Tag Archives: Berry Gordy

Yet another celeb’ is being accused of sexual assault. Jermaine Jackson, the renowned musician and member of the iconic Jackson fam,’ is currently facing a legal battle that dates back 35 years, to 1988.

Accuser’s Allegations Against Jermaine Jackson

Rita Butler Barrett, a woman who claims to have been sexually assaulted by Jermaine Jackson, has just filed a lawsuit against him. The alleged incident supposedly occurred at Barrett’s Los Angeles home, where she claims Jermaine forced his way in and assaulted her:

Via Page Six – Barrett claims she came to know Jackson, now 69, when she worked as a musician’s contractor. Additionally, she claims the two had mutual “close personal/familial connections,” including Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who was purportedly “simultaneously in a personal and business relationship” with Barrett’s husband.

According to Barrett, Jackson allegedly “forced himself” into her LA home after arriving unannounced in or around the spring of 1988.

“With force and violence,” he allegedly proceeded to sexually assault her, according to her filing. During the alleged attack, Barrett claims she “prayed to God for help” as she “feared for her life.”

What’s Berry Gordy Got To Do With This, According To Accuser?

Barrett’s lawsuit not only accuses Jermaine of sexual assault, but also claims that Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, played a role in covering up the incident. According to Barrett, she reported the assault to Gordy, who allegedly took steps to conceal the truth in order to protect Jackson’s career and reputation.

Difficulties Of Filing Decades-Old Assault Lawsuits

It’s worth noting that sexual assault cases often face challenges, particularly when they are brought forward years after the incident took place. Memories fade, evidence becomes harder to gather, and potential witnesses may be difficult to locate.

Only Time Will Tell

Both Jermaine Jackson and Berry Gordy have yet to publicly comment on the matter. As the legal process unfolds, it remains to be seen how this case will progress. Only time will tell if this ends in the same manner as Diddy’s and Cassie’s lightening-speed sexual assault settlement did…or if Jermaine Jackson and Berry Gordy plan on fighting Rita Barrett’s allegations in court. Either way…wherever the truth in this matter lies, may that truth prevail.

Diana Ross’ first born, 51-year-old Rhonda Ross-Kendrick, did an interview a while back, where she discussed how she eventually discovered that her Dad was not a tall, Jewish-American man, but rather an African American Motown Records head honcho. For those who don’t know, Rhonda had often been referred to as Diana’s and Berry Gordy’s “love child” throughout the years. She was the product of their undercover relationship that lasted for many years while ‘The boss’ Ms. Ross was with the Supremes and also during her solo career.

The identity of Rhonda’s real father was kept a secret, although we’re not quite sure why. My guess is that it was because the public didn’t know about Berry’s and Diana’s relationship and maybe they thought it would have tainted Diana’s rep, although many people in the music industry knew. Diana and Berry didn’t completely hide their relationship, but they didn’t publicize it to the world either.

Any person on the face of this earth can take one look at Rhonda and clearly see that she is Berry Gordy’s baby, but I guess it’s much harder to notice that just by looking in the mirror, when you’ve been lead to believe that someone else was your dad all of your life.

Anyways, here’s what Rhonda explained about how she learned Berry Gordy was not “Uncle Berry” but he was ‘Daddy’…

Via NYPost:
“The bottom line was, I looked just like [Gordy], and my sisters looked just like their father, a 6-foot-tall Jewish American man,” [Rhonda Ross] says. Even so, she’s still close to the man who raised her as his daughter, “though he knew I wasn’t his when my mother was pregnant.” 

The oldest of the diva’s five children, Rhonda was nearly 13 when she was told the man she knew as Dad — her mother’s husband and manager, Robert Ellis Silberstein — wasn’t.

Discovering who she really was came as a relief, she says. Gordy was already so close to the family that she and her sisters called him “uncle.” And while it took her awhile to learn the truth, others had guessed it long ago. “I’d meet fans on the street who’d say, ‘Oh child, we knew you were Berry Gordy’s daughter — you look just like him!’ ”

Diana was preparing for “Lady Sings the Blues” while pregnant, and Rhonda thinks that experience led to her own lifelong love of Billie Holiday.

