A lot has been written about Tameka Raymond. She's been called a golddigger and accused of coming in-between Usher and his mom. But now, she's speaking out for herself and revealing things about her family, businesses and talking about dating. Deets inside.....
Despite her current custody battle with Usher, Tameka Raymond seems to be keeping it moving. As a single mom, she cares for her kids Usher V (aka Cinco), 4, and Naviyd, 3, and Ryan 12, and Kile, 10, (children with her first husband, music exec Ryan Glover) and her oldest, Darrin, 21, while running two businesses: Estella, a clothing and home-decor boutique in Roswell, Ga., and KangaZoom, an indoor children’s play facility in Alpharetta, Ga. And she's a well-known stylist, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Institute of Atlanta.
In a new interview with UPTOWN Mag, Tameka reveals a softer side. Here are the highlights:
On hard work:
“I was taught to work. Ironically, my father’s mother and my aunt were also retailers, and I worked at both places from about age 7. I learned tons about fashion and how to make money all by age 10."
On her custody battle with Usher:
“He is a man very accustomed to having his way. 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.”
On love:
“I am dating. It’s refreshing. I have not been single in a while. I got divorced and married in the same year. It was a run-on relationship. But a lot of guys like to play games. I like a man that’s a boss. I am not the dominant one. But a lot of the ones with the right mind-set wear OshKosh overalls. And if they are not fly, I don’t like them.”
On introducing dates to her kids:
“I don’t bring men around my children. They have never met an ‘Uncle Tony.’ The two that I did bring around, I married.”
On her accomplishments:
“Being raised in Oakland, and having been able to see and enjoy five of seven continents, and working in such a highly competitive field, makes me very proud. “I never imagined some of these things to be obtainable. And my sons teach me the meaning of true, unbiased love.”