All about her nastiness to people, including her hilarious and famous "Gowns. Beautiful gowns" diss of Taylor Swift.
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | August 24, 2021 10:24 PM |
Basically this is what stans of divas always say: they're justified in being bitches, because being bitches made them who they are.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | August 21, 2021 6:21 PM |
Swing those massive Godzilla titties
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | August 21, 2021 6:24 PM |
She truly was a nasty, mean-spirited father-fucker.
But I loved her.
Well, I loved about 160 pounds of her.
The other 200 pounds of hateful, controlling greed she could fucking keep.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | August 21, 2021 6:26 PM |
Never-ending indeed. She waited for five years after Whitney's funeral to send that fax to the AP about Dionne.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | August 21, 2021 6:30 PM |
I say this in every Aretha thead, I love a bitch who learned from the past. She always got her money up front and when she wanted to shade a bitch, she shaded a bitch. None of this fake bullshit.
Miss Warwick thought she could play, but got her ass handed to her via fax to AP. That's how you become a legend girls.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | August 21, 2021 6:38 PM |
Miss Warwick who?
You mean Nippy's cousin, the one with the gorilla nostrils and the squeaky voice?
The one whose songs other people kept doing better than her?
Poor thing, I'll say a little prayer for her.
Luther sends his...regards.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | August 21, 2021 6:40 PM |
It always bums be out when biopics are sterilized as I assume Respect will be. These kinds of films would be so much more interesting if all the characters flaws were put on the table.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | August 21, 2021 7:23 PM |
R3 Every Mariah Carey fan.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | August 21, 2021 7:24 PM |
r10 Also every Barbra Streisand fan, every Maria Callas fan, every Bette Midler fan, every Elton John fan, every Jennifer Lopez fan....
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | August 21, 2021 7:36 PM |
But Miss Warwick knows a thing or two about grudges and she's never been the Queen of anything.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | August 21, 2021 7:43 PM |
R13, she was the queen of the psychic friends network.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 21, 2021 7:56 PM |
She had her first baby when she, Aretha, was 12 (named the baby after *her* preacher father). Had a 2nd baby when she was 14. Hard not to speculate that Aretha's father was a child molester and was impregnating her.
She got married to her first husband, Ted White, when she was 19 and he was over 30. He beat her up in public.
According to this video, Marlon Wayans plays Ted White in the new movie. White is still alive and Wayans dumbed down the violent nature, said he (Wayans) hopes White is happy with his portrayal. WTF.
In the end, I think Aretha was insecure. But I do give her tons of credit for shutting down people who tried to overstep with her (outside of her father and first husband).
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 21, 2021 8:00 PM |
"Ms. Franklin famously kept a close eye on her finances." --Is that why she was always being sued for not paying bills and why at the time of her death she owed the IRS $8 million in unpaid taxes from the 2010-2017? And why she didn't draw up a proper will? She may have kept a close eye on her purse but Miss Ree could not manage money for shit.
"Female musicians who are seen as demanding are often unfairly written off as divas — or worse. Lauryn Hill, for example, was portrayed as --unhinged by some critics because of the tight control she exercised over her music and image." --Uhh sorry but Lauryn Hill was and is unhinged, she has not been "portrayed" that way because she is a woman.
"Holding a grudge was a go-to power play for Ms. Franklin because it showed that she was the Queen, and that people around her were subject to her whims. We all know Franklin demanded “r-e-s-p-e-c-t.” Feuds were one way that she extracted it, and nobody did it better." --You don't "extract" respect from somebody, you earn it. Aretha trafficked in grudges because she had the emotional maturity of a volatile 14 year-old (perhaps unsurprising because of her upbringing). To spin her human flaws into signs of Genius like this is preposterous.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 21, 2021 8:09 PM |
Isn't Lauryn Hill always extremely late showing up for her own concerts? I don't understand how fans put up with that shit after paying for the ticket, traveling, maybe a hotel, etc.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 21, 2021 8:38 PM |
Aretha was a disrespectful cunt to everyone all her life. Her singing talent wasn't an excuse for what a nasty bitch she constantly was.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | August 21, 2021 9:30 PM |
I still love the story about the piano tuner hired to fix her Steinway finding that all the keys were gummed up by years' and years' worth of Cheeto dust.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | August 21, 2021 9:43 PM |
Her ego was bigger than both her monster tits. She thought she had a monopoly on the Queen title.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | August 21, 2021 10:05 PM |
DL, where being a bitch is INEXCUSABLE.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | August 21, 2021 10:11 PM |
[quote]It certainly is, [R12].
