January 23rd, 2012
01:18 PM ET
Aretha Franklin calls off engagementQueen of Soul Aretha Franklin is putting the brakes on her engagement and impending nuptials. The legendary songstress announced her engagement to her longtime friend William "Willie" Wilkerson at the start of the year, but she tells CNN in a statement Monday that the pair have decided they're "moving a little too fast." Franklin, 69, continues, "There were a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly."
Earlier, the singer had dished on plans to get Valentino, Vera Wang or Donna Karan to design her dress, and noted that the wedding's reception could happen aboard a luxury yacht. However, Franklin says in her statement that "there will be no wedding at this time." She adds that neither she nor Wilkerson plan to speak on the canceled engagement "any further because of the very personal and sensitive nature of it. We appreciate all of the many well wishes from friends." |
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Hmmmmm!..Sounds like somebody won't sign a "Renup!"...(lol)
He wouldn't sign a pre-nup...
He's gay.
She should be working on her health issues, not a wedding.
ooooo weee! I gots to comment on dat big fat hefer. why she go and wants to gets married? she old bag now. who care about tying da knots!! at her age it no matter. she sings good but she she fat and ugly. probably takes a smelly c***. Lord hav mercy!!!!
are you mentally challenged Leroy??
all these people talking about how fat she is...you don't know from nothing. This woman is one of the greatest vocalists in the US. She's talented, rich, and happy, and she doesn't give a da m n about what you all think. If she wants to lose weight, she will–if she doesn't, it's her business. She's pushing 70. MY grandfather died of cancer in his 70s from smoking cigars but he felt like he lived a nice full life when he had the chance, and he didn't exactly die a spring chicken.
And, just like she doesn't care about the negative comments, she also could not care less that people like you feel the need to defend her. PS I don't agree she's one of the best vocalists in the US. You state it like fact; it's not.
I think Aretha needs to pull a jennifer hudson and go on weight watchers. I'm surprised that woman can still walk.
Hmmmm. Top tier fashion designer was to do the dress, the reception aboard a luxury yacht, I'll bet every Democrat here would have picketed the event of this obvious 1%'er.
Anyone?
(crickets hears in distance)
Hello?
You better think !!
@ bob
Lose some more weight fatty, who the hell would marry you?
Who the hell would marry you? Look in the mirror dude.
Lose some more weight fatty, who the hell would marry you?
a gigolo, as long as he did not have to sign a pre-nup.
Wow, the only person who looks cool with an earpiece is Uhura.
Open hailing frequency and tell this tool to get lost.
Just because you love her doesn't mean we all do. And I can't think of a single reason why she deserves my respect.
You people on here should give Aretha the "Respect" she deserves. So what if she is overweight!!! Take a look in the mirror at yourself before making nasty comments. I love her!!!!
"You better THINK..bout what you trying to do to me."
She's just holding off until she can it in her size 30 wedding tent.
dk, how to you "pretend to drive a Bentley"?
Look at his ear-piece. What a LOSER.
@Ruth stfu dummy.
How many of you could afford sables and minks whether you would wear them or not?
Bet she found out he was a big ole Mo...or more likely he didn't want to sign a pre-nup. Bet he figures he would only have to put up with her for a few years then cash in. Poor Aretha...she's always had the most atrocious fashion sense....Valentino, Vera Wang and Donna Karan probably would 'all' have to come together to sew a dress that big.
Wow look at that big fat pig in her disguisting fur. A stroke or heart attack cant be too far off...
oh yea...see you at radio city girl!
Oh, Aretha! I am so sorry. I wish you getting married someday. When I got married at age 40. It not hard. I have easy good life. You will think about it. I respect it. I love that song "RESPECT". Good Luck in the Future. Take care and "smile". ILY = I Love You.
Ooops I meant engaging "IN" fat abuse, not "IT"
For all you idiots engaging it fat abuse-i have witnessed several people that were once skinny talk about fat people like a dog, then a year later they have some medical issue that causes them to gain alot of weight-so be careful what you say. ALSO, to the idiot talking about "black men driving nice cars" umm what are black men supposed to drive, miss daisy? This is 2012 and its quite evident racism and stereotypes are alive and kicking which is pretty ironic when the majority of people don't even know what's in their bloodline-be careful!
j-that's because most people have no R E S P E C T for others.
