These are some new photos of Christina Aguilera at a screening of Season 4 of “The Voice” last night. It premieres on March 25, and since it’s a hit for NBC they’re really cramming them back to back. The last season just ended in December, but somehow it feels sooner than that. That must be due to all the promotion I’ve been seeing for this season. Aguilera was a judge for the first three seasons, but both she and fellow judge Cee Lo Green have left, they’ve been replaced by Usher and Shakira. (Whenever I think of her I get “Hips Don’t Lie” stuck in my head. Probably because it’s in one of the spin videos I do.) Adam Levine and Blake Shelton are still on the judging panel for their fourth season.

It’s unknown why Aguilera is no longer on The Voice, but she did regularly clash with fellow judge Adam Levine, and she was rumored to be a diva. So that’s why it’s nice to see her at the premiere for season 4. I don’t think she was contractually obligated to show up, it’s not like she’s on this season, but she did and she really put her game face on!

This is such an improvement for Christina, whom we regularly see looking wasted with day-glo fake bake and caked-on makeup. For comparison, this is how she looked the last time we saw her at an event, in October of last year.

See, she looks awesome now. She’s still fake baking but it’s not as dark. She wore a really cute, flattering dress, which Just Jared identifies as Parker with a Versace belt. The back of the dress is white, you can see it in the photo below. For her makeup she went with a neutral lip, cheek and eye, and she looks quite sober. It also looks as if she’s lost weight. This makes me wonder if she ditched that guy who served as her enabler, Matt Rutler, but I did find photos of them together just a month ago. Whatever is going on in Christina’s life, she should keep it up. Even if it only involved hiring a new makeup artist. I would love to see her get rid of that brassy blonde hair and go with a more nuanced color, but baby steps. This is a big difference!

Also there we have Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, looking coupled up.

Usher, who is hot to me when I don’t pay too much attention to his fashion. Those shiny red boots are atrocious! Also, I like him better with shorter hair.

And Yvette Nicole Brown! Just because I love her. Shakira wasn’t there, boo.

photo credit: WENN.com

I have very mixed feelings about all of this. Usher attended the Pencils of Promise gala several days ago, and he ended up bidding on a special item during the charity auction. That item? A designer dog – a Goldendoodle puppy. Goldendoodles are those Golden retriever-poodle mixes that a lot of people want for whatever reason. Anyway, Usher ended up winning the puppy with a $12,000 bid (outbidding Jessica Szohr’s $11,000 bid). Well, the money goes to Pencils of Promise, which is totally a worthy cause and that’s great. But I can’t help but think… $12,000 for a designer dog?! REALLY? Usher knows there are thousands of dogs in need in shelters, right?

Usher sure has expensive taste! Attending the Oct. 25 Pencils of Promise gala in New York City, the singer and new Voice mentor outbid former Gossip Girl actress Jessica Szohr in order to take home an adorable — and coveted — Goldendoodle puppy.

A cross-bred dog that is a mix between a golden retriever and a poodle, Usher’s new pet came with a price tag of $12,000 — money that goes to the Justin Bieber-endorsed organization that builds schools in impoverished nations. (Not to be ignored, Szohr bid an impressive $11,000 in an attempt to take the animal home, according to reports.)

“Poppy Raymond is what I’m think of namin’ her . . . however there are two gregarious 3- and 4-year-olds that will have the last say — and the responsibility that comes with her,” the singer, 34, tweeted after taking home the animal, referring to his two sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd Raymond, who will likely be bowled over by their dad’s latest purchase.

Donating funds to adopt a new pet wasn’t the only kind gesture Usher made at the event. The “Numb” singer also donated a private dance lesson as an auction item. Following a bidding war between Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun — the brother of Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun — and two families in attendance, Braun let the families take the prize after they each bid $65,000 for the lesson.

[From Us Weekly]

Poppy Raymond? Because she’s kind of poppy-colored? I guess. Alright, that’s a cute name for a dog, and it does sound like it’s something kids would come up with. Have we ever discussed the fine art of animal-naming? I love giving my animals extravagant names, even when I was a little girl. I had a crazy cat named Zelda Fitzgerald and a sweet kitty named Princess Isabella (we called her Izzy). Right now my dog goes by like ten different names!

