found the cash for new sneakers. Giving out of guilt will only create tension if you feel that money that you gave was misused.

Put Your Loans In Writing. If you do decide to extend a loan to a family member be sure to create a promissory note for two reasons. One, if you really need to get your money back, you have an enforceable contract. Two, creating a loan in writing shows your family member you mean business and that you’re not just giving money away willy-nilly. You expect to get your money back.

Being the first in your family to graduate from undergrad, graduate, or professional school and make a good living can seem like a gift and curse. You want to help your family, but you also want to make sure you are in a good financial situation and not being taken advantage of.  Many times the whole reason you have worked so hard to become successful is for the benefit of your family. But there is not much you can do to help those in need if you are broke and don’t have your financial situation together either.

To be able to help you have to be in a position of power. So instead of feeling down because you declined to pay your little brother’s phone bill or make your cousin’s car payment, gain comfort in knowing your are working towards building generational wealth that can benefit your brother, cousin and your entire family for years to come.

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Growing up, there was always the sneaking of clothes, heated bickering over bathroom time, and jockeying for the front seat. There was also the occasional push out of “my side” of bed and shove in the back for telling “my business.” But for the most part, my big sister and I were girlfriends. She let me tag along with her friends and I made them laugh by making mundane observations: a woman wearing a turtle neck and daisy dukes, an old Rasta wearing a net shirt and white jeans—white jeans! Once, it took us 20 minutes to do a 10-minute walk from the bust stop because we mimicked Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks all the way home.

My sister, a beautiful Amazonian, even beat up a neighborhood bully after he skipped me in line for the park swings. At that time, we were young and our sisterhood was unchallenged by outsiders. If we hated each, it was because we didn’t get our way with one another. Of course we knew that we didn’t have the same father, but our mom, playing the role of both parents, raised us as sisters. Half-sister is a word, a hurtful word that I learned without ever hearing it. I simply felt its cold logic one day.

“Why don’t you look like your sister?”

The guy asking this seemingly simple question was a buddy of mine and I loved him.  In middle school, I started to think that my sister was better than me. He looked me up and down, his eyes passing my perfectly round face, bell pepper nose, shapely breast, and skinny legs. We were standing under a tree talking about school, usually a conversation about which teachers we liked, which we didn’t, and why. Most times we gathered under the tree and sat in folding chairs. Standing was unusual and I was nervous for that and for coming so close to revealing my true feelings. I had made him laugh many times during our after school hangouts, but when he asked about my sister I knew that friendship would be our relationship ceiling.

My initial reaction to his question was to take it personal. That reaction played out over years and years. When I presented myself fragile on the topic of being a half-sister, I got plenty stimuli to further my dejection. But for the most part, I batted away the topic, instead of waving it in. If a male friend saw my sister for a first time and I sensed his regard for our physical differences I would say, “We have different fathers.”  My tone was passive aggressive like a teacher dealing with an unruly student. I didn’t want to deal with it or appear like I was avoiding it. I sort of wanted to bail both of us out of the misery of finding words to assuage the truth that some pain is unavoidable.

Eventually, my sense or nonsense of family was truly tested when a white boyfriend’s married parents told him they were horrified that my mother had never married before having either of her two children. They were horrified, he was annoyed and I was ashamed. For a brief moment, I questioned my mother’s sense of men, and because my father was inconsistently present and my sister’s father was consistently absent, my view of her choices was not favorable. Indeed, the moment was brief because favoring my mother is easy when I remember that she raised two smart girls by working two full-time jobs.

The other truth that saved me from an estranged relationship with my mother was the fact that she raised us as sisters, not half-sisters. She insisted that people treat us the same and that my sister, and I treat each other better than we treat others. In fact, when my father would take me out without my sister, my mother was furious, often compensating by taking my sister places without me. This was a badly executed way of showing love, and feelings have been hurt both ways. On various occasions, my sister has expressed to me and to my father the hurt she still feels about being left out of a trip to see Michael Jackson in concert. The concert had to be more than twenty years ago—when “Bad” was out—but my sister mentioned it two Christmases ago.

One thing that stands out as a treasure in the chest of our sisterhood, is the fact that my sister and I both absolutely love to laugh. We used to love lame vampire movies like Once Bitten (now vampire makeup and accents are well performed, e.g. “The Walking Dead”). And we still randomly recite lines from the first version of the movie Sparkle.

This summer we will co-host a wedding reception; our single-mom mother is getting married for the first time at 57. Despite the normal sisterhood trials, and perhaps the normal half-sister tribulations, having a sister is one of my best blessings.

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We know all parents aren’t this understanding but this story is really touching.

FCKH8.com, a website that sells t-shirts to spread love across all sexualities (in their words, they “fight homo-h8), posted a very sweet letter on Friday morning on their Facebook page that epitomized love. In the letter, an unidentified father told his son, Nate, that he’d overheard a phone conversation about his plans to come out to his dad. In surprising fashion, his dad totally took the pressure off his son.

In the note, he said:

I’ve known you were gay since you were six. I’ve loved you since you were born.”

The dad also added that he thinks his son and Mike, the guy he was on the phone with, make a cute couple.

Well…anybody have a smile on their face right now? Need a Kleenex?  We aren’t sure how old Nate is (he’s apparently in school as his dad told him to plan to bring home oj and bread after class) but as many in the LGBT community will tell you, it isn’t always the easiest thing in the world to come out to friends and family members. Some parents are especially hard to tell because some of them have certain life “expectations” for their children and can’t see that being gay, lesbian or bisexual doesn’t necessarily stop those things from happening.

I’m sure Nate took a huge sigh of relief after reading that note.

Do you think or hope you’d be this open if you overheard your child having this type of conversation?