My eyes !!! aaaaarrghhh
Some of these comments are ridiculous and blatantly racist...why does it always come to that? Grow up its 2012
Good Lord, her breasts are huge. HUGE.
Willie's real name is Herman Cain
Marriage is overrated. She knows what she's doing. Beautiful voice and plenty of cash is right:)
I'm happy with what ever you decide. It's nobodies business what you do with your life. Those of you with all of your negative thinking, find something else to do with your time instead of knotting others down.Or is it just plan jealosy? Get a life. The queen don't need you. She 's got something you all will never have. A beautiful voice and plenty of cash.
Best wishes to Ms. Aretha Franklin. A beautiful talented lady with a God given gift of a beautiful voice and a beautiful spirit. I am terribly disappointed to see such mean spirited disrespectful comments here. If you can't be respectful please don't comment. Ms. Franklin is a human being. If CNN required posters to publish their real name and contact info, many of you would no longer be able to hide behind fake names and anonymity, and the mean spirited vile, vulgar comments would stop. I am disappointed in all of you. How would you feel if people made rude insulting caustic comments about your mother or grandmother? You should all be ashamed of yourselves. take a look at your ugly mean comments then take a look at the mirror. your ugly vile comments are a reflection of how you really feel about yourselves. Sick and sad. Un-American. I hope that Ms. Franklin and her family never read the bigoted hateful comments that were posted here. NOTE TO CNN: Please review the posted comments and disable the commenting feature. Thank You.
I LOVE YOU MISS FRANFLIN.
Best wishes to Ms. Aretha Franklin. A beautiful talented lady with a God given gift of a beautiful voice and a beautiful spirit inside and out. I am terribly disappointed to see such mean spirited comments. If you can't be respectful, please don't comment. Ms Franklin is a human being. You people act as if you are perfect. If CNN required folks to publish names and personal addresses, the negative mean spirited posts would stop. I am disappointed in all of you. How would you feel if someone made these comments about your mother or grandmother? You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Take a look in your own mirror. The vile disrespectful ugly comments are a reflection of how you really feel about yourselves. Sick and sad. Un-American. CNN please review these comments or disable the commenting feature. Thank you.
Mi and dimentia should. Get hitched misspelled a word. I am. Upset with all the haters, haters need a reality check.
Hey,kathryn you suck what is coming out your mouth,is totally disrespectful ,and you needto get a life,because your comment was way off. R e s p e c t. Is what is needed at this time.
Mi and dimentia you two should. Get to know each other, neither one of you , have any respect for the queen of soul, what ever her reason at this time her wedding is canceled,all should respect there chose at this time. You two she get hitched!
She thought she was pregnant but turns out it was a false positive. All I know for sure is that she is 69, nothing is too fast.
And in other news, she was engaged? At 69 that does seem too fast. I guess Willie was waiting to ask for her father's approval but he nver returned his call.
I'd say real headline is she was able to fit into that dress!
Hey Sweetie, I'll marry you and feel like the luckiest man alive! But maybe you don't like skinny, geeky white guys under fifty. Any guy that gets you is fortunate. You're a lovely lady, and I envy him.
THEY MIGHT JUST RUN OFF AND GET MARRIED DID KOLBY B CALL HER AND SHE SAID HOLD UP HOLD UP
What mean-spirited comments on this article! I pray God forgives those for the mean things they've said. If you can't say anything decent, just be quiet for God's sake. Do you Aretha!! Ignore these clowns!
She just realized that he was marrying her for the MONEY $$$
Aretha franklin you go gurl do ur things an for all simple minded an silly white hater's like half'em ain't big them self's. You can suck the left side of her big black a** with a dollar sign
Why all the rude remarks people
Fur- seen on beautiful living animals and UGLY women who don't care about animals being cruelly killed so they can put them on their ugly bodies. She's both fat and gross!
Kathryn,
You probably look the same way! Who knows since you hid behind senseless comments on the web!! C'mon dude! Get a life a post something positive!