Anyway… yeah. I’m not a huge fan of designer dogs and I don’t understand why people don’t just get rescues. But considering it was for charity… I am going to cut Usher some slack. I guess.

Photos courtesy of Usher’s Instagram and WENN.

Ugh. Here’s a photo from Usher’s Twitter page of him having dinner with Tom Cruise and Ridley Scott in London over the weekend. Remember those 2007 rumors about Usher converting to Scientology? Usher is definitely in the thick of it now, and I hate to sound rude, but to quote Stephen King in The Stand, “No big loss.”

Today’s episode of Tom Cruise insanity revolves around Tom’s misguided belief that he can bend time and space just because regularly sits for auditing sessions while holding tin cans and has duly paid his way into an OT Level VIII position in the CO$. The information comes via Marty Rathbun’s book, The Scientology Reformation: What Every Scientologist Should Know, which has already received some suspiciously negative reviews from interested parties, i.e. CO$ trolls trying to keep their stats up.

Marty’s words are consistent with both former Sea Org member John Brousseau’s report on “The Hole” (where CO$ execs are disciplined after disappointing David Miscavige) as well as the Vanity Fair story detailing Nazanin Boniadi’s experience with the Tom Cruise wife audition process. Among other things, Marty alleges that Cruise physically assaulted CO$ members at the direction of Miscavige — which we’ve already heard buzzings about a few years ago but not in this detail. In addition, Marty provides his firsthand account of the evening where Tom yelled at Naz for disrespecting Miscavige because he was mumbling, and she inquired, “Excuse me?” If you’ll remember correctly, Naz had already been forced to entertain Miscavige for hours at Tom’s Telluride compound; Tom had ignored her physical pain that she was suffering from intense menstrual cramps and bruising after she fell off a snowmobile. All that mattered to Tom was making Dave happy, and when Naz failed to show Dave the proper “respect,” Tom had one of his underlings remove her from the premises and disciplined for months afterward for her “crimes.” Here is an even more detailed account from that evening:

Excerpt from Chapter 8: The Gates Of Hell

…Miscavige’s reaction to my escape was chilling. He ordered John Brousseau, his resident handyman – and the architect of most of the Tom Cruise vehicle and home upgrades – to install prison bars on all windows in the Hole so that no one else could escape.

With me out of the way, Miscavige’s madness was unbridled. He began to tell Tom Cruise tales of having to physically beat the degraded beings in his environment to keep them in line. Cruise followed suit, doing the same to his own staff. Michael Doven, his long-time personal assistant, started receiving regular physical abuse from Tom. Another of Tom’s staff – a woman – was grabbed and slammed up against a file cabinet by Cruise for failing to show him proper respect. He railed and screamed, like Miscavige, when he discovered a near-microscopic chip in a drinking glass handed to him by one of his staff. He was convinced the degraded beings were steadily sabotaging him, stalking him like the zombies from Night of the Living Dead. Tom even physically abused the one-time international spokesperson for Scientology, one Tommy Davis.

Miscavige was happy to have Tom ape his own psychotic behavior. He once briefed the inhabitants of the Hole that Tom was fully informed of their conspiracies to destroy Miscavige. He told the assembled that Tom promised to come to the Hole to give Yager, Ray Mithoff (the highest scriptural authority in Scientology) and the former executor of Mr. Hubbard’s will, Norman Starkey, black eyes if their confessions were not to Dave’s liking. In order to prevent the world’s biggest star from having to do Dave’s dirty work, the leadership within the Hole decided they had better do it first. The eighty staff went into a frenzy of punching and kicking the trio, fattening the lips and blackening the eyes of all three.