She’s amazed at how her mom juggled five kids and a career. “We were not raised by nannies,” she says. “She’d do a gig in Atlantic City and helicopter back and forth to be there in the mornings to get us off to school. My grandmother was around till I was 13, so we had that support, but my mother didn’t work on Christmas, New Year’s or any of our birthdays.” […]

She’s never lacked for advice, and it’s Gordy who gave her the impetus she needed to sing again. “Recently, he’s advised me that direction is more important than speed,” she says. “I’ve been at this for a while, and now I feel I’m finding my voice and my purpose, and the music I really want to share.”

So as you can see ILOSM family, Diana, Rhonda, Berry and the rest of the Ross clan are all one big happy family now…all’s well that ends well.

This is one of those ‘What the…?’ type of moments that you’ve just gotta see to believe, because never in a MILLION years would we have ever thought these two were related. Berry Gordy (93), the powerful music mogul/founder of Motown Records, is the cousin of another powerful man who held one of the most powerful political positions in America. Get ready to pick your jaw up off of the floor…

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER & BERRY GORDY ARE COUSINS!

Nope you are not seeing things and this is not a typo, the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, is the cousin of Motown Records founder, Berry Gordy III. We’re not talking long distance cousins, we’re talking second cousins.

HERE’S HOW THEY’RE RELATED

Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian Carter, is the niece of Berry Gordy III’s (Motown founder) great-grandfather. Her father is James Jackson Gordy.

Although the White grandfather of Lillian, James Thomas Gordy, was married to her mother, Mary Ida Nicholson, he also had son, Berry Gordy I, with a Black slave named Esther Johnson.

Esther’s and James Thomas Gordy’s son, Berry I, then had Berry Gordy II with a woman named Lucy Hellum.

Berry II and Bertha Fuller eventually had son, Berry Gordy III (Motown Records founder).

That makes Jimmy Carter and Berry Gordy III second cousins. Who would’ve thought it, right?

Well one things is certain, they have earned some SERIOUS bragging rights in their family, from music to politics when it comes to Jimmy and Berry Jr.! Now it all makes since though…see pics of their parents and grandparents…

JIMMY CARTER’S PASSION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS RUNS DEEP IN HIS BLOOD

Jimmy Carter, who is an avid supporter of former President Obama, has always been known as one of the most ‘equal rights Presidents’ in history. Prior to his current health battle (more details on that below), the 98-year-old continued to push for equality across racial and class barriers through his Carter Center.

Jimmy Carter gets it from his momma, Lillian Carter (maiden name, Gordy), who was oftentimes looked down upon by her White neighbors and peers for treating her Black friends as equals, and constantly having them over for dinner in their all-White neighborhood. As you all know, that was largely unheard of in the 1920s and ’30s. She hated racism and everyone around her knew it.

As a child, Lillian once reportedly said she mimicked what she saw in her father, James Jackson Gordy, when he ran a local post office and treated the Black employees as his equal, oftentimes also choosing to eat lunch and chit-chat with them, instead of his counterparts who were White and mostly openly racists at that time. Again, this was unheard of in the years of 1908 (when Lillian was 10) and such. Maybe James had a very different perspective about humanity since he had a half-Black brother – Berry Gordy I – who knows? See more pics of their family tree below…

MEET GORDY’S AND CARTER’S OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

Berry Gordy III’s parents, Berry Gordy II and Bertha Fuller Gordy

Jimmy Carter’s parents- James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Carter (nee’ Lillian Gordy)

Lillian Carter’s dad, James Jackson Gordy (half brother of Berry Gordy III’s grandfather, Berry Gordy I; and grandfather of Jimmy Carter)

Pretty sure Berry Gordy III’s and Jimmy Carter’s ancestors would be extremely pleased with what they’ve contributed to this world today. Well..at least some of their ancestors probably would be.

President Carter’s Current Health Battle

Speaking of the 39th President of the U.S….Carter recently decided to enter into hospice care, foregoing any further medical intervention related to the many unknown health issues his team says he’s suffering from. He’s battled skin cancer and brain surgery within the past decade, and has been a warrior through it all. Sending him love and uplifting energy at this time.

