Woman Claims Usher Gave Her Herpes: Lawsuit

ATLANTA, GA — An Atlanta woman has filed a lawsuit claiming that Usher, the R&B superstar who is also from Atlanta, gave her herpes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that plaintiff Laura Michelle Helm filed the lawsuit this week. In it, she says that "as a result of the sexual relationship with the Herpes SV2 stricken defendant, Plaintiff herself, was infected with the incurable disease and forced to live with not only the health effects of the incurable disease but also the stigma that is associated with it."

The lawsuit claims that Helm, who most recently worked at a local radio station, had been friends with Usher until the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, when the Grammy Award winner began pursuing a sexual relationship with her.

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The suit says they had sex twice in 2017, once with a condom and once without, the AJC reports. After noticing possible symptoms of herpes, Helm went on the internet and found news reports of the singer having the sexually transmitted disease.

The lawsuit accuses Usher of negligence, fraud and infliction of emotional distress, as well as assault for forcing her to have unprotected sex without her consent. It seeks unspecified damages.

Helm is the fifth woman who has accused Usher of infecting them with herpes. He has not publicly responded to the suit.

Born Usher Raymond IV, Usher, 39, was born in Texas and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before moving to Atlanta. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including nine No. 1 singles — making him one of the top-selling pop artists in history.

Along the way, he has won eight Grammy Awards and 18 Billboard Music Awards and was named the No. 2 most-successful artist of the 2000s by Billboard. He has been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

To read the original report from the AJC, click here.

Singer Usher performs at the Michael Jackson public memorial service held at Staples Center on July 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)