By mid-to-late 2004 Tom was so locked in to Miscavige’s spell he was incapable of comfortable socialization with the outside world, at least on an intimate basis. He asked his best friend Dave to help him find a good-looking Scientologist wife, so he would not wind up with another degraded being like his previous two wives…

…During this same trip, Nazanin (the Miscavige chosen Scientologist wife-to-be for Cruise, Nazanin Boniadi) apparently “disrespected” Miscavige in front of Cruise, by seeking to clarify his trademark staccato comments a couple of times. This prompted Cruise to begin showing Nazanin his ugly, “big-being” side. Tom took her into his home office to give her a “reality adjustment” in front of Tommy Davis, who remained quiet the entire time.

Sitting across from Tom at a wide table – like an employee set down for a tongue-lashing from the boss – Nazanin could hardly believe what she was hearing. Tom looked at her like a frustrated, overworked executive, let down by a degraded-being underling. Then he gave her the intense, laser-focus stare. “You don’t get it. It goes like this,” Tom explained. He raised his hand above his head, palm downward. “First, there is LRH.” Moving his hand down a couple of inches, he continued: “Then there is COB (David Miscavige).” He brought his hand down to his own hairline, highlighting the intensity and seriousness of his words: “Then there is me.”

Nazanin looked at him stoically, hiding her shock at Cruise’s performance of his best Jack Torrance – the psychotic killer played by Jack Nicholson in the film The Shining.

“Dave and me, we’re big beings. We are surrounded by DB’s (degraded beings). DBs can’t help but try to destroy big beings. That’s just the way it is in this universe. You have to understand this. This is LRH, man. It’s the plight of the big being getting jumped on by all the degraded beings. You gotta be unreasonable to survive around a big being like me. You can’t be weak. You gotta be strong to protect the big being from all the degraded beings.” Cruise slammed his fist on the table, veins popping out of his neck from the intensity of his tirade.

[From Mark "Marty" Rathbun's Place]

As awful as this sounds for Naz to have endured (and then she was forced into harsh physical labor where she was made to listen to Tom’s Medal of Valor speech on a loop), just think of how terrible it was for Katie to be married to the screamer for five years. Seriously, this is how Tom Cruise thinks of everyone who isn’t himself or David Miscavige. All of those people who buy Tom Cruise’s movie tickets? Degraded beings. Katie Holmes and Suri? Degraded beings. There, I said it. There will be no crisis of faith for Tom over Scientology. He does not blame Scientology for his divorce. Tom Cruise is a “big being,” and all the rest of us cannot help but stand in his way and try to ruin life for him. One day, he and Dave will climb in their little spaceship of love and fly away, and we’ll all regret making fun of Tom and his lifts.

Oh, and here’s a bit of gossip about Tommy Davis, the former head of the Celebrity Centre who went missing a few months ago. Everyone sort of assumed that he’d been tossed into “The Hole” or shipped off to another location for punishment, but Davis has supposedly fled the CO$ and has been bunking with Rathbun, unofficially. And another one bites the dust.

Photos courtesy of Twitter and WENN

For about a year now, there have been buzzings that the producers of NBC’s “The Voice” were looking to replace Christina Aguilera — although to be fair, it always seems like we hear these stories about the women on musical competition judging panels (think Jennifer Lopez) and never the men. The dudes are just trying to get along, right? Meanwhile, the chicks are presented as “divas,” but I think we all know that Adam Levine qualifies under his own brand of diva-douche extraordinaire too.

Not that I’m an expert on this show by any means. As CB has stated before, none of us have really watched “The Voice” except for a few moments while channel surfing, so it’s not like our views hold much sway here. However, there have been a number of reports which make it clear that Christina and Adam have regularly clashed on air and (especially) behind the scenes with Adam calling Christina all manner of derogatory terms; and Christina has been “appalled” at his treatment of her while looking like “the golden boy of the show.” For his part, Cee-Lo Green was said to be uncomfortable and worried about the future of a judging panel where two members can’t get along for even a moment. Now it seems that both Christina and Cee-Lo are leaving the show after the third season (which has just started), and they will be replaced by … Shakira and Usher?

Two very accomplished artists will be taking over Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green’s fancy red chairs on The Voice during its fourth season.

