In late August, after a bitter court battle, an Atlanta family court judge awarded R&B singer Usher Raymond primary physical custody of his 4- and 3-year-old sons. His ex-wife, stylist Tameka Foster, is still fighting to win custody of the couple’s children, and has filed a motion for a new trial in the case.
In a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, Raymond is speaking out about his marriage, divorce and child custody battle for the first time. He tells Oprah that his relationship with Foster began to go bad soon after they were married in 2007, and admits that both he and his ex-wife are to blame for the demise of their marriage.
Raymond also told Oprah that he asked the Georgia family court judge that oversaw their custody case to order a delay in the proceedings after Foster’s 11-year-old son from a previous relationship was killed in a jet ski accident. Foster denied the request, Raymond says, and the pair was back in court within the month.
Ultimately, the judge awarded Raymond primary physical custody of the couple’s two sons. It is not completely clear why the judge decided to make that ruling. From Raymond’s statements during his Oprah interview, it seems that Foster may have become more focused on winning the case than on what was best for her children – a trap that many parents embroiled in bitter custody battles easily fall into.
“I really felt like we were friends,” Raymond told Oprah. “She made us enemies in a way that I could never understand.”
Source: ABC News, “Nasty Celebrity Custody Battles: Usher vs. Tameka Foster,” Luchina Fisher, Sept. 18, 2012