*From 2001 to 2004, Usher and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas were a match made in hip-hop soul heaven.
That is until the pair opted to split rather than elevate with marriage. Twenty years later, the former It couple have different significant others and continued longevity doing what they love as music icons.
Yet, the romance is still remembered by Usher, who retraced his journey to stardom while encased in a deep love with Chilli. After releasing his sophomore album “My Way” in 1997, the then 18-year-old met the TLC member, who was seven years older than him. As a dedicated fan, it was a dream come true for Usher.
“If I am to be honest, I was her No. 1 fan, and she was my superstar,” the entertainer told People. “At the age of 8, I put her poster on my wall and said, ‘Man that girl is so beautiful. One day I’m going to meet her.’”
And so it began. But to the surprise of fans, Usher and Chilli’s relationship ended in late 2004, the year his fourth album, the multiplatinum “Confessions” was released. Despite visions of spending the rest of his life with Chilli, Usher stated that “specific rules” she had would have to be followed for their relationship to continue. A point the younger vocalist was unable to honor.
“I was a young man, and she had very specific rules that didn’t work for me,” Usher pointed out. “We were missing each other. I really did want to have a different type of relationship where she was there with me, and she couldn’t be. She didn’t believe that I was actually in love with her as much as I was.”
“I wanted to marry her,” he added while mentioning how the split affected him. “I proposed and she told me no. I went through a great deal of pain after that, not trusting women or wanting to open up.”
while admitting that he “hurt her too,” Usher added the breakup with Chilli “broke my heart.”
We were cool with each other, but I was very careful with that,” the “U Remind Me” vocalist says. “I really did love that girl, and I was like, I don’t want to play with you. Like, ‘I can’t give you what I gave you. I did everything that I thought you would’ve wanted me to do, but I guess my good wasn’t great enough.’”
Fortunately, the parting gave way to a new beginning for Usher and Chilli, who is currently dating actor Matthew Lawrence.
News of Usher proposing to her while they were an item as well as his reaction to being rejected has fallen on deaf ears. TMZ reports Chilli is doing just fine with Lawrence and hasn’t given the story a second thought.
Instead, she is helping Lawrence celebrate his 44th birthday while vacationing together in Sandals Dunn’s River in Jamaica. According to TMZ, the couple, who have been dating for a couple of years, are pretty serious, with a trip down the aisle coming in the not-too-distant future.
The site’s sources mention that marriage is something the “No Scrubs” vocalist takes “very seriously,” adding that Chilli is “not just going to hop into a commitment like that until she is totally convinced she and her partner are both ready for marriage.”
As for Usher, his relationship status is now married, after tying the knot in a surprise wedding to longtime girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea. The nuptials were exchanged just after his show-stopping Super Bowl halftime show performance in Las Vegas on Super Bowl Sunday (02-11-24).
“I’m not hurt over that at all,” Usher said, regarding him and Chilli not working out. “We’ve since become cool with each other, celebrate each other and it’s always light when we see each other.”
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