A source tells Us Weekly Shakira and Usher are set to replace Aguilera and Green, who have each coached teams on the show — alongside fellow mentors Adam Levine and Blake Shelton — for the past two seasons. (The show’s third season has just gotten underway on NBC.)

Earlier this month, Aguilera opened up to Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show about her stint on the hit singing competition, admitting she once viewed her job as a coach on The Voice “kind of like a side project.”

“[I thought], ‘It’ll keep me close to my son [Max, 4] in L.A. I don’t have to travel,” the five-time Grammy Award winner said. “Then it kind of took off, and there goes my free time!”

The Voice source tells Us that Aguilera will use her break from the program to focus on tours and promotional duties surrounding the release of her new album, Lotus; Green is currently working with NBC on a new show of his own.

Both Shelton and Levine are set to return for Season 4.

[From Us Weekly]

Perhaps this change was inevitable, but I can’t claim to have strong feelings about it one way or another because (like I said already) I’ve never watched the show. From the tone of the story, it sounds like Cee-Lo Green wanted to resign from the panel so that he could move on and pursue his own show. Likewise, Christina is releasing her new album soon as well, and she may have seen fit to leave the show on her own terms as well. From the sound of her underwhelming new single, Xtina doesn’t quite have the running start that JLo had when leaving “Idol.” I predict she’ll be back on “The Voice” in a few seasons, if they’ll have each other.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet

Sometimes when I cover a story I truly wish I had more information about it. Like in the case of Usher’s custody battle, I would love to have been able to watch the entire trial, since it was public from what I know. (TMZ had video of Usher’s testimony, but I’m not aware of it airing in full anywhere.) There aren’t enough hours in the day to pay attention to everything I’d like to know, so I come away from this story about Usher’s custody battle just wishing I could feel better about it. If I knew what the judge knew, would I think this was the right decision? Anyway Usher gained primary custody of his two children with his ex, Tameka Foster. He will be the main caregiver for their sons Usher V, 5 and Naviyd Ely, 3. Tameka just lost her oldest son Kile Glover, 11, (from a previous relationship) who died following a tragic boating accident. This has got to be hard on Tameka, and she’s vowing to appeal the decision. Here’s more on her statements about the ruling:

The bitter custody battle between Usher and his ex wife Tameka Foster ended on Friday, with the singer winning primary custody of the former couple’s two sons. After issuing a statement addressing the death of her son Kile Glover and her custody case with Usher earlier this month, Foster took to Twitter this time to send a brief message after the healines broke.

“Money can buy many things… But in the end. Truth & goodness will prevail,” she tweeted. “I must continue to believe this. Stand firm.” Her previous tweets read: “A woman’s loyalty is tested when her man has nothing… A mans loyalty is tested when he has everything!” and “Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you… Fear the fake friend that hugs you. There’s not much worse.”

The details of Foster’s access to or visitation rights of her children have not yet been released, but the ruling comes as somewhat of a surprise, given the emotionally charged accusations slung back and forth between Usher and Foster during the trial. Foster accused her ex of being too absorbed in his career to be a good father and that he had used drugs in the presence of his sons. She also told Global Grind that she never wanted to enter the custody battle to begin with and was satisfied with their previously agreed upon “joint custody” arrangement.

Usher was, at one point, held in contempt of court for canceling his wife’s credit card at Saks Fifth Avenue. The court ordered Usher to reinstate the card because Foster argued that she needed use of that particular credit card in order to fulfill her duties as a stylist.Usher filed for divorce in 2009 after the couple had been married for two years. The couple’s relationship was fraught with drama with rumors that circulated about Foster reportedly controlling the singer, Usher’s mother’s disapproval, etc.Neither party has commented on the ruling.This is another personal setback for Foster, who is still mourning the tragic loss of her son Kile Glover. The 11-year-old died from severe injuries sustained when he was struck by a Jet-Ski in July.

