Relationships Talk

IF you are looking for a date then tonight is the night to find love.

And you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to land the man or woman of your dreams.

Brits looking for love have the best chance of finding it on January 6

Logging on at 9pm this evening is the ideal time to look for a new partner, according to research.

That’s because more than HALF of all UK singletons see the turn of the year as the best time to find romance.

Vicki Pavitt, from online dating agency Match, which carried out the survey, said: “New Year is symbolic as it gives the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start afresh.”

Today we have compiled your definitive guide to making 2019 the year to be on cloud nine when it comes to relationships — with advice from experts on how to succeed online and when meeting face to face.

Caters News Agency

Sinead Jones turned down a chance to go on Love Island after she met her cheating-ex

• Age: 28
• Occupation: Executive PA
• Likes: Nights out with her friends
• Dislikes: Men who cheat
• Sinead says: “I’m really looking for lasting love, not just a throwaway fling”

The Sun on Sunday also meets some singletons who are on the hunt for romance.

Research reveals the average Brit will go on NINE dates before meeting “The One” while more than a third of under-40s have tried online dating but found it did not work for them.

Match’s survey found app users typically scroll through 43 profiles and contact half of them.

Logging on in the hope of finding love tonight will be KRIS WEDDERBURN, a part-time stripper and American Football player from Dudley, West Mids.

News Group Newspapers Ltd

Samantha Scott, 46, psychic medium, from Swindon, calls herself “a bit of a cougar” and says she needs a younger guy to keep up with her hectic lifestyle. Sam, mum to two teenage girls, has been single for 11 years. She says: “I need someone with plenty of drive and energy, so younger is better – maybe around 32 to 35. I can’t be doing with insecure men. I’m a strong, self-made woman and some men see me as their meal ticket – they can jog on!”

The Anthony Joshua-lookalike has to fight women off when he is performing with exotic dance troupe The Pleasure Boys — but he has struggled to find lasting love because of his job.

Kris, 23, who has been single for two years, said: “It’s been so long since I had a girlfriend, that I feel like I’ve stopped looking.

“Eventually I would like to get married and have kids and I want a nice girl I can bring home to my mum.

“The problem is, the down-to-earth girls I like never take me seriously because of my job.

Sonja Horsman

Tony Knight, 52, divorced London executive Tony is heading to the convention after growing tired of trying to meet women on the internet. Single since his break-up four years ago, he said: “One woman said she would turn up in a Fiat 500. When she arrived, she was the size of a Fiat 500 and looked completely different to her profile pictures. I told her we weren’t compatible. I’m an old-fashioned gent at heart and am looking forward to meeting ladies face to face”

“They always think I’m going to mess about or cheat.

“Women throw themselves at me at my shows, but it’s not the right attention.

“They’re usually drunk and they have boyfriends or husbands. I want someone who can see past what I do for a living.

“I just want someone I can cuddle up to on the sofa and watch EastEnders with.”

SWNS:South West News Service

Kris Wedderburn wants a woman who can look past what he does for a living

• Age: 23
• Occupation: Stripper and American Football player
• Likes: EastEnders, the gym, dancing
• Dislikes: Boring first dates
• Kris says: “I want to meet a fun girl I can take to Alton Towers”

SINEAD JONES turned down a chance to go on Love Island after meeting her Essex-boy ex — who then cheated on her during a two-year relationship.

She said: “I applied for the show a few years ago and the producers asked to meet me.

“I could have been one of the girls looking for love in the Majorcan villa.

“But then I met my ex and turned down the programme. Two years later he did the dirty on me and I also found out he was signed up to escort websites and was on Tinder. It really knocked my confidence, it was dreadful. But now I’m ready to put myself back out there.”

North News and Pictures

Cheryl Bray, 37, single mum, from Newcastle, claims her good looks scare off potential dates. The cleaner said: “Men on dating apps tell me I’m too intimidating and say they would never approach me in a bar. They think I’m high maintenance, but I’m very down-to-earth and don’t wear false lashes and nails.” Son Kayden, seven, wants his mum to find her Prince Charming, but Cheryl is not sure he exists. She adds: “People are too flighty these days”

Single since January last year, Sinead, 28, a personal assistant from Birmingham, says she has only met “weirdos” online so far and that dating apps are not for her.

She said: “Sometimes with them you’re judging people by photos and by a small bio and they are often very different in real life.

