By now Tameka Foster has heard and seen it all when it comes to snide comments made by her ex-husband Usher’s fans.

But one she can’t seem to shake is the belief that she wed the R&B heartthrob in 2007 to get at his fortune. “The truth is, I really, really loved my husband,” Foster told Page Six. 

Foster was a stylist to other A-list music industry acts such as Jay-Z and Patti LaBelle when she began working for a then-27-year-old Usher in 2005. While she may have been known to other celebrities, to Usher’s fans Foster was essentially a woman who seemingly appeared from the shadows as the “Confessions” singer’s real-life love interest. 

The “My Boo” crooner, who typically has a hold on his swooning fans, was unsuccessful at quieting down pesky rumors while lamenting his love for Foster. So much was the case during his May 2008 appearance on MTV’s “Total Request Live” video show. 

“I love my wife very, very much,” Usher said while looking directly into a camera during the live broadcast show. “I’m tired of people continuing to talk so much trash about me, know what I’m saying? And my relationship. My wife is not 40 years old. I love her to death and I’m a Black, strong man in America standing up for my people — as a man to my wife, to my son, to my family.”

Tack on their eight-year age gap, harsh criticism of Foster’s looks, the fact that she already had three children, and fans had the perfect scenario to dizzily conclude Foster was using the singer as just another means of securing her bag. 

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER Musicians Usher wife Tameka Foster attend 2007 Fashion Rocks / Belvedere Vodka After Party at The Rainbow Room on September 6, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

Foster, who has adamantly slammed gold-digging accusations in the past, continues to do so to this day despite the couple being divorced since 2009. “It wasn’t bulls–t. It wasn’t gold-digging,” Foster, 50, said. “I always said that I took a pay cut when I married him.”

In her memoir “Here I Stand” she gives people even more insight into the toll the public bashing had on her.

The former lovebirds were only married for two years but have continued to share a connection through their two sons, Naviyd Ely and Usher Raymond V. While Foster has never remarried, Usher, on the other hand did. For three years the singer and his former manager Grace Miguel enjoyed marital bliss before calling it quits in 2015.

In September of 2020 the chart-topping singer welcomed his first daughter, Sovereign, with girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea. The two are currently expecting their second child together.