“When I was in an unhappy place in my life,””I always wanted to be kidnapped. I just wanted a way out, but didn’t have one.” “He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride. Then he re-proposed.””They’ve been calling me Cinderella since I first started out, so, of course, being Cinderella…” “Most people would think, Okay, please! This doesn’t happen in real life.”

On her marriage to Nick Cannon:

“We really kept the whole relationship aspect of it quiet,” “Therefore, we didn’t really ‘date,’ you know what I mean? Because that would have been not quiet or private. I think we didn’t want to give people a chance to be like, ‘What are you doing? What are you talking about? This is so quick… are you sure?”

Usher is said to have been disappointed that it (“Here I Stand”) sold 433,000 in its first week, compared with his last CD, 2004’s “Confessions,” which had sales of 1.1 million in its first seven days. “Usher was livid!,” claims an insider. “He threatened to fire everyone.”

“People have been telling Usher to listen to his mother,” says a source. “Nobody knows how to sell him better than she does. Usher can be stubborn. But he may be ready.”Some claim Usher pink-slipped his mom because she failed to show proper deference to his stylist-turned-girlfriend-turned-wife, Tameka Foster. But now that Foster has given her a grandson, the two ladies are said to be getting along better. Usher, for one, denies he fired his mom. Rather, he tells Vibe, “[I paid her] the ultimate compliment – to retire her to be a full-time grandmother.”

Patton has actually been busy running her own record label and managing other artists, including Usher’s brother, Jlack. But sources say that if Usher cries momma, she’s there for him.

Is it safe to say that in between the tirades against his own fans, firing his mom and putting out a sub-par (IMO) album, that Usher has kinda lost his way? Here’s hoping things get back on track ASAP; bringing his Mom back into the fold in, some capacity, would be a start.

50 Cent thinks we could see another MC sell a million copies in the first week before 2008 is over: him! He plans on dropping his next solo LP, Before I Self-Destruct, within the next few months.

“Fourth quarter,” he said of the release date. “I got some music. But I’mma make music until I reach a closing date. I’mma stay creative and continue to try and progress.

“I want to focus on the positive, and I feel I’m one of the more vocal people in hip-hop,” he added. “Even when it’s not about music, people pay attention to me, because I have something to offer. I’ll continue to create quality music at a pace they haven’t seen.”