Usher is going to have some explaining to do. According to Radar Online a settled a lawsuit for $1.1 million after infecting a woman with herpes.
Based on court documents, the singer contracted the virus in either 2009 or 2010 and gave it to a celebrity stylist -- who happened to be one of his ex-wife's bridesmaids -- through unprotected sex. Usher was accused of not telling the woman that he was infected until after she was diagnosed with herpes herself.
While they were dating, the R&B star did tell the stylist that he noticed a "greenish discharge" oozing from his penis but said the doctors told him that it wasn't related to an STD. So he and the woman continued to date and have sex.
"Believing [Usher] Raymond's statements that it had been nothing and cleared up, [she] continued her relationship," wrote the woman's lawyer.Eventually, the woman said she woke up one morning extremely ill and had a temperature, chills, headache and aches and pains. She also saw lesions and blisters on her vagina, so she quickly went to the doctor and was told she had herpes.
Court documents show that Usher cut the woman a check to pay a medical bill for $2,754.40 and that he was accused of having unprotected sex with the woman, knowing he had an STD.
The law in California states it is illegal to knowingly or recklessly transmit an STD.
The court papers say that when the woman told him she was infected, Usher called her shortly after with his doctor on the phone, who confirmed he has herpes.
"In a series of telephone conversations and online chat sessions [Usher] has apologized for infecting [her] and told her he would take care of things," the documents read.Meanwhile, Usher's ex-wife, Tameka Foster, had a message for those asking her about the herpes scandal and whether she was infected by the singer when they were together.
How do you think Usher should handle this? Should he lay low until all the hoopla dies down or confront the scandal head on?