During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, that was published on Thursday (Feb. 15), Usher opened up about his past relationship with Chilli. “If I am to be honest, I was her No. 1 fan, and she was my superstar,” he said. “At the age of eight, I put her poster on my wall and said, ‘Man, that girl is so beautiful. One day, I’m going to meet her.’”
“I was a young man and she had very specific rules that didn’t work for me,” the “Good Good” singer told the publication about their split. “We were missing each other. I really did want to have a different type of relationship where she was there with me, and she couldn’t be. She didn’t believe that I was actually in love with her as much as I was.”
Usher continued, “I wanted to marry her. I proposed and she told me, ‘No.’ I went through a great deal of pain after that, not trusting women or wanting to open up. I hurt her, too.” He added that he was heartbroken. “I really did love that girl. I did everything that I thought you would’ve wanted me to do, but I guess my good wasn’t great enough.”