1, 2, 3

A lot of people take interest in Jermaine’s and his ex-wife, Hazel Gordy’s, three kids because early on in his career, Jermaine did what several of his siblings did not: he created non-biracial African American children with his then wife, Hazel. FYI: Nothing is wrong with having biracial children, we are merely stating a fact about three of Jermaine’s kids and the rest of the Jacksons’ kids that’s all, moving on…

Hazel, the lovely daughter of music mogul, Berry Gordy, was married to Jermaine for 15 years (1973 to 1988). Their marriage was filled with happiness, public cheating (on Jermaine’s part), highs and lows. But some of their greatest times were the births of their children- two many knew about back then, but may have forgotten about now; and one whom most never knew existed.

Jermaine Jackson Jr., 45

Let us introduce you to the three super private Jackson-Gordy kids now. The first born of the trio is one we’ve reported on several times, here at ILOSM, Jermaine Jackson Jr…

• Jermaine lives life away from the cameras, with the exception of a few times. In the mid 90’s he did a helluva job starring as his Pops in the TV biopic, The Jacksons: The American Dream.
• In recent years he’s resurfaced as a result of his Persian-American long-time girlfriend, Asa Soltan Rahmati, who lives her life in front of the cameras as a reality TV star on Bravo’s The Shahs of Sunset.
• Jermaine Jr. and Asa welcomed their first child, Soltan Jackson, on January 20, 2017, just 17 days after Jermaine Jr.’s aunt Janet and her then-husband, Wissam Al Mana, welcomed their son, Eissa, on January 3rd. Jermaine Jr. is close with his siblings and the rest of the Jackson fam’ and that’s pretty much all we know about this private Jackson man. Onto his beautiful sister and his younger brother…

Jermaine & Hazel’s Gorgeous Daughter, Autumn Jackson, 44

Autumn has become even more private than her big bro,’ Jermaine Jr. Here’s what we know about her:

• She’s the second born child of Hazel and Jermaine
• Autumn is married to her husband, Nape Singh, who’s last name  is originated in India.
• Autumn also shares the same smile as her ‘ti Janet

  

• She, too, is close with her siblings and Pops. Jermaine shared this photo of himself having a fun time with four of his kids- Jermasty, Autumn, Jermaine Jr. and Jafaar.

Jermaine’s & Hazel’s Youngest Child (together), Jaimy Jackson, 35

Jaimy Jackson is the most reclusive of all three kids between Hazel and Jermaine. Some of us Old Schoolers may recall how their other two kids- Autumn and Jermaine Jr. – were often photographed out with their parents at various events in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. However, you probably never recalled seeing Hazel and Gordy photo’d together with their third child, Jaimy, and there is a solid explanation for that…

Jaimy was conceived during a rough patch in Jermaine’s and Hazel’s marriage in March of 1987, just before they divorced in 1988. So he never had the opportunity of being photographed out with his complete family back then, because his parents were split for almost his whole life. That didn’t stop any shortage of love from either of them though. From what we know, Jermaine and Hazel have been there for Jaimy since his conception, and nothing has changed to this day…

And of course grandpop, Berry Gordy, is proud of them all. Check him out with his daughter Hazel Gordy, son Kerry Gordy, and three of his grandchildren…

The Jackson and Gordy families are quite a complex, diversified bunch, but at the end of the day, they all love each other ’til the end.

When talking about a masterpiece like Lady Sings The Blues, it’s easy to get caught up in the actual story of the life of iconic jazz great, Billie Holiday. But oftentimes, the stories of what happened behind the scenes of the film are usually just as intriguing.

In researching this film, we found out that one of those stories, in particular, came directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Billy Dee Williams revealed an interesting tidbit of info about a few tense, awkward moments between himself, Diana, and Berry Gordy during filming. Maybe you can already tell where we’re going with this, but let’s continue.

Remember how Billy Dee’s character, “Louis McKay,” was deeply in love with Diana’s character, “Billie Holiday?” Well of course capturing their love for each other also entailed them getting lovey-dovey on camera. The only problem, according to what Billy Dee revealed in the book, Diana Ross: A Biography, was that our man, Berry Gordy, wasn’t cool with the love scenes at all. Although Berry and Diana were supposedly not seeing each other at the time of the filming (although 6 months prior to filming ‘Lady Sings,’ Diana had just given birth to she and Berry’s daughter, Rhonda Ross…that’s a whole ‘notha story), Billy Dee said that didn’t stop Berry from getting jealous, understandably so.