ReRe ain't the only nasty cunt in this thread.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | August 21, 2021 10:26 PM |
Oh, I agree, r23.
Nasty cunts issue one-word demands; they fail to ask politely when they want something no one is in any way obligated to give them.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | August 21, 2021 10:30 PM |
True, R24 (and I'm assuming R1). But a cunt also posts a link to a site that requires a paid subscription not everyone has when it really isn't that much of an effort to cut and paste the article. Wanting someone to ask politely for them to do so is nothing more than an ego trip for the original poster.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | August 21, 2021 10:37 PM |
Miss AF would not set foot on stage without receiving $25,000 in cash just prior to her introduction. Now you know what was in that purse and why carried one.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | August 21, 2021 10:43 PM |
She also didn't travel by airplane.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | August 21, 2021 10:53 PM |
r23/r25, no one is under any obligation to do anything whatsoever for you here, and certainly no one will do anything for you when you are exceptionally rude. Calling people "cunts" is not going to get you anything in life.
Let this be a lesson to you more valuable than the cost of a one-year NYTimes subscription.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | August 21, 2021 11:07 PM |
Tits dragging to the ground made her feel like a natural woman.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 21, 2021 11:26 PM |
Here you go, R12, an archive link of the article.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 32 | August 21, 2021 11:39 PM |
[quote]Let this be a lesson to you more valuable than the cost of a one-year NYTimes subscription.
Oh honey, the only lession I've learned is you're a pretentious cunt rather than a regular cunt.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | August 21, 2021 11:43 PM |
Bitch R29, how DARE you say stuff about me? I still am the greatest DIVA of all time and will wear whatever I want because I know I look gorgeous, stunning and sexy. One more snarky word from you and my luscious puppies will crush you to death, mmmkay?
Admit it, you wanna suck on these delicious tig ol' bitties...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 34 | August 22, 2021 9:34 AM |
R24/R1, your assumption I was being cunty is in your own mind. When I posted that one-word response, I was simply stating a fact that I discovered when I clicked your link. I wasn't begging for shit; after my post I just exited the thread since I couldn't read the article. And only just now popped back in after checking my Notifications.
Grow up.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | August 23, 2021 12:35 AM |
r12: You're such a victim.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | August 23, 2021 5:29 AM |
If you can’t figure out how to get around the NYT paywall you are truly too stupid to live.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | August 23, 2021 5:40 AM |
I live near Detroit and her home their was a mess. Lawn not cut, etc. and sometimes some very shady things going on. A reporter stated that he went to her home to interview her and she served him cold pizza for a snack. Yuck! From all reports Aretha was basically a lazy person who was blessed with a great voice. A slob who could sing!!
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | August 23, 2021 6:02 AM |
I always preferred Gladys Knight. She didn't get the attention she deserved.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | August 23, 2021 6:06 AM |
[quote]Hard not to speculate that Aretha's father was a child molester and was impregnating her.
EVERYONE needs to read David Ritz's book Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin. He wrote it to correct the record after having co-authored Aretha's autobiography years before, because she lied her ass off in it and so misrepresented herself he couldn't stand it. Some people might see the book as some sort of takedown, but it really isn't - you can tell from the way he writes how much he cares for her and the respect he has for her as an artist. He just has no patience for the false picture she perpetrated.