“Whereas you meet someone in the flesh and straight away you get the first impression of whether they’re right for you.”

Kris and Sinead will both be hoping to find “The One” this summer at The Dating Show Live at the NEC Birmingham, where a world record-breaking 10,000 singletons will be meeting under one roof.

Getty – Contributor

Research reveals the average Brit will go on NINE dates before meeting ‘The One’

At the event you can try the “dating in the dark” tent, mingle at live music shows and even enjoy a bar where every hour a bell rings to remind guests to chat up some- one new.

The dating bonanza takes place on June 29 and 30, and singletons travelling from far afield in the hope of finding love in Brum will be able to take advantage of cheap stayovers, thanks to Hilton hotels based in the city.

Alamy

At The Dating Show Live you can try ‘dating in the dark’

Organiser Angela Watson, 53, said: “A start of a new year is the signal to many singles, and with Valentine’s Day charging towards us like a luxury steam train full of delight, we don’t want to be left at the station, not for another year.

“The hope and promise that a new relationship gives is far too tempting and whereas many singles would be a little more fussy, many just think, ‘It’s the new year — I’m going for it’.”

On these pages we meet some of the other singletons looking for love in 2019 and give you top tips to make dating a success.

Top tips for your profile

Stefan-Pierre Tomlin is Britain’s most swiped right man on Tinder

MODEL Stefan-Pierre Tomlin, 27,  is Britain’s most swiped right man. He has some top tips to spring clean your dating profile.

• Your profile picture must portray your personality.
• Get humour in your bio – but short and snappy.
• Eating is a big ‘No’ in a profile snap. Avoid group photos in the first three pictures, but don’t be afraid to add ones of your pets – some people like them.
• If the conversation is moving forward, try to arrange to meet as quickly as you can, otherwise the “butterfly buzz” feeling may dissolve.
• Be original. So when you meet your online personality matches you’ll click in real life.

Top tips for the big nights

Lara Asprey is a matchmaker and founder of Aspret Introductions

MATCHMAKER Lara Asprey,  founder of Asprey Introductions, gives her top tips for a night out.

• Arrive a little early – nowadays “fashionably late” is just plain rude.
• Relax and flirt. A date is meant to be fun so don’t take it or yourself too seriously.
• Make an effort. If you look and feel your best you are going to show your best side – it is that simple.
• Embody eligibility. Act like a catch and you will be more likely to attract one.
• Offer to split the bill even if your date offers to pay. Typically, a guy should pay for the first date, but it’s always polite for a woman to offer to at least pay half.

Disturbing video appearing to show Drake groping a 17-year-old girl during a concert several years ago has resurfaced on Twitter.

Click here to see the video.

The video was taken in 2010, when Drake was 24, reports Consequence of Sound. In the clip, Drake is seen kissing and caressing the young girl’s breasts in front of a cheering audience.

At one point, Drake walks away from the girl. “Y’all gon’ have me get carried away,” he said. “I get in trouble for s— like this. How old are you?”

The girl tells her she is only 17, making her an underage minor.

“I can’t go to jail yet, man,” Drake said. “Why do you look like that? You thick. Look at all this. Well, listen 17, I had fun. I don’t know whether I should feel guilty or not, but I had fun. I like the way your breasts feel against my chest. I just want to thank you.”

However, Drake still goes back to the girl to kiss her again, before telling her to leave the stage.

The video was shared on Twitter by a user named @thespookgod, and has been viewed more than 1.95 million times.

The video also surfaced during the week Lifetime debuted its documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which brought more attention to R. Kelly’s history of preying on underage girls.

Twitter users also brought up other artists’ histories with young women. For example, writer Eve Ewing shared the Drake video, adding, “Honestly this isn’t just about drake. people are not asking questions that should be asked. And it’s real easy to watch #SurvivingRKelly and say ‘why didn’t anyone xyz…’ but there’s a lot of folks hooting & hollering in this video.”

Drake, now 31, has been involved in stories with younger women that have caused outrage before. In September, 14-year-old Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown told Access Hollywood that Drake is a “great role model” and the two text each other frequently. Brown said Drake even offers her dating advice. The actress later defended their relationship on Instagram.

The “In My Feelings” rapper was also reportedly linked to 18-year-old model Bella Harris, but Harris denied they ever went on a date in September.