[From MTV]

We’ve heard that Tameka has gone off on Usher, according to his testimony in court, and that she attacked him for bringing his new girlfriend with him during a custody hand off. That incident may have swayed the judge in Usher’s favor. There have been plenty of other incidents we’ve heard about in which she’s gone off on people and threatened them, so I guess I can see how the judge ruled this way. TMZ has a new report claiming that Usher’s law firm had a close relationship with the judge and that “Usher’s lawyer’s law firm threw an election fundraiser back in 2008 for the judge who presided over the trial… the law firm that represented Usher raised $1,278 for [Judge] Lane in March 2008.” That definitely may have influenced the decision. Even though I’ve never liked Tameka and have reported on her antics for years, I still feel for her for losing her older son and then losing custody of her two boys to Usher. It must be hard to take. I just hope Tameka is ok and that she’ll still be to spend time with her children. Hopefully this is in their best interests.

Header photo from December, 2008. Credit: PRPhotos. Photo of Usher and Tameka below from May, 2007. Usher is shown with his sons on 8-3-11 (stroller) and 8-20-10. Credit: WENN.com

You know how Justin Bieber thinks he’s the next Michael Jackson and how he wants to “become the greatest” superstar? He really said this earlier this year. Well now I know exactly where he got it from, his mentor and benefactor, Usher. I don’t pay much attention to Usher, but from his what I’ve heard about him, I’ve gotten the impression that he’s a jerk. (Although I’ve softened toward him lately, but that’s dissipating.) He sounds really full of himself in these quotes, but I might just give him a pass for them if he was just talking about his confidence in his professional abilities. You have to have a good dose of self esteem to perform in front of tens of thousands of people, surely. But then he talks about how he’s really good looking and wouldn’t turn it down if he had a chance to forsake his looks or something. As our friends at Evil Beet point out, the dude is in Megan Fox territory here.

Usher thinks everything he does is ”genius”.

The ‘OMG’ hitmaker considers it important to live his life to the full and always believe in everything he tries his hand to.

He said: ”I live every day like it’s my last. I approach everything I ever do as though it’s the most genius thing ever, regardless of whether it is or not.

”I really do believe something incredible is happening every moment I’m able to continue to do this. So I wanna live in it. Enjoy every waking moment. And I really do.”

Usher is happy to be good looking and enjoys the fact he is attractive to women.

He added: ”If I could turn [being] this good-looking down, I mean, I don’t know that I would. I was fortunately blessed with these good looks, I may as well do something with them, you know what I mean? I think we’re all just trying to live up to Sean Connery, the epitome of cool.”

The singer admits he has always had a strong sense of self belief.

He added to Q magazine: ”As a kid my mother would say, ‘You should stop running around telling people you’re gonna be a superstar!’ It was too much for people but I needed something to believe in.”

[From Contact Music via Evil Beet]

I think there’s a real difference between believing in yourself and having the ability to achieve great things, and believing your own hype and never questioning your decisions. It’s a thin line, but it’s there. Someone like Will Smith has a very strong sense of self worth but manages to be gracious to fans and seemingly grateful for his success. That’s genuine. I’ll give Usher credit, he’s been incredibly successful in his career. (He’s still just 33 despite the age of the women he dates.) Usher thinks he’s all that and that he’s been amazing since he was a child. I try to teach my son that he’s no better than anyone else. Did Usher’s mom tell him that, or did she just tell him to keep quiet about his inherent greatness?

Also, he’s a decent looking guy but he’s not amazingly good looking or anything. It really depends on his hair, I think. He’s not as attractive when his hair is all grown out and fluffy. I really hope someone specifically asked him these questions and he didn’t just pontificate about how amazing and gorgeous he is.

We haven’t paid attention to the Usher custody drama yet, because to be honest the stories broke late in the day yesterday. This Usher story is juicy gossip-wise, but there are kids involved so that makes it more sad than salacious. As background, Usher and Tameka Foster divorced in the summer of 2009. They have two boys together: Usher Raymond V, four and a half, and Naviyd, three and a half. It’s been about three years since Usher filed for divorce and they are still fighting over custody issues. It may have to do with the on-off nature of their relationship, at least toward the end of their marriage, (Usher’s song “Papers” is said to be about Tameka) but it sounds more like petty fighting. If Usher’s testimony is to be believed, it’s all Tameka’s fault.

