Usher’s children don’t want him to go to their events

‘They don’t want me to be at their basketball game or their recital’

Although Usher may be famous enough to earn the headline spot at the Super Bowl halftime show, he might be too famous for his kids.

The singer recently spoke with Shannon Sharpe on her latest podcast episode of Club Shay Shay, where he opened up about some new parenting challenges he has faced after some of them became teenagers.

Usher is a father of four, sharing two sons with his ex-wife Tameka Foster, 16-year-old Usher “Cinco” V and 15-year-old Naviyd Ely. He also has a daughter and a son with his long-time girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea, three-year-old Sovereign Bo, and two-year-old Sire Castrello.

“My kids – sometimes, they don’t want me to come. They don’t want me to be at their basketball game or their recital, or they wanna be very, very low-key, ‘cause they don’t want that energy,” he told the talk show host.

“They don’t want, ‘Oh Dad walked into the room and took…’ ” he said as Sharpe added, "All their focus off me."

Usher continued, “And it’s hard, because I try my hardest to have that empathy, but I wanna be there.”

The “My Boo” singer revealed that there were “countless times” where he’s sat “at the back of the room, quiet” trying to “keep myself as small as possible and be as quiet as I possibly can” to avoid giving himself any attention that should be going to his children.

Usher also discussed the differences between how he was raised compared to his own children.

“That access and that reality that they’re looking at – it gives them some expectation and unfortunately I can’t take it back,” he said. “I walked so that we could ride. And now that you’re riding, I want you to understand the importance of walking.”

The host questioned whether or not his kids could ever be “normal” when they have a “six car garage” in addition to a “nanny, maid, and chef.”

“That is a harsh reality, which is more the reason why you gotta be harder on them,” the singer replied. “But mindful that their normal is different than our normal ... the expectation is actually higher. That’s the one thing that I have empathy for my children.”

He added that he feels particularly bad for his oldest son, who is named after himself. “You know, I named my son Usher so every time he’s out, obviously, there’s that pressure,” he said.

Of his overall approach to parenting, Usher shared, “It’s equally important to talk to your kids. If you gonna push ‘em that way, you gotta love on ‘em just as much.”

During another part of the podcast episode Usher clarified whether or not he was actually Beyoncé’s babysitter before she became famous.

“First of all, how can I be a nanny? I’d be a manny,” he told the host before noting that he did have to supervise a tween Beyoncé and one of her former bands.

“[Producer and musician] Daryl Simmons, he had a group by the name of The Dolls, and they came to Atlanta for the first time,” Usher explained. “This is before Destiny’s Child became Destiny’s Child. I think I looked over them while they were doing something in the house.”

“I had to watch ‘em ‘cause I was like the, you know, the authority ‘cause I guess I was the teenager at the time,” he continued, adding he was “making certain that they didn’t, you know, get in no trouble in the house at the time”.