Usher: My Boys Bring Me Balance in Life

Kadena Pix/Bauer-Griffin

A tropical vacation? A trip to the spa? As many Hollywood stars escape the daily demands that surround their careers with impromptu getaways or a day of pampering, Usher finds his sense of balance in the eyes of two little boys — Usher ‘Cinco’ Raymond V, 19 months, and Naviyd Ely, 7 months. “I find balance in two places, when I’m working out and when I’m with my kids,” he tells OK!, adding that the “noise of my children” is music to the singer’s ears.

“When I hear them my mind is not focused on all of the things that are holding me down. When I’m with my boys it’s all about them and I just put it all together somehow.”

That said, despite his celebrity status, a good time spent with his two boys doesn’t necessarily mean pulling out the checkbook! “We spend most of our time in Atlanta in the car traveling wherever we’re going to go,” Usher says. “That’s when our fun moments are, either at home or in the car.”

With a dad whose voice has won him five Grammy awards, a career in music wouldn’t be a far stretch for Cinco and Naviyd. Hopeful his sons will become singers, 30-year-old Usher admits while his youngest is “not quite at the age where he can talk, sing, and catch rhythm,” little Cinco may soon be jumping in on the action — quite literally! “He likes to jump, that’s his new thing,” the proud papa laughs. His other new interest? Cell phones.

“[He] is a little destructive. He broke an assistant’s phone yesterday. He was playing with it and he dropped it. Kids don’t understand how valuable cell phones are. You lose your phone, it’s like you lost everything!”

Cinco and Naviyd are Usher’s children with estranged wife Tameka Foster.

Source: PEOPLE, OK!

– Anya

Comments

gaia's mommadukes on July 11th, 2009

I go completely fangirl over usher. Its weird I don’t really listen to his music that often, but whenever I see him on tv I just have to stop and melt. I remember all that hooplah after he married that woman Tameka, but its good to see him focused on his kids and happy. I hope he’s doing better since that mj tribute where he was looking extremely distressed.

Andrea_momof2 on July 11th, 2009

I heard a rumor that Usher is requesting a paternity test for Naviyd, I really hope he finds out Naviyd is his baby. I would feel terrible for him if he found out his wife cheated on him.

Either way, he sounds like a great father and Cinco is adorable. (Never seen Naviyd!)

April on July 11th, 2009

Pretty sure there have been numerous rumors about him cheating with someone from his record company, actually….

TMia on July 11th, 2009

I’ve always been an Usher fan. I just hope he’s as committed to his children as he is to his art. Divorces are always difficult but combined with rumors, accusations, and greed they get rather messy. I just hope everything ends ok for everyone’s sake…mainly the children.

On that note…little Cinco is a cutie, would love to see Naviyd as well.

Tracy on July 12th, 2009

How do you pronounce his second sons name?

Molly on July 12th, 2009

Tracy, I *think* it’s pronounced the same as Navid Eli (nah-VEED E-lye)

CelebBabyLover on July 12th, 2009

April- So that makes it all right that his wife may have cheated on him, too?

Alex on July 12th, 2009

Hmmm, seems to be some hostility towards Tameka seeping through on this thread. I would’ve thought Usher fans would respect him enough to respect his wife, even if they are seperated. Oh well. Cute kids.

aroundtheywaygirl on July 12th, 2009

Usher fan’s haver never respected Tamika as his wife. They want to believe she trapped him or had some mystical hold over him to make him marry her. Usher is far from naive and very far from being innocent. I wish him good luck with his two children and hope remains involved in the lives and is emotionally supportive of his step-children.

Anon on July 12th, 2009

I heard that same rumor Andrea. The media has always been on Tameka, from the beginning its hard to tell whats true and what isn’t. I’m not a fan of Tameka at all from what she’s put out in the media(people don’t like her because shes dark-skinned etc) but I don’t think saying that is disrespectful.

Aniah on July 12th, 2009

I am a big fan of his music. I think part of the problem with Tameka was that the people closest to him (like his mom) had a problem with her. It seemed like every day there would be another story from someone close to Usher about her attitude and how she went all “diva.” Now these could all have been made up stories but Usher’s camp never denied them IIRC.

I read on another site that he is fighting for physical custody of the children. Whaetever the case may be, I hope that they can remain civil for the childrens sake.

christina on July 12th, 2009

I take this article with a HUGE grain of salt. From what I’ve heard/read, he spends practically no time with his boys. Sad, sad.

aroundtheywaygirl on July 12th, 2009

I think what Tameka said about the fact that she is dark-skinned and it bringing out the haters is true. I can’t believe some of the stuff I read about Tameka…”Usher should get rid of her and marry a light-skinned hottie like me, etc. She is not making this stuff up. When we have Black people and White people referring to our First Lady as a gorilla, I believe every word Tameka says about no one would have a problem with Usher marrying a White girl, Latino girl, or really light-skinned Black girl with kids. Black people didn’t like that Tameka was “airing our dirty laundry” so to speak. The first criticism to come out of a Black woman’s mouth about another Black woman is how dark or how light she is.