As background, Usher, 33, has a history of dating older women and letting them take over as managers of his career. He did this with Tameka, pushing his mom out as manager, and he did this about a year ago with his current girlfriend, 44 year-old music executive Grace Miguel. Usher testified in court that during a routine hand-of of Usher, Jr., Tameka spit on Grace, took a swing at her, and threw a plate of food at their car. According to Usher, Grace was back in the car at the end of the driveway. Tameka got so mad at him for daring to bring him with her that she trounced down to the car and started screaming at Grace, saying things like “I’m going to kick your ass,” and “Bitch get out of the car.” When Usher tried to block Tameka from attacking Grace, she hit him instead.

Usher blasted his ex-wife in court today — testifying that Tameka Foster flew into a jealous rage, hitting him, throwing food, and worst of all … spitting on his girlfriend.

Usher took the stand in his ongoing child custody trial with his ex, and under questioning by his attorney, revealed how Tameka once went ballistic and “wanted to fight” … when he showed up at her house with his new sidepiece.

Ush testified Tameka walked to his car and said, “I’m gonna kick your ass. Bitch get out of the car. How dare you bring this woman into my subdivision in my house?”

He added, “She continued to spit. At this point she pulled the door open, tried to swing at her.”

Usher claims he had to get out of the car and block Tameka … who then hit him. Usher said he pleaded with Tameka to calm down, but claims “she threw a plate of food at the car” … as he fled the situation.

You gotta hear Usher describe the intense showdown — and remember, Tameka previously testified she once told the gf, “I will f**k you up.”

[From TMZ]

Usher seemed really earnest, and honest, when he was recalling this. (Video is below and available on TMZ) Either he’s an excellent actor, which is possible since he’s a celebrity and an entertainer, or he’s telling the truth as he saw it. We’ve heard all sorts of stories about what a whack job Tameka is, so I believe it. Usher married her, though, and he knew what he was getting into, considering that he backed out of the first marriage ceremony at Clive Davis’ house at the last minute. He probably realized within a few months that he never should have gone back and made it official.

TMZ has another clip from Usher’s testimony, in which he cries over allegations that he’s a bad dad and parties in front of his boys. He denied that, and it was hard to hear but I think they showed a photo of him smoking pot. He countered that he was in Holland at the time. This whole thing really made me feel sorry for Usher.

Usher is shown at the BMAs over the weekend. I actually like his blue suit. Credit: WENN.com. Tameka is shown in 2008

According to OK!, Rihanna and Usher went home together after meeting up at a party at Coachella. The two left together and were holding hands, so if this is true it’s safe to assume that they were doing more than just flirting. The last we heard about Rihanna she was casually hooking up with Ryan Phillippe but he’s since coupled up with Amanda Seyfried. Usher has a girlfriend that has been trying to take over his career and get him to fire all his people. She was with him at Coachella, I found photos of her with Usher on 4/15, the day before this supposed hookup with Rihanna. Usher is known to cheat, though, and I have the sense that Rihanna would be up for it. Here’s more:

On April 16, the music was pumping, the Ciroc vodka was flowing, and Rihanna and Usher were making beautiful music together – and we’re not talking about singing!

“They were so flirty,” an insider tells OK! Of Rihanna and Usher at Coachella. “They left holding hands.”

Rihanna and Usher had a table near the DJ booth – DJ Jesse Marco was spinning with Djs Caitlin Moe and Mia Moretti – where they whispered in each other’s ears and laughed as stars like Paris Hilton and Kanye West watched.

According to witnesses, Leonardo DiCaprio was also chatting up RiRi, but at the end of the night, she went home with Usher.

“They’re having fun and hooking up,” an insider tells OK!.

“They have a lot of mutual friends; we’re surprised it didn’t happen sooner!” adds a source.

