Usher says he'd never let his children stay with Diddy in resurfaced video about his teen years
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Usher once revealed that he would never let his children stay with Sean ‘Combs’ Diddy.
In the wake of the Bad Boy Records founder’s arrest for sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, an old video of Usher recalling his time at Diddy’s ‘Puffy Flavor Camp’ has resurfaced.
Usher, now 45, was sent to live for a year with Diddy in 1994 by his manager LA Reid when the ‘U Got It Bad’ singer was just 14 years old.
Usher claimed he would never let his children stay with Diddy
Appearing on 'The Howard Stern Show' in 2016, Usher reflected on his experience of spending a year with Diddy's 'Puffy Flavor Camp.' The ‘Burn’ singer shared his experiences with Stern, recalling, “I got a chance to see some things. I don't know if I could indulge and even understand what I was looking at.”
He admitted, “It was pretty wild. It was crazy," reports Daily Mail.
“There were very curious things taking place and I didn't necessarily understand it,” claimed the singer.
However, when the famed talk show host asked him whether he would send his children to the 'Puffy Flavor Camp,' the ‘Hey Daddy’ singer replied with a pointed, “Hell no!”
Usher has two elder sons, Usher 'Cinco' Raymond V, 16, and Naviyd Ely, 15, with his ex-wife Tameka Foster. With his current wife Jennifer Goicoechea, the ‘My Boo’ singer has a daughter, Sovereign Bo, three, and a son, Sire Castrello, two.
Usher’s mentor had qualms about sending him to Diddy
LA Reid, who sent Usher to live with Diddy, claimed in his memoir that he feared it was “irresponsible” of him to “turn” Usher over “to the wildest party guy in the country.”
Music mogul Reid wrote in his 2016 memoir, that after signing Usher to his record label LaFace Records in 1993, they released the rapper’s first single ‘Call Me a Mack’.
However, he admitted that following Usher’s debut single, he could not find another song “compelling enough to release.” Since he wanted the singer to be “edgy,” he sought help from his friend Diddy, who he called Puffy in his book, for help.
Reid recalled asking the ‘Coming Home’ singer, “Will you take this kid and teach him your swagger? Can you just give him some of your flavor?”
Nevertheless, Reid claimed that he had a few reservations about turning a teenage Usher into the “wildest party guy in the country.”
Reid wrote, “Usher was fifteen years old, but nothing about him ever seemed juvenile.”
He continued, “I was turning him over to the wildest party guy in the country at an age when I still needed to get his mother's permission, but he went to New York for almost a year.”
“I didn't know whether I was being irresponsible or having an epiphany,” claimed the former ‘X Factor’ judge before adding, “I would never be sure flavor camp worked until he came back.”
Reid later clarified that he secured permission from Usher’s mother Jonetta Patton as he sent Usher to the ‘Puffy Flavor Camp’.