0comments

Drake also reportedly has a secret child, and the revelation of that played a role in Drake’s ongoing feud with Kanye West. Pusha T accused Drake of having a secret child with a porn star in “The Story of Adidon,” then Drake blamed West for telling Pusha T about the child.

I’ve been saying this dude is a creep for years //t.co/s3MMzw1IU1

— ✊🏿Black Aziz aNANsi✊🏿 (@Freeyourmindkid) January 5, 2019

so we cancelling Drake?

— LT (@GEElDLE) January 5, 2019

Drake has not responded to the controversy sparked by the resurfaced video, but Twitter users have voiced their disapproval of his actions.

As viewers brace for the third and final installment of Surviving R. Kelly’s Lifetime Network premier, social media users worldwide have been discussing the evidence that 51 year-old Chicago-born singer Robert “R.” Kelly acted in concert with and with the support of a loyal network of handlers, lawyers, venues, musicians, labels, hangers on and next of kin.

The six-part, six-hour series, executive produced by writer, documentarian and pilot dream hampton, has, through its first four parts, taken care to show viewers the machine behind the man, largely with the words of individuals once tasked with suspending their disbelief in service of Kelly’s career. Or their own.

Still, these interviews with producers and former employees and collaborators take a back seat to the oft-angry, sometimes trembling, ever-resolute voices of women who have survived Kelly’s physical, emotional and financial abuse. Their opinions, confirmed by the nervous laughter and darting eyes of Kelly’s former allies, has left viewers to wonder why so many of Kelly’s contemporaries have remained silent. And why so many kept collaborating with him, long after his sins were laid bare.

While the nature of R. Kelly’s run-ins with the legal system have made his habits juicy tabloid fodder, he’s not the only black artist of note with a history of abuse.

Though he has maintained his innocence (each episode has begun with a note reminding viewers) He’s also got a long list of collaborators who should’ve known better.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of folks whose voices may remain absent from the chorus decrying the life and career of R. Kelly.

Drake

Put simply, Drake has established a recent history of proximity to girls under the age of 18. His close relationship with 14-year-old Stranger Things star Millie Bobbi Brown: per Brown, the 32-year-old rapper texts her dating advice. More recently, video has surfaced of Drake dancing with, kissing and groping a girl onstage.

After learning the fan was 17, Drake danced with her again, fondling her breasts as the crowd cheered and laughed. While news outlets have yet to nail down an exact year (and since we’re not prepared to try) it’s worth noting that Drake became a mainstream act in 2009 with the release of his critically acclaimed mixtape, So Far Gone. Drake was born in 1986, putting the portion of his career during which he would have sold out a venue past the age of 23. An overly generous estimate would place the age difference at six years.

As of this article’s writing, Drake has yet to issue a response.

Diddy

Diddy’s artist development operation, Flavor Camp, was responsible for giving Usher his edge. Let Usher explain.

In an interview with Kevin Hart, Diddy confirmed their close relationship.

There’s also the matter of the age of the mother of his oldest child, Misa Hylton. Hylton was romantically involved with Diddy at 17, when she worked as a stylist for Jodeci, according to a 2017 interview with Billboard:

It was with Jodeci and happened because of a “right place, right time” situation. My boyfriend at the time was Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy), who was an intern when we met and had just got promoted to A&R. I was there as he was working with the group and shaping their album. I was able to help him work on the image and to sell it to Andre Harrell. At that time, the look for R&B singers were hard bottom shoes and suits, but we had what was then considered a crazy idea: to put these singers in leather, combat boots, hoodies and baseball caps that were turned backwards. Andre immediately said “hell no,” but after about two hours of going back and forth, we convinced him to give us this opportunity, and after this transformation Jodeci’s career catapulted. Andre came back to me with another opportunity, this time a female solo artist, and he thought we’d work great together since I was from Mount Vernon, NY and she was from Yonkers, NY. Her name was Mary J. Blige.

According to accepted history, Diddy was fired in 1993 after turning Jodeci into a runaway success beginning in 1991, at the age of 22. If Misa Hylton’s listed age of 41 is accurate, she’d have been 16 in 1993, when she gave birth to her son, Justin Combs.

Timbaland

TImbaland was in love with Aaliyah. Per the multiplatinum producer and close friend and collaborator of the slain singer, from 2011:

“When I first met Aaliyah—it time for the world to hear this, I’m gonna give a little secret—I was in love with her. I said, But I’m not…She just a baby, I’m old,” Timbaland says. “I said to myself, ‘I’m just gonna be her brother.’ Oh man, I was fightin’, I was fightin’ a lot—a big war. But I loved Aaliyah.”