[From OK! Magazine, print edition, May 2, 2011]

Kaiser and I were e-mailing about this, and we get the impression that Usher and Rihanna are not each other’s type. Rihanna just told Rolling Stone she loves to be dominated and tied up and Usher usually dates older domineering women. He then cheats on them in a misguided attempt to lash out at his momma for controlling him. This is just his passive aggressive way of getting back at his girlfriend for trying to take over his life.

Rihanna photos are from 2/18/11. Credit: WENN.com

Kaiser and I were wondering if anyone would care about this story, since Usher usually doesn’t get a lot of headlines. I wanted to report on it, because it points to a very clear and very dumb pattern with a guy who is a platinum recording artist and otherwise a savvy businessman. He made Justin Bieber a household name, and as annoying as that kid is you have to admit that Usher was smart for signing him.

For background – Usher fired his mom as his manager in 2007, supposedly at the direction of his then-fiance, Tameka Foster, and hired Benny Medina. Things were so strained between Usher and his mom that his mom didn’t even come to his wedding with Tameka in the summer of ’07. Those two were over about a year later anyway, so Usher rehired his mom in ’08 and finally officially divorced Tameka in the summer of ’09. He then predictably fired his mom again around that time at the direction of his latest girlfriend, (you can see a photo of her here and here) who stepped in as his co-manager and is now reportedly trying to convince him to fire his entire management team and basically everyone who works for him.

The R&B singer is currently dating his co-manager and stylist Grace Miguel, a 43-year-old former Def Jam executive who was spotted with Usher mere months after he split from his ex-wife Tameka Foster.

But according to NY Post’s Page Six, Miguel is calling all the shots. The seasoned pro, who helped Usher secure a release date for his latest studio release ‘Raymond v. Raymond,’ is trying to convince him to fire his entire staff including tour managers, stylists and choreographers, with plans to replace them with a whole new team.

Sources close to the action claim that “Usher will do whatever she wants him [to] do right now.”

Already on the chopping block is his longtime agent, Mark Cheatham of Creative Artists Agency, who supposedly got the boot from Miguel. “I don’t know anything about it. I’ve been with Usher for a long time,” he explained, though the R&B singer is now missing from the agency’s client roster.

Usher and Miguel have been a hot item as far back as 2009. After filing for divorce from his 40-year-old ex-wife Foster, the 30-year-old [sic: Usher is 32] went public with his relationship with Miguel, who signed on as his co-manager after he gave his mother the boot from the position.

[From Popeater]

So Usher either has his momma or his older girlfriend telling him what to do and running the show for him. His last relationship, with Foster, went down in flames and this one is going to burn out soon too. He wants someone to run his life and make decisions for him until he ends up feeling controlled and rebelling. The guy needs therapy to work out some obvious issues with his mother. I’m sure he’ll rehire her as his manager again once this new relationship inevitably goes south. Then he’ll write another album about it and make millions.

Usher is shown out in his blue hightops in NY on 4/8/11. I’m pretty sure that’s his girlfriend in the background to the right. He’s also shown performing in Paris on 2/15/11. Look at that scraggly excuse for a beard. Credit: Fame Pictures

Here’s a funny video of Usher serenading an overzealous fan on stage in concert at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Usher was singing “Trading Places” to a woman who was all over him, really getting into it and knew all the words to the song. The two were lounging on a recliner on stage when the woman tried to flip around to get face to face with him – and ended up kicking him in the face with her boot! That’s at 5:23 in the video above.

The woman apologized, wiped Usher’s face and seemed embarrassed that she got so carried away. Usher immediately stopped singing and the crowd was roaring. He joked “We play most of the day, you know, we kick each other in the face and all kinds of stuff.” He then stopped the song, gave the fan a hug, and then stepped off stage.

Aw, I like how he handled that! Usher could have been mad but he played it off well.

Rumor has it that Usher is cheating on his current girlfriend, his co-manager and stylist Grave Miguel, with a backup dancer named Saidah. Usher divorced his first wife and the mother of his two young sons, Tameka Foster, in 2009.

[story via Celebuzz]