"It wasn't a fairy tale." Blige notes. "It was like..." but Isaacs cuts her off. "In my mind it was," he says sweetly. "Well, in my mind," Blige continues, "I said, Damn, he's cute, and then I left it alone because I thought he and Latifah were a couple. I didn't know for sure what was going on, so I went to work. We all hung out later that night, and we got to know each other better." That was June, Isaacs was itching to see Blige again. "I begged Latifah to reach out to her," he admits. "I NEED to talk to her, I said."

[MJB's past mangers] "just gave me enough money to drink and buy fur coats and clothes. I got enough money to stay blind and buried. I would never know what the heck was going on in my life. At the end of the day, they were trying to keep me in a space where I could never know nothing. I'd always just look like the ignornant chick. So it was a constant manipulation to keep me drunk, to keep me high, to keep me angry. You understand what I'm saying? But it couldn't be good business because I didn't expect anythng great to happen to me. I was negative, so I was only going to get what I was."

"It's been five years since everyone has heard from me as a solo artist. I'm so excited about this record, it's been a year and a half in the making and it's been an amazing experience. I just can't wait for everybody to hear the record because I want them to enjoy listening to it just as much as I've enjoyed making it. I just had this Web chat where fans had a lot of questions on why I pushed the CD release back and I said I don't want to put something out that I'm not totally comfortable with. That's not what they deserve because they've supported Destiny's Child collectively and individually so I would want to make sure that it's correct, it's great and that it's something that they're excited about."

"Right now I'm really trying to bulk up my legs-get some muscle on them-because Serena has such great legs. I'm trying to get legs like hers so I'm in the gym 4-5 times a week."

"...I've learned that from watching other people like Oprah and Angela Bassett. They are two of the most beautiful women and you can just see they're just great people who have great confidence in themselves. They wear it so well."

Labels: Kelly Rowland, MJB, Newsstand Snapshots