Chance the Rapper

While Chance has endeared himself to fans and national leaders with his charming persona and philanthropy, Chicago-born Chancellor Bennett collaborated and performed with R. Kelly in 2014, years after his his rash of legal issues stemming from his abusive habits.

Bennett later apologized for his association with Kelly, calling him a “fucking child molester.”

Kanye West

Before Kanye West’s MAGA heel turn, he seemed to take little issue with Tyga’s decision to “get in early” with Kylie Jenner, who was a minor when they began popping up as an item.

West also came under fire for affirming his friendship with A$AP Mob affiliate A$AP Bari after he was accused of sexual assault in 2017.

Bari, born Jabari Shelton, recently plead guilty and accepted a fine in his assault case in London.

R. Kelly also appeared on the intro to West’s 2012’s Cruel Summer album.

Kendrick Lamar

Compton rap titan Kendrick Lamar has won critical acclaim and droves of loyal fans with his honesty and storytelling. After Spotify’s decision to pull music from Kelly and slain Florida rapper XXXTentacion in May of 2018, Kendrick Lamar publicly threatened to pull his catalog from the streaming service in support of the rapper. Born Jahseh Onfroy, the 20-year old rapper had a documented history of domestic abuse. Opting to save users in their race with Apple Music, Spotify reneged.

Joe Budden

New Jersey-born Joe Budden was accused of causing the miscarriage of ex-girlfriend Esther Baxter by sitting on her stomach and choking her during a high-risk pregnancy. Budden denied her claims in a Breakfast Club interview in 2011, claiming the photos of her abuse were doctored.

In his song “Ordinary Love Shit 3,” he spoke on the altercation:

Charlemagne tha God

Power 105.1’s talismanic on-air talent has his own history of questionable behavior. He admitted to giving a woman Spanish fly and having sex with her while she was “wasted” during an encounter in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. According the Charlemagne, born Lenard Larry McKelvey, during a podcast appearance in 2015:

“I got this girl real drunk, and I fu—we fucked,” McKelvey says before Schultz cuts him off.

“Just that sentence sound a little fishy,” Schultz interjects. “‘I got her drunk.’”

McKelvey continues his story, detailing how he went to “the sex store” to get Spanish Fly, which he then put into both of their E&J drinks. Once the girl got drunk, McKelvey says he had sex with her, adding that “a lot of my boys” also tried to come in and have sex with the woman (he says he turned them away).

“Running a train on her, that’s rape,” McKelvey says, laughing.

The next morning, however, McKelvey says the girl had no recollection of their sexual encounter, asking him what happened the night before. When he told her they had sex, McKelvey says the girl told him, “‘Well I’m just glad it was you.’”

Big Sean

Born Sean Anderson, Detroit rapper Big Sean accepted a plea deal for misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment in 2011 in a sexual assault case wherein the victim, a 17-year-old girl claimed Big Sean and Willie Antonio “Sayitainttone” Hansbro had sexually assaulted her.

Nas

Queens rapper Nasir Jones has come under fire lately after singer and ex-wife Kelis went public with her claims of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband. Jones denied the allegations with a flurry of captions on Instagram.

Nas also vividly describes a violent sexual assault in his 2004 song “You Know My Style,” which (Trigger Warning: Description of sexual assault) can be heard below.

Russell Simmons

Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons spent 11 years married to model and entrepreneur Kimora Lee Perkins until their divorce in 2009. in a statement after her ex-husband was accused of sexual assault, Perkins issued a statement on Instagram.

If the 41-year-old Perkins’ timeline is to be believed, Simmons became her close friend between 15 and 16 years old.

Jay-Z

A month after a videotape showing R. Kelly commit a number of sex acts with a young girl, Jay Z released the Best of Both Worlds collaborative album with R. Kelly, on March 19th of 2002.

Kelly would embark on a national tour with Jay-Z that ended abruptly after Kelly was maced by one of Jay-Z’s associates. Though many believe Kelly was maced over the nature of his abusive habits, the tour likely dissolved over the famously particular Jay-Z’s issues with Kelly’s “lack of professionalism.”

Jay-Z has remained silent on the accusations against Kelly since.