Kathryn, I'll respond for you.
"something positive"
There you happy?
yeap ! once she had a great voice and that was before we realized she is an insensitive , self-absorbed woman. Her voice went down the tube as well.
I think she finally realizied she sucks and this is no way to get publicity
Its so sad that i can read all these insults from people who will never be allowed in her neighborhood much less her life...u can call her all the derrogitory names in the book and u will never sing or sound as good as the queen of soul...ms aretha franklin is the ish...always has been and always will be...haters will always be on the outside of the velvet rope looking in...as far as marriage goes dont do it girl run run like the wind...keep ur sanity...if he bee ya friend all these years then he aint going nowhere... to all the haters keep up the work somebody has to do it.
IguessshedidnotwanttoRockSteady!
Sounds like they are far, far apart on the terms of the prenup.
Upeople r so. Dumb lf u had what she have
Wow, talk about being dumb! You should go to night classes to learn english!
Read these statements and wow some were mean but I do agree with some of them
I don't understand how she has money but doesn't take the time to focus on living healthy. Maybe she misunderstood that her personal trainer was not the other white meat and gobbled him up.
Wow. Put a wig and a fur on him and even Jabba The Hut cleans up nicely. Who knew?
Lol
"Earlier, the singer had dished on plans to get Valentino, Vera Wang or Donna Karan to design her dress"
She may need to hire all 3, look at how big she is.
hahaha Hilarious!!!
Hey Areatha – put the bucket-o-chicken down and walk around the block a few times. You are grotesque.
Can u just imagine this elephant (woman) nacked,it is not an pretty picture. She will scared any one.
@ Andrew
If you're going to insult someone, make sure you have your game in check, Your sentence makes no sense!!!! Be intelligent, not offensive.
She's got the hots for Newt. Future wife #4?
this ugly woman should just retired and enjoy life.
Is that Aretha Franklin or ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER that guy in the picture is walking with?
That brotha must be getting brain damage from wearing that headset all day. I don't care HOW great a singer she was, or how much money she has, NO man wants to see a fat-so like THAT with not clothes on. YEEESH.
You are probably the same size, if not BIGGER!!! lol
I love Aretha!! this boy gotta go, though. Willie is more like "Willetta"...
another big ego , ugly looking celebrity calling off a wedding, first of all he is the winner, she is so ugly.
Aretha continues to be an idiot..no class and not respected in her hometown. Time for her and her family to move to NYC!
Oppps I meant "END" instead of "IN"
No prenup 'NO WEDDING" in of story. LOVE ARETHA THOUGH You go girl
whats up with middle aged black men and bluetooth headsets
they like to play pretend, i'm an important person... remember DMX impersonating a police officer... no different from black men who need to go bling bling and drive very nice cars or pretend to drive a Bentley when it's only a Chrysler 300.
Why do they have a picture of a man with a walrus at the top of the article?
That's no walrus!. It's a SPACE STATION!!!
Watch out Aretha! I think some PETA dudes are sneaking up behind you with a can of red spray paint!
I hope the make sure to cover her completely!
I think she hit him with one of her boobs and scared him away.
Engaged at the age of 69? Once you can collect social security why bother with this ceremonial siliness?
Hilarious!!!
Things not though out too well examples: How will he lift her to carry her over the threshold? What happens when the beer goggles wear off? Who's going to pay for the Depends? Do they both use the same hair dye? Does he have to roll her in flour beforehand in order to find the wet spot?
That cow should be glad anyone is even interested in riding that hefer.
Now she's engaged to fried chicken.
Engaged to Fried Chicken...after a long and torrid relationship.
I don't really care about her engagement. I'm more concerned about the dead animal she seems to take pride in wearing. If you don't eat it, don't kill it, don't wear it. I doubt she eats mink or sable.
And why are you so overly concerned about the dead animal she's wearing?? Do you think that animal would care about what you're wearing??
@chris c,
It might if I was wearing one of its relatives.
engaged. non-enaged. married. divorced. remarried. redivorced... these hollywood types dump their vows as trash
Did that landwhale eat Aretha? She looks like one of those Nurgle minions from Warhammer 40k. Someone call the Space Marines down on this heresy.