For those 5 children’s sake, I hope things work out for the best between Usher and Tameka.

Mary-Helen on July 12th, 2009

I don’t know what to think about Tameka. It seems like she “trapped” him in a sense that when he wanted to cancel the wedding because of the dysfunction with her and his mother, she had some mystical illness and magically recovered in order to get hitched. His mother has always disliked her as well, and nine times out of ten, when a man’s mom dislikes a woman, there’s a good reason.

However, Usher has always seemed like a loving and devoted dad and the stories of him ignoring the children only came out during the divorce, presumably from Tameka’s camp in order to make him look bad. I just hope he and Tameka can find a way to co-parent so that the boys don’t miss out on having one of their parents in their lives.

Anon on July 12th, 2009

Christina- So why would you take this article with a grain of salt and not the others? Unless they’re quotes from Tameka or someone close to the family not some anonymous tipster, I’d be more inclined to give this more merit than others.

Aroundthewaygirl- You’re generalizing in a big way. I’m a mixed race woman, but I consider myself black and most of my black friends light and dark don’t subscribe to that way of thinking. My friends range from Park Ave types to girls on the block so it isn’t about high learning. A smorgasbord of black women and minority women would have had a fit if he married a white woman, let us be real. There’s this misconception that black male celebs(entertainers and athletes) marry and are expected to marry interracial-ly but the numbers aren’t there to support that and in turn Tameka isn’t completely correct.

Usher dated Naomi Campbell and Chilli from TLC and neither of them is passing a paper bag test(and Chilli has a child as well). Most people in the U.S wouldn’t approve of a marriage where there’s a 12year age difference and one of the people in the relationship has 3 kids. Maybe if the couple is 50 and 38…but most people I am willing to bet would jump up and down for a 28 year old and a 40 year old with three kids getting hitched. imo

Nina on July 12th, 2009

I wish there was a photo of Naviyd i bet he is cute. aroundtheywaygirl i 100% agree with you. i believe alot of people hate on Tameka. i am sure she is a good mother and usher is a good father.

gaia's mommadukes on July 12th, 2009

I think the premise that people hate on Tameka solely because she has a dark complexion is ridiculous. I wouldn’t pretend that some people of all colors do have that warped mentality but on the other side a lot of people celebrate when a black celebrity marries within in their race. I see articles in essence on it all the time on Samuel Jackson, Will Smith, Denzel etc. As some other people noted, I think the fact that Usher’s mother reportedly didn’t like her had something to do with it; along with the age difference and the fact she has several children one I think only a few years younger than Usher.

Usher is one of the few younger international entertainers that is married. I’m sure if John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, Drake(he’s new but I can feel his popularity growing), or anyone else were to marry a non-celebrity there would be quite a bit of ‘hate’ towards her. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles, when your audience is composed of people under 30.

Mary on July 13th, 2009

i doubt ppl hate on Tameka b/c of her skin color. she just seems to exude this nasty presence about her. Usher’s mom never liked him being with her from the beginning. so you know how the saying goes. mommas don’t dislike potential life partners for no reason. obviously there was something about her that rubbed mom the wrong way, and at the end of the day she was right. supposedly, Tameka stole Usher from Chili. they always say you lose a man/woman the same way you got them. not that Usher (allegedly) cheating is ok, but karma can be somethin. also i think Usher marrying Tameka really hurt his career. his last album b4 this one was amazing. and then to now go to lackluster sales really is embarrassing. Usher got rid of his mom as his manager, something she’s been for a long while now. so it seems like he was pushing away those closest to him, all for this woman. he would constantly defend her and their union to the media. if the relationship was all it was cracked up to be, there would be absolutely no need to do all that. but either way, i think Usher really cherishes fatherhood and i hope Navyid turns out to be his child. i’ve seen his pic, and i’m not sure about that one…

Sarah K. on July 13th, 2009

I think people were rude about Tameka out of pure nastiness. I have read so many comments about how she’s lucky Usher married her because she’s a single mom, about how she’s ugly, old etc. etc. But we don’t know her or anything about her. The fact is that Usher chose to have not one, but two children with her. I highly doubt she “trapped” him. Last I checked, he was a grown man.

CelebBabyLover on July 14th, 2009

Sarah K.- Well, there’s rumors that Tameka cheated on Usher and Naviyd isn’t his child (and hence he only had ONE child with her). I doubt those are true, though. If there were any truth to them, I think we would have heard them before now.

Also, just because a child doesn’t look like their father (which is what Mary seems to be implying about Naviyd) doesn’t mean the mother cheated! Some people just look more like one parent than the other. And some people don’t look that much like EITHER of their parents! It just the way genetics works!