USHER: 'I DIDN'T FIRE MY MOTHER!'

R&B star USHER has denied firing his mother as his manager - he insists he "retired her". The singer ended his 15-year professional relationship with Jonetta Patton just days before Mother's Day last year (07). She then missed his wedding to Tameka Foster last August (08). He admits the pair fell out, over what he considered to be her lack of support, but he has stressed that he parted ways with her for her own sake.

Usher tells Vibe magazine's July edition, "(I paid her) the ultimate compliment - to retire her to be a full-time grandmother. My mother and I decided to change her situation. There was a conversation. I didn't write her a letter or pink slip her." The 29-year-old star admits the split was hard for him, but necessary for his career: "I hurt more than anything over these last two years when I felt my mother didn't really embrace my situation. My mother is an aggressive person. She makes hard decisions, and she caused me to make a hard decision as well."