Usher's Ex Tameka Foster Says She Still Loves Him

Even though R&B star Usher's and his ex Tameka Foster-Raymond are no longer living in holy matrimony, she says she still loves him. Foster-Raymond opened up about her relationship with the Grammy winner, proclaimed her undying love for him and maintained that the divorce came as a surprise. "Usher and I weren't really speaking," she said of the months leading up to the split. "He was away recording, and I was angry at other things going on." During a trip to Los Angeles reports surfaced that the singer was canoodling with a mystery woman that was later revealed as a former record label executive. He filed for divorce a few days later.

Of Usher's single 'Papers,' in which he blows the lid off his marital problems Foster-Raymond says the song is far from art imitating life. "People shouldn't take it literally," she said. However the 38-year-old does feel that given their current situation the song is "in poor taste."

Although Usher has yet to publicly reveal the details surrounding the break-up, Foster-Raymond blames the pressures of being married to a celebrity, but says she doesn't feel bad about the way things ended. The mother of five also downplays her alleged rifts with Usher's mother, Jonetta Patton. "We didn't have documentable arguments," she said. "I don't think she was happy about [me and Usher]. He was a sex symbol, and I don't fit in the marketing plan. She probably felt it was career suicide." Perhaps one of those disputes took place back in September following a custody disagreement that allegedly started at his mother's house and ended with Usher's car being keyed. Police were called out to his residence to view the vehicle, but it was determined that there was not substantial evidence to charge Foster-Raymond, she denied involvement in the incident.

Through it all Foster-Raymond says she still loves Usher and always will. "When I see my kids, I think of what should have been," she says of their two young sons, Usher V and Naviyd Eli Raymond. "I saw us growing old together."

The couple tied the knot in September 2007. Usher filed for divorce in July and is working on his next album 'Raymond vs. Raymond.