It's no secret that both Usher and Chilli have come a long way since breaking off their fling in 2004, but according to him, their love story started far before they even met. Essence recently named the R&B icon the "Sexiest Men of the Moment," and as part of their spread, asked the hitmaker a few questions about his love life. During the interview, he admitted that his now-ex was actually his first-ever celebrity crush.
“Imma be real honest with y’all today,” he begins in a clip. “Chilli was my first celebrity crush. I think I was 11 or 12, something like that.” Fortunately for Usher, he got to meet Chilli in 1993, and went on to date her for three years before they split. Their breakup was long believed to have inspired his fourth studio album Confessions, which has since been debunked. Chilli revealed in 2013 that they parted ways simply because "it was that time or whatever," shutting down rumors of any potential infidelity on his end.
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Usher Says His Ex Chilli Was His First-Ever Crush
"We were together when he recorded that album," she told Us Weekly. "All of those songs on Confessions, that was about Jermaine Dupri's situation. Usher was just singing it. But people kind of bought into it, it was just the timing of our breakup when the album came out... So people assumed that album was about us, but it was not. And Usher and I weren't oil and water. We broke up because I guess it was that time or whatever... He was that real love for me."
This isn't the first time Usher revealed his early admiration for Chilli, however. Earlier this year, he told PEOPLE that he was smitten by the TLC performer at as young as eight years old. He recalled hanging her posted up on his wall as a child, hoping for the opportunity to one day meet her. “At the age of 8, I put her poster on my wall and said, ‘Man that girl is so beautiful. One day, I’m going to meet her,'” he explained. Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.