In short - Ritz tackles the question of who fathered Aretha's kids, was she molested by her father, etc in depth, and his conclusion was that no, they were almost certainly fathered by two other men whom he names. Aretha was active at a very young age in the touring gospel circuit of the era, which was infamous for being VERY low down and dirty free-for-alls. Plenty of grownass men with no moral compass had access to her at those ages, and she was eager to be a grown-up. Without a real mom figure at her side to protect and guide her, and her father was off getting his dick wet at those events. The Reverend was not a good man, but no one Ritz talked to either on or off the record believed he impregnated Aretha.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | August 23, 2021 6:16 AM |
R39 Gladys Knight was a real Pip...................
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | August 23, 2021 6:16 AM |
Aretha Franklin's very last public appearance as a singer was at Elton John's personal foundation for AIDS. There is a photo of her and him together and she is very thin, not well, suffering from cancer. I give her great credit for showing up for this humane cause and giving Elton and his foundation support. It was very kind of her to do so.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | August 23, 2021 6:23 AM |
What's this about Aretha and a fax machine? Did she try to fax one of her tits to somebody?
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | August 23, 2021 6:26 AM |
I miss these old bitches.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 46 | August 23, 2021 6:38 AM |
She aged very badly, but she never really took care of her body.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | August 23, 2021 7:44 AM |
Jennifer Hudson was on Stephen Colbert Friday night and she was horrible! She's lost a shit ton of weight but she doesn't look good and she acted wired on coke. Her interview segment proved how simple-minded and badly educated she is. And the musical performance of the title song of this undoubtedly loathsome and inaccurate biopic sucked balls. She sounded like sheeit! And I actually sort of liked in the Sex & the City movie. She should've passed on this Ree Ree role!
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | August 23, 2021 8:43 AM |
[quote] I live near Detroit and her home their was a mess. Lawn not cut, etc. and sometimes some very shady things going on. A reporter stated that he went to her home to interview her and she served him cold pizza for a snack. Yuck! From all reports Aretha was basically a lazy person who was blessed with a great voice. A slob who could sing!!
Can co-sign. A family friend lived next door to Aretha’s house in Bloomfield Hills, MI. (The friend was a real estate agent.)
Apparently A’s house was so filthy and cluttered, it was close to something out of that hoarders’ show.
When the house became too much, instead of cleaning and clearing it out, A would sell it and leave the responsibility of clean up/clear out to real estate agents. Of course, Aretha took a financial hit on the house as it was in incredibly poor shape. Apparently this was a known pattern for her: buy homes, trash them and sell them.
Also, A and her family frequently had parties, were loud and had “shady/sketchy” characters come and go at all hours of the day and night. Pretty certain there were drug/gun exchanges occurring. The neighbors were THRILLED when she moved.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | August 23, 2021 9:59 AM |
I always think her aloofness was because she'd seen and experienced a lot of awful things in her youth, which she couldn't reveal and therefore couldn't psychologically work through.
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | August 23, 2021 11:07 AM |
I haven't read through all the comments, so if this has already been mentioned, well, too bad.
She was also a slum lord. I remember years ago seeing an article about all her slum properties she was renting out that she did little to nothing to maintain. Oh well, I guess you can take the girl out of the hood, but you can't always take the hood out of the girl.
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | August 23, 2021 11:12 AM |
[quote] Oh well, I guess you can take the girl out of the hood, but you can't always take the hood out of the girl.
Didn't Aretha have a very comfortable middle-class upbringing? She may have grown up near the Detroit projects but her dad was financially much better off than those of her contemporaries Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross.
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | August 23, 2021 11:30 AM |
[quote]I always think her aloofness was because she'd seen and experienced a lot of awful things in her youth, which she couldn't reveal and therefore couldn't psychologically work through.
No doubt she never really dealt with her issues. But her ego was gargantuan, and she thought nothing of stabbing even her closest loved ones in the back. Her aloofness had at least some of its roots in simply thinking she was above everyone else.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | August 23, 2021 11:37 AM |
I always wondered what became of her long time companion and fiance Willie Wilkerson. They announced they'd get married in 2012 but then called it off. Did he get any money after Aretha died? They were together for more than 30 years. From the looks of it he was at least 20 years younger than her.
