Love & Marriage….and Divorce?
No matter the season, love remains a many splendored, though complicated, thing. Author and Young & the Restless alum, Victoria Rowell, was a blushing bride, for the second time, when she walked down the aisle with her new hubby, Radcliffe Bailey, last summer. Rap artist, Talib Kweli, also made it official with DJ Eque while former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, and Lakiha Spicer tied the knot, just weeks after he lost his four-year-old daughter. Sadly, there were also a few unions that ran their course this year. After months of speculation, Usher filed for divorce from Tameka, his wife of almost two years and the mother of his two, young sons. While the details of their split were sketchy, we’re keeping our ears close to the speakers for any hints he might drop on his upcoming album. While we’re on the subject of music, super-producer, Swizz Beats, parted ways with wife, Mashonda, and soon after, found comfort in the arms of Grammy winner, Alicia Keys. Allegedly.
Birthing Babies.
There were a plethora of baby showers this year and strangely-enough, a few under-the-radar baby bumps. Songbird and actress, Jill Scott, embraced motherhood for the first time with the birth of a her bouncing, baby boy as did Kelis, who also endured, and won, a bitter divorce settlement with her now ex-husband, Nas – while she was pregnant. Tisha Martin-Campbell added baby #2, a boy, to her brood, Lincoln Heights’ resident mom, Nicki Micheaux, also welcomed a little boy into the world and comedian Wanda Sykes and her life partner remain on double-diaper-duty since the birth of their twins. Though Jennifer Hudson and Lauren London failed, miserably, at their attempts to keep their pregnancies hush-hush, NBA baller and philanthropist, Alonzo Mourning and his wife, Tracy, were all smiles when they announced that they were expecting their third child, a boy. Kimora Lee Simmons – who finally signed off on those divorce papers from Russell, with whom she shares two daughters – blessed her beau, Djimon Hounsou with his first son. Erykah Badu also proved that the third time’s the charm when she gave birth to a little girl as her two older children, rapper/producer boyfriend, Jay Electronica, and midwife cheered her on. Did we mention that both Kimora and Erykah posted birthing updates on Twitter, during labor?
Goodbyes.
Along with rejoicing the miracle of new life, 2009 will go down in history as the year that far too many of our beloved icons passed on. Although it’s been six months since his passing, our hearts are still heavy about losing Michael Jackson, at age 50, just weeks before he was to make his concert comeback. We also said goodbye to our first supermodel-turned-mogul, Naomi Sims, as well as pioneering author, E. Lynn Harris, who was in midst of transforming one of his bestellers into a film. NFL-great-turned-jazz-musician, Wayman Tisdale, also made his transition, as did wide receiver, Chris Henry. We also bid a solemn farewell to veteran actors, Alaina Reed Hall-Amini, of 227 and Sesame Street fame, and Bernie Hamilton from Starsky & Hutch, as well as Grammy-winning “Queen of the Blues,” Koko Taylor, former Motown Records “Funk Brother” drummer, Uriel Jones, and Winans family patriarch, David Winans, Sr. They’ll surely be missed, but we hope they are each resting, easy.