I am impressed!!! Aretha. I jumped on this link so fast...!! That's my girl ~ You are having too much fun – a bit impulsive – but hey ~ who isn't ?
He loves me , oh wait he only wants my money 😉
Are we positive she didn't simply eat him?
Aretha the Hutt
Ha Ha Ha what a joke.
She won't reach 70. She'll die of Pancreatic Cancer from Out of Control Diabetes.
Get right with God – she may out live you if you say junk like that in public.
Is he playing for the other team and she didn't know?
Yep, I'm betting it was the pre-nup. At their (her) age, why the rush to get married? Something else is going on as well. I'll just wait to find out on TMZ. I'm still an Aretha fan forever!!!
Oh jeez...do you think she is pregnant?
Just like she wouldn't comment on her extremely quick weight loss + secret surgery.
Who cares anymore?
Weight loss? Are we looking at the same picture?
She still looks huge!
Thanks for being classy enough to bring it up.
Thanks for the laugh Aretha. At 69 nothing moves fast, but do you thing Ma. Brother, don't be pushing up on Aretha. She did not fall off of a truck and hit her head yesterday. No prenup no marriage! LOL
I am impressed!!! Aretha. I jumped on this link so fast...!! That's my girl ~ You are having too much fun – a bit impulsive – but hey ~ who isn't ?
OK... So you already got your wedding gift and now ya not gonna get married. I want the gift back. I'll stick it in the closet and if you decide to get married again before I die, I'll send it back to you hehehe...............These celeberties and their getting married. The probably had a fight over the prenuptuial agreement.
What wedding gifts?
I think she likes her Freedom! (freedom) Freedom!
Exactly – when you have all what she has "You Go Riding on the Freeway of Love ~ and you can't stop that!"
He probably did not want a pre-nup.
What Pre-nup?
Ask the brother to get a real job or get his State plumbing license than munching on Aretha.
I love that guy's earphone – what a freakin' tool......
funny! I would not have looked..
LOL,that's an old pic, if not he is a tool
Yes, didn't notice the ear gadget, but it's got to go or get the
nearly invisible, CIA version....
ewww....i'm sorry, just ewww.
She's 69 years old and thinks their moving too fast huh?
LOL, my thought exactly.
I said the same thing... "how much more time do you think you have, momma?"....
it was probably a spur of the moment idea to get married (they have been together a number of years). Probably when they sat down to talk about it – reality set in – combining finances, separating finances, children's inheiritance issues, living together (if they haven't been already) can all put a quick stop to an impending marital situation, if everyone is not in totally agreement.
So true. She's delusional. Just like her thoughts about 'Halle Berry' playing her in a movie. NOT EVEN CLOSE. One of her thighs weighs more than Halle.
Sounds like she 'thought thought thought about it'
She better think (THINK!) think (THINK!)
A new story line of the movie "Free Willie." It ends with success.
LOLS! free willy. oh man.
FIIIIIIIRSTY ! R E S P E C T !
Firsty? Wow, that's what they call kids in first grade. Get a life! No Respect until you move out of your mother's basement.
L O S E R !
I assume "firsty" means "I am so useless, I have nothing better to do than troll the Web all day long and make absolutely useless posts about news items that don't interest me." If so, then yes, you are first. Congratulations! Maybe someday a girl will kiss you. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
P.S. I meant getting kissed by a REAL girl, not one in Second Life.
You Go Girl.
M O R O N
how many years are people going to continue to voice their disgust at the firsties? Don't you understand that they do it to get a reaction from you and to annoy you, and you fall for it over and over again? And even if they weren't, why the he l l does it bother you so much that someone wants to be first? WHO CARES ONE WAY OR ANOTHER??
Aretha found out he was gay.
Aretha, I know you are sad about this marriage not taking place but you will be so happy in the long ran. He look like he was there for the money. I've engaged three time and found out it was the best thing that could ever have happen when the wedding was called off, these men are not playing, they are looking for someone to take care of the, stay married to them for 10 years and the will be ready to leave you and take you for everything you have worked so hard for, keep on moving Aretha.