Keyshia Cole Confirms Pregnancy, Addresses Family Conflict

[FLORIDA J]

By Jayson Rodriguez - Keyshia Cole has caused quite a stir on blogs in the past few months by keeping mum while pictures of her sporting a growing baby bump appeared online.

The singer, however, confirmed on Friday (January 8) both her pregnancy by Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player Daniel Gibson and her upcoming marriage to him in a statement that also included searing remarks about her relationship with her estranged family.

Cole's mother, Frankie Lons, a popular reality-TV star on BET, recently told Atlanta radio station V100 that her daughter was already married and did so to avoid having her child be born out of wedlock. In her statement, the singer announced she no longer is in communication with her mother. Cole appeared with Frankie and her sister Neffe in the series "Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is," which was a candid account of the Oakland, California, native reconnecting with the matriarch of her family.

"To all my friends and fans, it's time that I clear the air," Cole explained. "It's not a secret that I haven't been in contact with my mother Frankie, and my sisters Neffe and Elite and I never wanted to air out our differences to the public. While I won't go into detail here I find it necessary to let you guys know I decided to stop communication with them because I was at a point in my life where I needed serenity and peace to move forward. Please know I love my family very much but it was time to let it go. You guys are a witness to a lot of what was happening from watching on air and online. Now that I am becoming a mom my passion for having a loving and peaceful home for my child is my #1 priority."

Cole didn't directly address her mother's interview in the statement, but she did identify "constant false reports" that are interfering with her life, which includes her attempting to balance planning a wedding, preparing for the birth of her child, and finishing a forthcoming album. Cole characterized the stress as being unhealthy and emphatically said there are "only a few people that can official confirm or deny anything that's happening in my life." That list was limited to herself, Gibson and the singer's publicist, along with fellow singer and close friend Monica — she concluded her statement by saying, "My girl Monica never lies."