Aparently he died too, of covid last year.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | August 23, 2021 11:57 AM |
I had a colleague in advertising who worked with her. She had a rider in the contract for a bucket of KFC and some Vernors. He walked by her open door dressing room and herbaceous was facing the door while chicken bones popped up around her silhouette as he devoted the bucket and tossed the bones in the air.
And yes, she was a cunt.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | August 23, 2021 12:36 PM |
R52, yes, Aretha’s father was a famous preacher, and they had a very comfortable life. Her mother left earlier on, though, and I do not think Aretha ever saw her again.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | August 23, 2021 12:55 PM |
Iirc one of her autobiographys said Aretha and her siblings visited her mother during school holidays.
Lots of stupid rumors that are not true.
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | August 23, 2021 1:04 PM |
Maybe the aloofness also had to do with the fact that her status as a musical icon and genius was so far away from what her private life was. She was just overcompensating because facing the harsh reality of what and who she was when the stage lights are out, was just too much to face.
I wonder if she actually had much money left in her last years. One of her teeth had fallen out and she never had it fixed. She was still performing when she was obviously not well physically. She looked like she didn't have any money for styling. She was wearing really cheap looking wigs. She had no money for plastic surgery ... Maybe that's why she left no will. There was no money left.
It's a cruel business, if you're not making any money from songwriting royals or producing/arranging. If you're just the singer on the album, I don't think there's much money on there. There's money in touring and giving concert performance, but if you're old touring for months is probably gruelling and not much fun.
I'm glad she had a glamorous funeral, because she deserved it. Even Bill and Hillary showed up for Aretha (Obama obviously couldn't be bothered). Bill gave a great speech and there were lots of great performances.
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | August 23, 2021 1:37 PM |
I'm reminded of the BS of "psychics" channeling the "Dark Goddess" as an excuse for being a hateful bitch.
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | August 23, 2021 1:41 PM |
Oh, yes. The fax.
That certainly showed us who was dragging her tits until she stopped in 1987. The fax. Still laughing.
And don't forget I sang at her funeral.
Yes it was in the parking lot, but the overflow truly appreciated it. So did the people escaping the smell of her elevated elephant feet in the coffin.
True dignity.
But I did love her. Even when she hurt my back with her 70 pound Sasquatch arm and when that right boob was going rogue in my direction.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 61 | August 23, 2021 1:48 PM |
R61 I'm surprised she didn't snap any of your dryass bones.
| by Anonymous | reply 62 | August 23, 2021 1:54 PM |
How is it libel to say someone is the godmother of someone, but it isn't true! LOL She didn't say she was molesting poor Whitney
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | August 23, 2021 2:12 PM |
I don't really understand that either, R63.
Maybe Aretha thought that people would blame her for the mess Whitney became, as if it had been her responsibility to keep Whitney on the right track.
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | August 23, 2021 2:41 PM |
Here is the actual AP article, R64.
Two points to note:
[quote]“There’s been so much going on around her (Houston), around the service, around the drugs, around her and Bobby (Brown) supposed to be fighting, I didn’t want to add anything to that and I didn’t want to be a part of that,” she said.
And Aretha couldn't attend Whitney's funeral because:
[quote]At the time, Franklin said she was suffering from swollen feet and had to skip the funeral so she could perform later that night at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which she said she was contractually obligated to do.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 65 | August 23, 2021 2:58 PM |
I thought one of her boyfriends/husbands were on the down low and gave her HIV/AIDS which she died of complications from. The pancreatic tumor was just a cover to give her a more dignified cause of death since there is a stigma in the African-American community towards HIV/AIDS not to mention the violent homophobia that exists in that community.
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | August 23, 2021 6:01 PM |
[quote] I thought one of her boyfriends/husbands were on the down low and gave her HIV/AIDS which she died of complications from.
Yes. This was well-known in certain circles that she had HIV and passed from complications: but this was deemed too controversial to publicize.