Billy Dee Tells What Happened Between Him, Gordy, & Ross On Set

As a result of his reported jealousy, Berry -who funded the entire movie- did everything he could to cut those kissing scenes short. Those interruptions eventually took a toll on Billy and Diana’s groove. Here’s what Billy Dee had to say about that:

“Well, it was clear to me from the beginning that they [Berry and Diana] had this psychodramatic, complex love affair going on, even though she was married to someone else. I don’t mean they were having sex; everyone knew that was over. But, just because you’re not having sex with a woman doesn’t mean you don’t still feel territorial where she’s concerned, and Berry did.”

Billy Dee continued:

“I think there was only one scene in the whole film where Diana and I really kissed, and Berry made it very tough on us. It sounds silly in retrospect, but he really did not want the kiss to take place. We’d get to that place in rehearsal and he’d stop it. He was saying he wanted the real kiss to take place on camera, but we knew that he just didn’t want the real kiss to make out more than once. Diana was beyond frustrated. “Jesus Christ, Berry,” she said, “it’s only a kiss.” I have to tell you, I truly believed that he had never seen her kiss another man before in his life, and he did not want to see it. So I thought that was kind of sweet.

And kind of weird, too. In the end, we did the kiss, obviously. Diana has the best mouth in show business, and kissing her was…well, magical. An I was only acting. So, after that kiss, i was like, okay- I get it- if this was my woman, no way would I want her kissing another man.” -Quote from Billy Dee Williams in the book, ‘Diana Ross: A Biography by J. Randy Taraborelli’

Diana Ross seemingly had Berry Gordy hooked, and from the sounds of it, Billy Dee got a hit of her sensual spell too (although it was just acting). There’s nothing like a woman who knows how to truly own her sensuality…Berry was obviously worried about his ex-woman sharing that sensuality with anyone else- acting, or no acting.

To Berry’s credit, his worry was justifiable because after Billy Dee said that classic line to Diana, “Do you want my hand to fall off?” women all across America were trying to get a piece of the brotha!  Pretty sure Berry didn’t wanna witness his ex falling into that same spell. However, there’s no denying that the chemistry Billy Dee and Diana had in Lady Sings The Blues allowed them to create on-screen magic, catapulting the film into an Old School cult classic. So glad Berry Gordy didn’t sabotage it.

Diana Ross’ first born, 49 year old Rhonda Ross, did an interview a while back, where she discussed how she eventually discovered that her Dad was not a tall, Jewish-American man, but rather an African American Motown Records head honcho. For those who don’t know, Rhonda had often been referred to as Diana’s and Berry Gordy’s “love child” throughout the years. She was the product of their undercover relationship that lasted for many years while ‘The boss’ Ms. Ross was with the Supremes and also during her solo career.

The identity of Rhonda’s real father was kept a secret, although we’re not quite sure why. My guess is that it was because the public didn’t know about Berry’s and Diana’s relationship and maybe they thought it would have tainted Diana’s rep, although many people in the music industry knew. Diana and Berry didn’t completely hide their relationship, but they didn’t publicize it to the world either. Any person on the face of this earth can take one look at Rhonda and clearly see that she is Berry Gordy’s baby, but I guess it is much harder to notice that just by looking in the mirror when you have been lead to believe that someone else was all of your life. Anyways, here’s what Rhonda explained about how she learned Berry Gordy was not “Uncle Berry” but he was ‘Daddy’…

Via NYPost:
“The bottom line was, I looked just like [Gordy], and my sisters looked just like their father, a 6-foot-tall Jewish American man,” [Rhonda Ross] says. Even so, she’s still close to the man who raised her as his daughter, “though he knew I wasn’t his when my mother was pregnant.” 

The oldest of the diva’s five children, Rhonda was nearly 13 when she was told the man she knew as Dad — her mother’s husband and manager, Robert Ellis Silberstein — wasn’t.

Discovering who she really was came as a relief, she says. Gordy was already so close to the family that she and her sisters called him “uncle.” And while it took her awhile to learn the truth, others had guessed it long ago. “I’d meet fans on the street who’d say, ‘Oh child, we knew you were Berry Gordy’s daughter — you look just like him!’ ”

Diana was preparing for “Lady Sings the Blues” while pregnant, and Rhonda thinks that experience led to her own lifelong love of Billie Holiday.

