It's been a pretty wild year for Usher news. He got engaged to his former stylist, fired his mother as his manager, revealed that his fiancée is pregnant and found out he was messing with the same girl as R. Kelly. Some of the media's coverage of all of this has left him hurt and confused.

To combat these feelings of intrusion and betrayal, the singer did what any self-respecting celebrity who sold four billion copies of his rumor-fueled last album would do. He wrote an open letter to People magazine:

It has already been announced that I plan to marry this year. However, since my wedding day will be special to Tameka and I, this is information that we would like to keep private. It's disturbing that the media and bloggers (under the guise as 'fans') continuously speculate on the personal aspects of my life, therefore making assumptions and wrong insinuations that my fans are subject to believe.

I am happy, excited, completely clear and independent on my direction, feelings, decisions and I am NOT BEING LED. Some media and bloggers have been totally intrusive, they have misconstrued aspects of my personal life and, because of this, my 'true' fans are not sure about what is fact and what is fiction. There is a difference in stating an opinion versus drawing a conclusion that is incorrect.

As previously reported, I have NEVER threatened or harassed anyone from any media format - print, radio, television or Internet media. At this point the best thing to say to my fans is just because it sounds enticing and it MAY sound 'true,' that does not make it truth. I understand the fact that I must sacrifice some anonymity for the career I love, however some things are personal like having a child or a marriage. These aspects are not for the public and, to me, are sacred. I would hope my privacy in these areas would be respected.
- Usher

It's interesting that Ush both acknowledges that this sort of stuff is par for the course and then says that some things are off limits. He raises interesting points about private versus public persona, tabloid boundaries, etc. and I can see where he is coming from. But dude, you got famous by habitually stripping to your boxers onstage as a teenager. Don't you know the rules by now?

In related news: celebrities using the word "blog" as an indicator of evil remains patently hilarious.