Usher shares photo with all four of his kids in honor of Father's Day

On Monday, the singer, 44, posted a family photo to his Instagram in celebration of his parenting experience. In the photo, Usher posed with his arms around his two older sons, Usher “Cinco” V, 15, and Naviyd Ely, 14, who in turn had their father’s younger children, daughter Sovereign Bo, 2, and son Sire Castrello, 19 months, on their shoulders.

“Hold on to them while you can mannn…😌 BIGS & littles,” Usher wrote in his caption.

He shares sons Cinco and Naviyd with his ex-wife Tameka Foster, and Sovereign and Sire with his longtime girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea. The musician has been open about not having a strong relationship with his father and has used his childhood as a teaching tool for being a parent himself.

He told Essence in 2008 that he evaluated “what I feel like I missed from my father — knowing that I was accepted. That I mattered. And hearing that he cared enough to put me before himself” and vowed to provide his children with the support and security he never had.

Usher’s kids have also served as the inspiration behind some of his music. He revealed that his 2020 song “I Cry” was inspired by a moment he shared with his two oldest sons in which he began crying while they were all watching an animated movie together.

“There was a moment between a son and a father and it got to me — I started crying. So my kids, they look over at me and they’re like, ‘Are you crying?!’ ” Usher recalled. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m crying!’ They’re like, ‘You cry?!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I cry, and it’s okay to cry.’ ”

Both of Usher’s children with Goicoechea were born during the COVID-19 pandemic. He opened up about the experience during a September 2020 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

“I think everybody’s had the opportunity to take a beat back and realize what matters in this time — it’s family,” he said. “It is coming closer to your loved ones and appreciating the ones that you have while you have them.”