She’s amazed at how her mom juggled five kids and a career. “We were not raised by nannies,” she says. “She’d do a gig in Atlantic City and helicopter back and forth to be there in the mornings to get us off to school. My grandmother was around till I was 13, so we had that support, but my mother didn’t work on Christmas, New Year’s or any of our birthdays.” […]

She’s never lacked for advice, and it’s Gordy who gave her the impetus she needed to sing again. “Recently, he’s advised me that direction is more important than speed,” she says. “I’ve been at this for a while, and now I feel I’m finding my voice and my purpose, and the music I really want to share.”

So as you can see ILOSM family, Diana, Rhonda, Berry and the rest of the Ross clan are all one big happy family now…all’s well that ends well.

The iconic Diana Ross has a lot to be grateful for these days –her five children, five grandbabies, and millions of fans who adore her. She’s seen a lot of highs and lows in her decades-long career and at times, her personal life was just as testy as her professional. One of those low points involved the past tension surrounding her divorce from her first husband/music exec, Robert Ellis Silberstein, and her other child’s father, Motown mogul, Berry Gordy. Although Ross and her exes are one big happy family now, Robert once made it very clear that it was NOT all good in the past, see what he had to say below…

Their Controversial Pregnancy, Marriage & History

Siberstein, Gordy, and Ross have an interesting history together that’s deserving of a side eye and a ‘Say what now?!!’ You see…Diana dated Berry Gordy for many years and became pregnant with their daughter, Rhonda Ross, in January 1971. Two months later, in March 1971, Diana married Robert Silberstein (yep, you read that right). Silberstein and Ross have two children together: Chudney Ross and actress, Tracee Ellis Ross. Robert Silberstein is also Rhonda’s ‘legal’ father and raised her as his own, even though Gordy is her biological dad, which she revealed she was eventually told at age 13. Diana later remarried and had two more sons, Evan Ross and Ross Naess.

One could assume that Diana’s, Berry’s and Robert’s interesting history may, or may not, have had something to do with the frustration Robert Silberstein vented about in a vintage interview at the time of his and Diana’s divorce. People Magazine reported that he had a problem with Gordy, he threw shade at Motown’s Stevie Wonder, and blamed Motown Records for his and Diana’s divorce back in the day. Check out what was reported about this below.

Diana Maintained Close Relationship With Gordy Throughout Her Marriage To Husband

Via People: “He [Berry Gordy] did it all for me,” Diana says of Gordy. “He was father, mother, brother, sister, lover.” And she leaned heavily on the Motown machinery that has made her one of the most carefully protected celebrities anywhere. She followed the company from Detroit to L.A., let it make her decisions and was once Gordy’s lady. Even during her marriage she reportedly took him on family skiing vacations.

What Diana’s Ex-Husband Said About Her, Gordy, Stevie, & Motown

“My wife belongs to that company [Motown],” a bitter Silberstein said before their divorce. “She’s totally dominated by a man [Berry Gordy] who never read a book in his life. I just can’t stand it anymore to hear them calling Stevie Wonder a genius. What happened to Freud?” -via People Magazine, 1977

Although Silberstein had a problem with Diana being so devoted to Berry, Motown…and apparently, Stevie too, Diana admitted she wouldn’t have had it any other way:

“I wanted it that way,” says Ross. “It was safe.”

All Is Forgiven, Here’s Proof…

As you can see, they’ve been through a lot, but like we said, they’ve also come a LONG way. That was evident in their more recent appearance together onstage, lookin’ like one big happily blended family, when Diana accepted her AMA ‘Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2017…

To this day, Robert has an extremely close bond with his ‘daughter,’ Rhonda, as well as his biological daughters, Tracee and Chudney.

 

 

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A post shared by Rhonda Ross (@therhondaross)

As for Rhonda Ross’ relationship with her biological daddy, Berry Gordy, they too are very close to this day.

Moral of the story: Like the Old School saying goes, ‘Time heals all wounds.’

