In an appearance on Shannon Sharpe's Club Shay Shay, Usher was asked about rumors he was Beyoncé's nanny when she was a pre-teen.
"First of all, how could I be a nanny, I'd be a manny," he laughed when the question came up, as seen in the clip below. "Nah I wasn't Beyoncé's nanny. Daryl Simmons, he had a group by the name of The Dolls, and they came to Atlanta for the first time. This is before Destiny’s Child became Destiny’s Child. I think I looked over them while they was doing something in the house. I had to watch over them, 'cause I was like the, you know, authority."
Usher, 45, was a teenager at the time, while Beyoncé, 42, was around 11 or 12. "But nah I wasn't a nanny," he clarified. "[I was] making certain that they didn’t, you know, get in no trouble in the house at the time." He was asked if he knew back then if she was going to be the huge international star she is these days, and he said it was clear she "had a talent and also a brilliance and a brightness that was much different."
Of course, Usher also gave a shoutout to the other members of Destiny's Child at the time, which consisted of LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson. and Kelly Rowland. "They all thrived," he shared. "They all are an incredible unit." He added that it was clear to him early on that Beyoncé is "really special," and he's happy to see her "continue to thrive and just get bigger and better."
Elsewhere in the interview with Sharpe, the singer-songwriter said he was also almost involved in a supergroup with Jay-Z, Pharrell, and Diddy.
“We just got caught up, I think,” Usher explained. “We all got caught up in the moment. We was talking about it and having secret meetings about it. We were talking about music and how we gon’ flip it and the business of it. And somehow, man, we just got distracted and it never happened. That’s the one that I actually wish would have happened.”