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | August 23, 2021 6:24 PM |
I wonder if the aids thing will come up in press
| by Anonymous | reply 68 | August 23, 2021 6:27 PM |
The article says that Aretha was pissed at the writer of this piece who also did the interview where she made the comments about swift because of how she came off and that it wasn’t her intention to throw shade at swift.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | August 23, 2021 6:28 PM |
Bitch I didn't have AIDS. I didn't ever do no butt stuff. Now kick rocks, heifer, before I drop kick yo ass.
| by Anonymous | reply 70 | August 23, 2021 6:33 PM |
[quote]I wonder if she actually had much money left in her last years. One of her teeth had fallen out and she never had it fixed. She was still performing when she was obviously not well physically.
In the Ritz book, her booking agent said that she would most likely have to keep performing until she was in her eighties, because of the way she dealt with her finances. She actually had shows booked in 2018 that she had to wind up canceling because she was too sick.
I don't think she was broke by any means. By many accounts, she was just very sloppy with her money. There was a story about somebody finding a royalty check for something like 35,000 stuffed under her couch cushions, and Aretha going off on them. The houses that she bought and left for ruin. She was living in an apartment complex at the end.
She wrote or cowrote many of her biggest songs. And she was making top dollar on the concert circuit. Even with her issues not like flying or not touring certain areas of the US for many years, she could have still been set a la Barbra, Tina and Diana, although not on such a grand scale. She was making about 2-3 million a year performing alone back in the 90's, early 2000's.
Her one house was cleaned up and kept to a style similar to how she had it. Gorgeous place.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 71 | August 23, 2021 6:37 PM |
I thought it was common knowledge Aretha Franklin's father raped her and fathered her two children. I heard about this decades ago, before the internet existed.
| by Anonymous | reply 72 | August 23, 2021 7:13 PM |
That would explain her rage
| by Anonymous | reply 73 | August 23, 2021 10:37 PM |
The AIDS would explain the rage, too.
| by Anonymous | reply 74 | August 23, 2021 10:52 PM |
I love how Aretha always wanted cash for her appearances. Too bad black performers had been cheated in the past. She wanted that green in her purse, and you better not think about touching her purse.
| by Anonymous | reply 75 | August 23, 2021 11:03 PM |
My personal opinion of her was that she was amazingly talented, but was not particularly intelligent. Her lack of intelligence made her incapable of tending to her financial interests and either leaving some of it up to others, who very likely only had their own interests in mind, or just saying "fuck it" and not dealing with some things at all, such as dealing with her rental properties. She seemed to be only interested in what gave her immediate pleasure. Everything else was just put off until later or put aside completely until some disaster forced her to act.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | August 24, 2021 11:11 AM |
Gladys Knight defended Dionne Warwick during the fax incident.
"Dionne is gonna speak her mind, and she's gonna tell the truth. Ree is gonna be sensitive and cause a whole lot of riff-raff."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 77 | August 24, 2021 11:58 AM |
[quote]My personal opinion of her was that she was amazingly talented, but was not particularly intelligent.
Personally, I think that is most celebrities.
| by Anonymous | reply 78 | August 24, 2021 1:06 PM |
[quote] Her lack of intelligence made her incapable of tending to her financial interests and either leaving some of it up to others
Money is a man's business!
| by Anonymous | reply 79 | August 24, 2021 1:49 PM |
Dear Glads. Cost me three fucking grand in primo product to get her to say that.
But anyone who seriously thinks Re would have hidden HIV is crazy and didn't know her.
Do you think she would have lied about something that provided proof somebody wanted to fuck her at some point?
Other than Pastor, that is.
And don't suggest she would have caught it another way. Re hated needles so much she had the pine trees ripped out of her yard.
I've always loved this picture. I can still re-member Re saying, "Put the fat one next to me." She always like the old Chaka around. It made her feel petite. Re would call her Chaka Kong, laugh and cough up a chicken bone.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 80 | August 24, 2021 3:39 PM |
I would guess Aretha had BPD.
| by Anonymous | reply 81 | August 24, 2021 4:06 PM |
Doesn't everyone have BPD? Some worse than others, it's the human condition.
| by Anonymous | reply 82 | August 24, 2021 6:49 PM |
I think she was more of a NPD kinda gal.
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | August 24, 2021 10:24 PM |