Source

Smokey Robinson had a hidden addiction that didn’t surface until the age of 41. When he fell, he fell hard. Typically we hear of addictions like this starting at a younger age, when peer pressures are more prevalent, but Smokey explained how his hidden addiction started so late…

Smokey Explains His Prior Years-Long Addiction

“I think it happened to me so late because of the fact that I was …” He exhales. “I was always, and I still am, open to somebody in my camp saying, “No, that’s not right, or what do you think you’re doing?’ I have those kind of people around me. Berry Gordy being the main one of them. I appreciate that as a person and I’m very happy that that’s’ there.

But when you divorce yourself from these types of people in your life, then you have a tendency to be able to run amok, when you surround yourself with yes people. And that’s what most people who go amok do – they surround themselves with yes people. Anything you do is fine ’cause you’re you and you’re popular. And that’s dangerous.

He continued:

“I thought that it couldn’t happen to me. That’s the cunning of drugs. I could never become addicted! ‘I love sports, and I run, and I take care of myself. I can overcome this.’ Because when I was younger I used to smoke a whole lot of weed. But weed was always manageable for me. I could have some killer weed and put it away for a year and not touch it! It never had the handle on me. I had the handle on it.

“But when I started dibbling and dabbling on the cocaine, that was a whole other animal. And I never thought I could become an addict. But I did.” He ignored his friends.

Although Smokey was heavily addicted to cocaine, he had a thing against heavy alcohol drinking because when growing up, he said he watched his Dad and his other family members, some of whom were prostitutes and junkies, all become addicted to alcohol and have horrific results in life:

“If I have some sushi, I’ll have Saki. But I never drank. First of all, I never liked the taste of it. And I grew up in my neighborhood, seeing everyone, everything. Alcoholics, junkies, prostitutes, what have you. And many of them were in my family, OK?

And the alcoholics were the most pitiful of them all. They’d be standing there talking to the wall. Cussing the wall out – there was nobody there! Peeing on themselves. They were pitiful.

Then alcohol had an adverse effect on me because [of] my dad … [He] was “Clark Kent” Sunday to Friday – just mild-mannered, sweetie-pie! Friday, he’d get paid, him and his friends – who were buddy-buddy all week long, they were brothers, they loved each other – they’d be drunk, fighting each other. It was just an adverse kind of drug for me, alcohol.

Friends Leon Isaac Kennedy & Berry Gordy To The Rescue

Smokey said actor, Leon Isaac Kennedy— (best known for his films Penitentiary and Body and Soul; and for being married to Jayne Kennedy)– did something for him that he’ll always be grateful for:

“I have two best friends, Leon Isaac Kennedy and Berry Gordy. God sent Leon to come get me and say, ‘Hey man, what are you doing to yourself?’ So Leon came and got me and took me to a prayer service.

The night I went I hadn’t done any drugs beforehand because I knew I was going to a prayer service. However, I was still a junkie. [He rubs his hands on his knees anxiously as though he’s still amazed at what transpired that night.]

During the service, the pastor prayed for him:

“And she told me that God had told her I was coming. And she told me all the things that were happening to me, physically and emotionally and mentally – which I shared with no on one earth! No one knew. She told me every one of ’em that night. She said God had showed her what was going on.

And I walked in that church an addict, and I came out free. May of 1986. Never looked back.”

Smokey began speaking at gang meetings and juvenile detention centers, giving them this message:

“When you turn it over to God, you have turned it over…and you don’t have to worry about it anymore after that.”

Source: Jet Magazine; TheTelegraph

Today Smokey has turned over a new leaf and continues to live a healthy lifestyle. He hasn’t eaten red meat since 1972 and he does yoga regularly.

Major props to Smokey for kicking his drug habit cold turkey like that. He’s a great example of if we want to do something bad enough, it’s possible to acquire the will, the drive, and the mindset to conquer any uphill hurdle placed before us, regardless of how late in life we may start that journey. The skill to know how to conquer it, will come through our persistent determination to make it happen.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

This is one of those ‘What the…?’ type of moments that you’ve just gotta see to believe, because never in a MILLION years would we have ever thought these two were related. Berry Gordy (92), the powerful music mogul/founder of Motown Records, is the cousin of another powerful man who held one of the most powerful political positions in America. Get ready to pick your jaw up off of the floor…

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER & BERRY GORDY ARE COUSINS!

Nope you are not seeing things and this is not a typo, the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, is the cousin of Motown Records founder, Berry Gordy III. We’re not talking long distance cousins, we’re talking second cousins.

