Just in case you were interested, Mashonda is STILL TALKING about her marriage to and divorce from Swizz Beatz.  Just when you thought you’d read it all, the details keep coming.  Read what Mashonda reveals in her most recent interview when you go inside… Read the full story

The 2 look very strong together… Alicia Keys has her baby bump in full effect. The couple looks great together. What you think? See another picture here Read the full story

Both singers allegedly stepped out with a married man. All similarity ends there. Guess which one gets a pass and which one gets labeled with a scarlet letter — and why.

Former American Idol winner and R&B singer Fantasia Barrino tried to kill herself. It is being reported that she took an overdose of aspirin and sleep medication in an effort to escape the media scrutiny related to her role in an alleged affair with Antwaun Cook, a married T-Mobile salesperson. Cook’s wife, Paula, filed for divorce, naming his affair with Barrino as a factor and alleging that the two had made multiple sex tapes. Barrino maintains that there are no sex tapes and that Cook was separated, so she did nothing wrong.

Media coverage of the suicide attempt has been interconnected with relentless documentation of the illicit affair, including the fact that Barrino had Cook’s name tattooed on her shoulder, which she later covered. Even in Charlotte, where I live when not in D.C., the media, which normally rarely cover the North Carolina native made good, have been fixated on the attempted suicide and tawdry details of the affair. I’m wondering: If they know that this type of scrutiny is what drove her to try to commit suicide, why would they continue badgering her in the press? But that’s another story.

What I found to be most interesting is that Alicia Keys has been able to escape this type of media scrutiny in the mainstream press, even though she reportedly was engaged in a three-year affair with a married man, which ultimately resulted in the demise of the marriage. Keys also became pregnant and engaged to super producer Swizz Beatz while the man was separated but still married nonetheless. She then married Beatz weeks after his divorce was finalized. The black press have let both Fantasia and Keys have it for their indiscretions, but the mainstream media took to the Fantasia story like a rabid dog while ignoring the illicit actions of Keys.

They painted Keys’ wedding as a fairy tale, even though she allegedly did what many women other than Angelina Jolie consider to be the unthinkable: steal another woman’s husband and get pregnant before the divorce is even final. Most women on the receiving end of that behavior would take the pregnancy as a great big open-handed slap to the face. Of course, we don’t know if Keys “stole” Beatz from his wife — no one knows what goes on in marriages — but it appears that she was romantically involved with someone who was married. Beatz’s wife, Mashonda, maintains that she was blindsided by the affair with Keys, who was even a guest at her baby shower.

I’m wondering why the mainstream media are so willing to let Keys off the hook for what many would call socially unacceptable behavior at best, and immoral behavior at worst, while taking Barrino to task for similar behavior.

While celebrating her honeymoon in France with new hubby Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys stripped down to an incredible white and gold two-piece bikini yesterday and busted out her baby bump!                                                                  The couple who married last weekend and buddy Queen Latifah were all spotted sunning topside on an insane yacht.

Nothin’ but smooth sailing from here …

They are becoming one of the most well liked couples in Hollywood today!

Swizz Beatz and soon-to-be wife/mommy Alicia Keys attended Russell Simmons’ 11th Annual Art For Life Benefit at his estate in the Hamptons this weekend. They look hella-happy which is a great thing after all the drama surrounding how they got together. Plenty more images when you

Jeff Robinson, CEO of MBK Entertainment Inc., and 12 time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys have decided to change the structure of their business relationship. Robinson and Keys

will continue to collaborate and produce future albums together through MBK/J Records while Alicia will now oversee all aspects of her own personal career.

MBK Entertainment Inc. has been the management firm for Read the full story

Mashonda finally had her sit down in person with Alicia Keys:

It was very important for you to sit down with Alicia if she was going to be around your son. Safe to assume that happened?
When I wrote her that Twitter letter everybody wanted to say things like ‘Oh, what do you need to meet her for? It’s not her problem, it’s Swizz’s.” I’m like, ‘You have a kid, go through what I went through and then talk to me.’ I’m not having my son around anybody I don’t know. I don’t give a shit who you are and how much money you have and what management he’s going to be under when he visits you. I need to see you and I need you to see how serious I am about him. And that’s what happened. We had to sit down, and I told her how I felt. I didn’t mention anything else, it was all about my son and it was fine after that. I’m not going sit and talk to [them] about what happened between the three of us. This is about my son.

How did you introduce Kaseem to Alicia?
‘This is daddy’s friend Alicia… Daddy’s girlfriend.’ I don’t want him to ever go over there feeling uncomfortable.

