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Nineteen-year-old fan of American singer/actor, Usher Raymond, has accused him of infecting her with herpes on her 19th birthday.
She has therefore sued him, claiming $20m in damages.
Herpes is a common sexually transmitted disease that any sexually active person can get, and most people with the virus don’t have symptoms, doctors say.
The fan, Quantasia Sharpton, is suing the star claiming “he had sex with her on her 19th birthday without admitting he had herpes.
She claims that Usher had chosen her from a concert crowd.
The superstar also had sex with a male fan, it was claimed.
Sharpton is one of the two women and a man who have started legal proceedings against the singer over allegations that he didn’t reveal he had the STD before bedding them.
The lawsuit, reported by SUN, claims Usher had vaginal sex with at least one of the two women and had “unprotected sex” with the man.
The three plaintiffs claim they had unprotected sex, or oral sex, with Usher because he is a “revered celebrity in their eyes who they believed could be loved and trusted.”
The lawsuit has been filed by celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom in California.
At a New York press conference on Monday, Sharpton, now 21, spoke about the moment she learned about Usher’s alleged diagnosis – three years after sleeping with the singer.
She said she was a big fan of Usher, so her friends took her to a concert of his to celebrate her birthday.
She claims she was chosen from the crowd to go backstage and meet Usher because of the birthday crown she was wearing.
After the show, she said, she received a call from the star and they arranged to meet at her hotel room.
She claims Usher arrived at her hotel and they had “sexual contact” before leaving.
Sharpton revealed she “never heard from him again.”
She said she was then shocked to learn Usher possibly has herpes, an incurable sexually-transmitted disease.
On July 19, documents were leaked online, showing in 2012 Usher admitted in court documents to having herpes. He settled that case and it was never reported at the time.
But once the documents were made public, a woman who said she slept with Usher in April filed a $20m lawsuit against him for giving her the disease.
When Sharpton read about that case, she contacted lawyer Bloom – even though she tested negative for the virus when she had a child last year.
Although she doesn’t have the STD, at least one of the other two clients being represented by Bloom claims they have — and blames Usher.
Sharpton said if she had known that Usher had herpes, she wouldn’t have had sex with him.
“I feel like my rights were violated,” she said, adding she decided to join the lawsuit so he “does not do this to anyone else.”
“You need to warn your sex partners…so they can make their own decisions,” she said.
Bloom said Usher had violated his sex partners’ rights “by failing to warn them prior to having sexual contact.”
“At least one of my clients has tested positive — and alleges that it was Mr. Raymond who transmitted it,” she said.
“No one in America — even a popular celebrity — is above the law.”
Usher has never publicly denied having herpes, or made an effort to contact the three people involved in the suit to confirm or deny the reports, the lawsuit states.
It adds the alleged victims have suffered severe emotional distress, birthing complications, stress, depression and anxiety about contracting or being exposed to herpes.
Court filings claim that in the event that Usher doesn’t have herpes, his conduct has still caused “severe emotional distress” since he has allowed them to worry that he has exposed them to the virus.
Bloom says that her clients are not asking for a specific amount of money, and they will be fine with whatever a jury decides to award, if they win the case.
“It’s really not about money,” she said. punch
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