Diana Ross, Unwed mother?

[jillfoster]

We all know the scoop on this, Diana Ross got pregnant by Berry Gordy, then married Bob Silberstein in a hurry. First of all, what does that say about Berry Gordy that he knocked her up, and then didn't marry her? Secondly, if she had decided to just have the baby and be a single mother, do you think it would have harmed her career at all? And was her marriage to Bob because she feared what being an unwed mother would do to her career? This was a time when Women's liberation was at the forefront of the american political discourse, would she have been held up as an example of what a woman can do alone? We all know that Helen Reddy, burning bras, Gloria Steinem and all that was in full flower at the time, so do you think it wouldn't have mattered to her fans or her public? Being an unwed mother did still hold some stigma, at the time, on an episode of Mary Tyler Moore, Mary asked Rhoda if she ever wondered what kind of mother she'd be... and Rhoda replied, "I don't care, as long as it's not unwed!".

[jobeterob]

I thought she told him no, that she would not marry him.

And I thought her rationale was that he never told her that he loved her.

[motown4ever]

I think it would have ruined her career. I don't think the manistream balck community that read Jet, Ebony and went to church on Sundays would have either. It would have been a major letdown if the truth came out. Diana's a strong black woman and she made her choices not mine,yours or others but her choice. I don't think she ever let anyone really tell her what to do for better or worse with the exception of BG. She got pregnant out of wedlock but hey she did get married. Her husbands both seemed nice if that's what she wanted. She may have gotten knocked up but she wasn't gonna let some fool knock her upside her head like some other famous sistas did. That kind of sad foolish mistake she didn't make or let happen. I think also whatever went down with BG put her off us brothers. That too is her choice.

[luke]

But everyone knew the real deal. It was just a show and it didnt hurt her career.

[copley]

What does a singers marital status got to do with her career? She could have had 4 kids to 4 different men and I'd still have bought her music. As they say it's what's in the groove that counts,

[BabyLuv64]

Well, IDK. It didn't seem to hinder Aretha's career or respect & she was an unwed mother of 2 at just 14 years old.

[luke]

Good point!

[jillfoster]

Well, IDK. It didn't seem to hinder Aretha's career or respect & she was an unwed mother of 2 at just 14 years old.

that's true... I dind't know she had TWO kids. Can you imagine when her father found out she was knocked up at age 14? I wonder who the father was, some people have rumored it was Sam Cooke. Mama Cass did the same thing, and it didn't hurt her, either. So Diana might have pulled it off with no problem, it's always hard to know. and for the record, I think Diana traded up, dumping Berry and marrying that gorgeous Bob.

[David J]

That's one of the things I admire about Bob Ellis and I wish him and Diana had stayed married, cause here is this man who knew from the start that the baby his new wife is carrying isn't his biologically but he was still happy enough to want to bring the baby [[Rhonda) up as his own daughter, which I think is admirable considering the fact that when Rhonda was born it was so obvious that she wasn't a mixed race child but a full African American child, at the time I am sure Bob would have faced a lot of stick for bringing Rhonda up.
It might have not been announced publically at the time that Rhonda was Berry's but it was very obvious to everyone at the time that Rhonda couldn't possibly be Bob, especially after Tracee and Chudney were born [[as babies and children, they looked just like Bob) whereas Rhonda looked nothing like him.

I remember Chudney saying on her blog a while ago that Bob's parents never accepted them [[her and her sisters) because of their son marrying an African-American woman and probably suspected at the time that Rhonda wasn't Bob's.
This I would think would probably have caused a rift between Bob's parents and him but despite this and the prejudice he would have faced at the time, he remained very closed to his girls, including Diana herself and has always played an active role in their upbringing.

So as much as Diana was a great mother and we've always admire that about her, credit has to go to Bob as well.

[randy_russi]

I don't think it would've ruined her career. No one knew she was pregnant, that is in the public, until after she had
married. She would've just kept it quiet and not announced she had a baby if she had stayed single. There were
several other female entertainers who had kids too.
But it is all their own person business.

[captainjames]

If I remember correctly Berry Gordy said he did offer to marry Diana but she said no. He also stated something to the fact of why should she marry him since she already had him. I believe Bob did love or still does because of the girls and wanted to marry Diana. I applaud Diana for having Rhonda and I applaud Bob for help raising her. Once Rhonda was born I beleive a lot of folks and fans suspected Mr. Gordy as the father but, I think people will talk regardless. At rate I don't think it would have done any damage to her career. Those that loved Diana would have remained loyal and those that disliked her would have continue to dislike her.

[jobeterob]

Diana's is still one of the most distinctive voices in pop music which is one of the reasons for all the hits. And babies or not and when they were had would make no difference.

I was stunned by the Aretha Franklin comment and had no idea that she'd had 2 children by age 14; that's pretty young by any standards anywhere; I had an Aunt that was married and had a child at 14 in 1932 and she said she had no teen years at all, didn't know what they were; and went from being a child to being a mother and thought it wasn't a good circumstance at all. To me, it explains something about Aretha ~ so many of her public comments seem to have an undertone of bitterness that has been present from 1968 forward and this might part of the root cause of that bitterness.

[reese]

Diana's is still one of the most distinctive voices in pop music which is one of the reasons for all the hits. And babies or not and when they were had would make no difference.

I was stunned by the Aretha Franklin comment and had no idea that she'd had 2 children by age 14; that's pretty young by any standards anywhere; I had an Aunt that was married and had a child at 14 in 1932 and she said she had no teen years at all, didn't know what they were; and went from being a child to being a mother and thought it wasn't a good circumstance at all. To me, it explains something about Aretha ~ so many of her public comments seem to have an undertone of bitterness that has been present from 1968 forward and this might part of the root cause of that bitterness.

The Aretha statement isn't totally true. She had her first child at 14, followed by another at 16. Still quite young, though. I'm sure it caused it quite a stir in church circles, as her father was a famous minister. But by the time she really hit and became "The Queen", more than ten years had passed and it probably wasn't common knowledge to many of her fans as she was married by then. I still have an album where it calls Ted White [[her first husband), the father of her sons, when in fact he was only the father of one.

[jobeterob]

Reese, you know so much.

Did she get married to Ted White? She did right? Was she ever married again? And who was the father of the next child? How many does she have?

[reese]

Reese, you know so much.

Did she get married to Ted White? She did right? Was she ever married again? And who was the father of the next child? How many does she have?

Aretha was married to Ted from 1961 to 1969, I believe. She has four sons: Clarence, Edward, Teddy, Jr., and Kecalf. The youngest was born somewhere around 1969/1970, during Aretha's long-term relationship with Ken Cunningham.