You know, if she did more of this and less twipic-ing thinly veiled ammo for her custody battle, we might not ever call Tameka “crazy.”
The good folks at Uptown Magazine recently got with Ms. “Raymond” to offer their readers and inside look at the normalcy of her life. And it sounds like it might be pretty normal…
You would think the former spouse of superstar singer Usher (they divorced in 2009 and have two children) lived like the women on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. However, the reality is that she’s a single mom with a career like many other women. During the day, while a nanny cares of Usher V (aka Cinco), 4, and Naviyd, 3, and while Ryan 12, and Kile, 10, (children with her first husband, music exec Ryan Glover) are in school, Raymond runs two businesses. She launched Estella, a clothing and home-decor boutique in Roswell, Ga., in 2010; and KangaZoom, an indoor children’s play facility in Alpharetta, Ga., which opened at the top of 2011.
And then you remember…
She vacations in Paris, Sardinia, and Florence, and has a black Audi A8 parked in the driveway of her 12,000-square-foot home in suburban Atlanta (six bedrooms, eight baths, pool, and guesthouse). Yet she makes famously cheap noodles for her kids and storms through Zara more often than Zanotti. “That’s why I drive an A8,” she says. Her dry and grounded humor is equal parts Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes and Martin‘s Pamela James. “I don’t spend my money on frivolous things,” she adds, like the Suze Orman disciple she is.
Oh. Okay. THAT’s why.
Flip through for more pics from Tameka’s Uptown spread and a few more quotes, Usher subliminals included.
“Usher and I met because i was one of the top stylists in the game. You don’t get to work with someone of his stature in music, especially back then, without being one of the best,” she says sitting across from me in her well-appointed living room that’s a mixture of her taste (Anthony Liggins originals adorn the walls) and her travels (an intricately crafted wooden piece from St. Barths sits on her coffee table). “And I still am hardworking.”
According to Raymond, Usher filed for sole custody of their kids in January 2011. Nine months later, she filed for sole custody as a counteraction. She thinks she understands his reasons, including control and wanting the kids to move around as he does.
“He is a man very accustomed to having his way,” Raymond says. “This has nothing to do with how I parent. Trust me, I never will have a desire to keep a man away from his kids. I am not June Cleaver or head of the PTA, but I know I am a good mother.”