HERE’S HOW THEY’RE RELATED

Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian Carter, is the niece of Berry Gordy III’s (Motown founder) great-grandfather. Her father is James Jackson Gordy.

Although the White grandfather of Lillian, James Thomas Gordy, was married to her mother, Mary Ida Nicholson, he also had son, Berry Gordy I, with a Black slave named Esther Johnson.

Esther’s and James Thomas Gordy’s son, Berry I, then had Berry Gordy II with a woman named Lucy Hellum.

Berry II and Bertha Fuller eventually had son, Berry Gordy III (Motown Records founder).

That makes Jimmy Carter and Berry Gordy III second cousins. Who would’ve thought it, right?

Well one things is certain, they have earned some SERIOUS bragging rights in their family, from music to politics when it comes to Jimmy and Berry Jr.! Now it all makes since though…see pics of their parents and grandparents…

JIMMY CARTER’S PASSION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS RUNS DEEP IN HIS BLOOD

Jimmy Carter, who is an avid supporter of former President Obama, has always been known as one of the most ‘equal rights Presidents’ in history. And at 97 years young, he continues to push for equality across racial and class barriers through his Carter Center.

Jimmy Carter gets it from his mom, Lillian Carter (maiden name, Gordy), who was oftentimes looked down upon by her White neighbors and peers for treating her Black friends as equals and constantly having them over for dinner in their all-White neighborhood. As you all know, that was largely unheard of in the 1920’s and ’30s. She hated racism and everyone around her knew it.

As a child, Lillian once reportedly said she mimicked what she saw in her father, James Jackson Gordy, when he ran a local post office and treated the Black employees as his equal, oftentimes also choosing to eat lunch and chit-chat with them, instead of his counterparts who were White and mostly openly racists at that time. Again, this was unheard of in the years of 1908 (when Lillian was 10) and such. Maybe James had a very different perspective about humanity since he had a half-Black brother – Berry Gordy I – who knows?

See more pics of their family tree below.

MEET THEIR OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

Berry Gordy III’s parents, Berry Gordy II and Bertha Fuller Gordy

Jimmy Carter’s parents- James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Carter (nee’ Lillian Gordy)

Lillian Carter’s dad, James Jackson Gordy (half brother of Berry Gordy III’s grandfather, Berry Gordy I; and grandfather of Jimmy Carter)

Pretty sure Berry Gordy III’s and Jimmy Carter’s ancestors would be extremely pleased with what they’ve contributed to this world today. Well..at least some of their ancestors probably would be.

Source1, Source2, Source3

Berry Gordy’s son, Redfoo, and his nephew/group member, SkyBlu, were probably letting out a sigh of relief win they won their legal battle with rapper, Rick Ross a few years ago. On the other side, Rick Ross lost out on his big opportunity to come out on top, much like Marvin Gaye’s kids did against Pharrell and Robin Thicke. Ross could have been millions of dollars richer than he is right now, had he played his cards right and had his paperwork in order, but things just didn’t work out that way for him.

Ross sued the famous group, LMFAO, which includes Berry Gordy’s son and grandson, SkyBlu, because he said they bit his 2006 hit, “Everyday I’m Hustlin'” with their 2011 hit, “Party Rock Anthem.” The problem that Ross pointed out is that the hooks for both songs are similar- Ross’ hook included the phrase “Everyday I’m hustlin’ and LMFAO’s hook included the phrase, “Everyday I’m shufflin.'”

This possibly could have been an easy win for Ross, but Ross slipped up with his copyright protection. The judge threw Ross’ case out after looking over his paperwork and determining that Ross actually had no copyright protection at all and here’s why: Ross had three different copyright applications and every last one of them were ‘inconsistent and incomplete!’ What the…?!! How in the world did Rick Ross and/or his team manage to get a simple copyright application wrong not on one, but THREE occasions?!!

Don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes, but I tell ya, sometimes certain mistakes are so crazy and avoidable that the plaintiff almost doesn’t even deserve to get what they rightfully deserve for being so careless…almost.

Ah well, so much for that one Rick Ross, I’m sure the ’80s drug kingpin, “Freeway” Rick Ross, who sued you and loss after you borrowed his name is jumping for joy right about now.