William Shakespeare was absolutely right when he wrote “the course of true love never did run smooth.” This is apparently the case for former Destiny’s Child member, Michelle Williams, as she and her fiance, Chad Johnson, have called off their engagement.

This all comes as a surprise since the couple only announced their pending nuptials earlier in the year and their reality show, Chad Loves Michelle, is still currently airing new episodes centered on their pre-marriage counseling.

via Essence 

Singer Michelle Williams and her fiancé, sports pastor Chad Johnson, have called off their engagement.

The Destiny’s Child star broke the news on her Instagram story on Friday morning right after releasing her new single, “Fearless.” Despite the somber news, Williams, 38, who is still in recovery for depression, is staying strong and putting her healing first.

The couple began dating in the summer of 2017, but their road to happily ever after had quite a few bumps and road blocks along the way. After meeting Johnson, 40, at a spiritual retreat and falling in love, in early 2018 Williams fell into a deep depression. They announced their engagement in April, but in in July news broke that Williams had voluntarily checked herself into a mental health facility to receive professional treatment.

“What kept drawing me and drawing me at first was I felt like I could be myself,” the 37-year-old told the magazine. “My first name is Tenitra; my middle name is Michelle. I felt like I could be Tenitra: just ratchet, I didn’t have to have on any makeup, if I had to have on my hair bonnet — he just made me feel very safe in being myself.”

Williams later revealed that she called off their engagement more than once during that time because she said she didn’t feel worthy of his love.

We really hate to see Michelle and Chad part ways. Somehow, we also hope, they will find their way back to one another. Chad has yet to release an official statement. This is all so surreal, our very own Michael “Hey Mikey” Fanning just interviewed them! We wish them both the best of luck.

We all know Christmas is the season of giving, but one major celebrity just give back in a big way–an almost half a million dollars worth of giving way! Everyone’s favorite chitlin circuit playwright turned superstar director, Tyler Perry, dropped $430,000 at two local metro Atlanta Wal-Marts, clearing out all outstanding layaways!

via TMZ

We’re told Perry dropped $178k at one store in ATL and another $256k at a nearby store in Douglasville.

All the customers have to do to collect their outstanding items is pay a penny at pickup.

Add this to a laundry list of charitable acts by Tyler in 2018 … and it’s safe to say he’s on the Nice List.

This is beyond awesome! We agree Tyler Perry is definitely on Santa’s Nice List this year, especially if you count his other charitable donations and work. Even still he is benefited he makes this a tax write off. The man is worth an estimated $600 million dollars. We just wish he would have spread a little of that love to the East Side; namely Decatur and Columbia Drive where one Atlanta blogger has his Nintendo Switch on hold. Bah Humbug!

Nevertheless, good looking out Tyler, perhaps we will do some giveaways of our own!

Written by: Kyree Shockley (@chroniclesofky)

With season three of STAR underway, Brittany O’ Grady, who plays the role of Simone Davis, is showcasing all of her talents while unpeeling the many layers of her character. In the last two seasons, fans have witness Grady effortlessly portray the very fragile, complex Simone but Grady says that tapping into her role is no easy feat.

“She’s evolve so much,” said Grady. “She was supposed to be borderline crazy –very different from who I am but it’s human for us to all change and evolve. Playing her [Simone] is a fun challenge I enjoy.”

Though there are major differences between Simone and Grady’s upbringing, Grady takes the similarities between them and uses it to convey authenticity on the show.

“Despite her negative past, Simone is very sensitive,” Grady said. “People underestimate her but she’s a lot stronger than what people think and I share that in common with her.”

One of the more significant similarities between Grady and Simone is that they’re both biracial. In the early stages of her career, Grady accepted roles playing Latino women but Star is the first opportunity Grady’s had to play herself. With the show success thus far, Grady is looking forward to taking some of her own personal experiences and exploring the possibilities of diving deeper into her character’s racial makeup.

“It’s hard to identify when other people don’t see you as you are,” said Grady. “I grew up in a diverse area but I was picked on. People told me I didn’t’ count as black and was called different racial names throughout my life. Then when I went to college, which is a private, predominately white, Christian university, it felt like I was in Get Out. I was tossed around by people’s perceptions and Simone has been through that as well.”

Even though Simone has experienced many ups and downs throughout the seasons, (the passing of her mother, sexual abuse, placed in foster care, and now a pending divorce), Grady finds Simone’s sassy one-liners to be one of her favorite things about her role.

“Simone is always bringing an edge,” Grady said. “She’s comedic, she’s fun and I like to crack up with the things that she says. It’s fun to have that side of myself show through her.”

Despite the recent turn of events, Grady says fans should expect Simone to move forward and make “a lot of personal wins” this season.

“She’s no longer stuck in her past,” said Grady. “I’m really excited about her tackling things that have more to do with her and not what others have done to her.”

In the spirit of moving forward Grady talked about where she would like to see her character go in the future and how she would like for Simone to grow in the seasons to come. And the two big things Grady would like to tackle are race and sexuality.

“I want to talk more about Simone’s race, how she feels about it and her sexuality because she’s fallen in love with men and women,” said Grady. “ I want to see their [FOX’s] explanation especially to an audience who may not understand it.

With her character possibly being bisexual and having friends a part of the LGBTQ community, Grady wants to bring awareness to the discrimination and issues many bisexual people face. She would like for Simone to express her sexuality without the stereotypical “flip flop/ confused” narrative but in a way that honors those that are affected.

“It’s one of my biggest purposes in life,” Grady said. “As an ally, I want to portray the bisexual experience the best way I can. One of my friends that I’ve had since I was 12, came out to me as trans during the pilot and she told me the first time she saw someone stick up for trans people on TV, it was me and that’s something that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.”

At 22, Grady has seen much success and continues to be an inspiration to young actresses, especially those who are biracial and looking to her as role model. Grady’s piece of advice to those aspiring to be where she is: “let what inspires you, inspire you.”

“You don’t have to be put in a box,” said Grady. “The emotions and stories that you tell are way more important than what people want to perceive you as. Your race is who you are and it’s a part of you but it shouldnt let other people define your work or your ability to tell a story.”

In case you wanted to know what other projects Grady has in the works, be on the look out for her movie, Above Suspicion –at true story about an FBI agent who’s assigned to a small town in Kentucky, where he becomes involved with a local woman, leading to scandal. In the meantime, be sure to watch Grady on FOX’s hit show, STAR every Wednesday at 9/8c.