Usher's highly anticipated interview with Oprah aired last night on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and the interview was mostly about his relationship with ex-wife Tameka Foster and their ongoing custody battle
Here is some of what Justin Bieber's mentor said:
On why he's speaking about his relationship and custody battle: "This will be the only time that I've ever chosen to speak about it. I've been a man of integrity throughout the entire process, which I hope my boys will understand. That's the way to go. That's the way to be."
On his wedding in 2007: "I wanted to give her the wedding that she wanted. But I wasn't quite ready. I impregnated this woman, we were in a relationship, we were in love. . . I was taking responsibility."
On the demise of his marriage: "When we had Usher V, it was by far the most incredible moment of my life. I couldn't have been more happy. After that, I did get a great sense of the insecurities that were there and the fact that she wasn't coping well with being in this position, being married to Usher, and all that came with that."
On his marital problems with Tameka: "Let's put aside all of the issues that come with being a celebrity and having married someone that people don't approve of. You have at-home problems with communication, with understanding of how things go. It is hard being married."
On why he filef for divorce: "I didn't know how to balance it. It was obviously too much for me. I didn't want to get to the point where I would cause myself harm or do anything that I felt like would be harmful to me, so I couldn't stay in it."
On Tameka claiming he's an absentee father: "Absentee from the aspect of having to go and work, that probably would be her version or idea what absentee would be. But no, I'm not an absentee father at all."
On his strained relationship with his ex-wife: "We don't see eye-to-eye. The friend that I was to Tameka, I don't know that I could ever be again, because I really felt like we were friends. She made us enemies in a way that I could never understand. It wasn't until I was on the stand, where I cried, when I realized, 'Oh, this is an attack.'"
