Oprah has been steadily interviewing artists in the R&B arena, from Rihanna, to Jennifer Hudson, and her latest being Usher. This week Oprah visited Usher's Atlanta home for an in-depth conversation with the super star.
The R&B singer spoke honestly about the difficult times he's faced recently, including a custody battle with his ex-wife Tameka Raymond, and the death of his step-son, Kyle Glover, who passed away after a jet-ski accident.
"I miss Kyle," Usher started when discussing his step-son, obviously saddened, "And I happened to be Los Angeles, California when I recieved a call from Tameka, and she said 'I need to get back, something happened with Kyle, up on Lake Lanier' and I didn't know how real it was. So I reached out to Ryan [Kyle Glover's father], of course respectfully, to get an understanding, and of course he told me that there had been an accident. And I said 'well I can fly Tameka back, would you like me to do that?' and he said 'yes, get her back here as soon as possible.' I got her back on the phone, got her a plane, got he here."
Usher continued, "[Kyle was] a great part of my life. We cooked together in the house, we laughed, we played, we sang, he loved to sing, he loved to dance."
Although many had questioned whether Usher attended Kyle's funeral, Usher told Oprah he was present. He also spoke on a reported document filed by Tameka claiming Usher was using the death of her son as a 'sham' to delay their custody battle in court. Of these alleged accusations, Usher says it was extremely difficult to return to court following the sudden passing of Kyle. "You can't imagine how hard it was. I couldn't imagine how hard it was, which was part of the reason why I asked that we not go back to court. It was a personal request I made to the judge, it was a personal request I made to Tameka, that in this time of grievance that she take that moment, to deal, and let's deal with this later."
Watch Usher on Oprah's Next Chapter series below.