When did this meeting finally take place?
It took a good year and a half. I think that only happened in March.

How was Alicia’s demeanor?
She just listened.

This all sounds like a really awkward gathering…
It wasn’t awkward; I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t ready. I said what I had to say as a mom. It was a whole sit down dinner. So you know how intimate that is. There are certain things we have to do as women in order to move forward.

Very true, have you received an apology from either one of them yet?
Nope.

Surprising?
No, because I honestly feel like they think they didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t care about their apology. As long as he’s a great dad to my son and she’s a good step-mom, they don’t have to worry about apologizing because they will never understand or care about the pain I went through. That was a big thing at first, I felt like nobody was respecting me. He’s not respecting me, she’s not respecting me. [But] then I had to say, ‘Fu*k my ego, because this can’t be an ego thing. If it is I’m going to fall down and die.’ People feel that they are so happy and they are so in love, but what really happens is that real love does not come from a foundation when you hurt somebody else. Love does not happen like this. Love doesn’t involve hurt, lies, or destructing anybody else’s soul.

You’ve been spotted with producer, Michael Honablue. Going well?

Yeah. It’s only been two months, [but] Michael and I have a really good thing. I’ve been really private with my personal life, but I will say that Michael and myself share a lot of characteristics. He’s just a good guy.

When did you feel you could comfortably date again?
I had to be fully divorced before anything because it was important to show my son that that’s just not how you do it. You’re not going to do this to your wife… over my dead body are you going to do this to your wife. If you don’t want to be with her, you wait until your shit is right, [then] you do all your public stuff. That was really important for me to [be] an example for him. So I waited. It wasn’t really an interest of mine to date anyways. I just really wanted to figure out me and my next move because I was so confused and hurt. If you’re not complete with yourself there is no way you can be complete in a relationship. But now I’m in a really good place, and I only mess with positive people. I will not entertain negativity.

You were with Swizz for ten years, married for four, is it weird being with a man that isn’t your ex-husband?
It is definitely weird. The first time I went on a date with somebody, I cried. It was like ‘Oh my God.’ I didn’t even know how to talk to another man. It was just weird being there, but I knew it was something I had to do, a part of moving on. Thank God I’ve been blessed to deal with only good, educated, sensitive men. God will send the right person for me. [Right now] my son is my number one man.

VIBE: How much of a burden is it to be referred to as Swizz Beatz ex-wife, rather than Mashonda?
Mashonda: I can’t wait until that goes down. I hate that when [Swizz and Alicia Keys are] doing something I always come up. I can’t wait for the day when we’re both in our own worlds. I’m a separate person and just want my own identity.

How far have you gone to regain your own identity? Have you still kept his last name, Dean?
I do. I kept my last name for my son’s sake, until I remarry. There’s no need to rush to change it… that just complicates things for my son. That would be so petty of me. The only thing that could change [my last name] is a really good man.

Read the interview with VIBE Here.

Alicia Keys fell backwards while performing “Love Is Blind” at the ESSENCE Music Festival on Saturday (July 3). A concertgoer can be heard asking, “Did she mean to do that?” Now that’s when you know you’re a true pro!

Some people feel she broke up a happy home, How you feel?

Alicia Keys on loving Swizz: “Oh yes,” she says dreamily. “I am very much in love. Right now love is my main inspiration. Love is the one thing we all want in our lives and I am completely surrounded by it. Love fills you up in a way nothing else can and it’s the most amazing, amazing thing.”

On motherhood: She’s even considering adopting a child from Africa in the future. “I’m so looking forward to being a mum,” she says. “My mum was the best mum to me. She was my best friend as well as my mum. And I want to be the same to my child.”

Fabulous Mag on the homewrecking: “Both Alicia and Swizz have strongly denied that they were together while he was married. In fact, despite regularly being seen at the same events and holidaying together in Hawaii in January, they only admitted they were a couple in May, when they were photographed hand-in-hand following Alicia’s sell-out gig at London’s O2 arena. Their public outing came just weeks after Swizz’s divorce was formalised. Two days later, headlines announced they were planning to marry and expecting a baby. Not exactly music to Mashonda’s ears.”

But Alicia won’t be drawn into discussing her fiancé’s ex. She shakes her head: “Oprah Winfrey is the wisest woman I know. She’s like my big, clever, older sister. A while ago she gave me one piece of advice which was to never get drawn into talking about that sort of thing. All I know is that right now my life is really, really good.”

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