Adrienne Bailon and Israel Houghton spotted recently in Pasadena: What's Real and what's not
Adrienne Bailon and Israel Houghton were recently spotted in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Sunday, walking arm in arm like any regular couple out for a stroll. They looked to be having a fine time at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, despite having gone under fire the previous month for a rumor that the latter's divorce from his wife was prompted by cheating with Bailon. Photographs of the two going among the vendors and taking selfies during their morning out show them both looking cool and fashionable. Sometimes, it can be true that just looking at photographs of people can take away what's real and suggest what's not.
Talk of Houghton's cheating on his wife with Bailon started when photographs of the couple taking a holiday at the Dreams Tulum Resort and Spa in Tulum, Mexico, came out. They were called out for their relationship being made public only a month after Houghton declared his divorce from his wife Meleasa and his admission of having cheated on her five years back.
He had been married for 20 years but admitted that he and Meleasa had been working on saving their relationship in the last five years. He pointed out in a post on his Facebook page that his marriage had been over long before he came out in public about his divorce, and that he had not even met Bailon at the time. In his social media post, he has urged detractors not to be blame Bailon for his "past indiscretions."
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Bailon, who is one of the co-hosts on the television daytime talk show, "The Real," also gave her side of the story during their April 5 episode.
Bailon spoke on the show, "I think I'm more than anything grateful that I have a platform like this, where I can be with my girls. The show is called 'The Real' it is a place where we can speak about the truth. I'm going to say the truth and the truth of the matter is he isn't married. He obviously is divorced."
The TV personality also declared that she had not known Houghton during the time of his marriage and that the speculations on her being the "other woman" were "obviously hurtful." She believes that the timeline of Houghton's announcement and the Tulum vacation photographs going public had people putting two and two together, but getting five. She added, "God forbid the facts get in the way of a really juicy story."
The besieged couple had met two years ago and had become friends and have, accordingly, only started dating very recently. Bailon had also starred in a film Houghton produced back in 2013, "I'm In Love With A Church Girl." A year ago, Houghton had even posted congratulations for the former Cheetah Girl when she got engaged to her then-boyfriend Lenny Santiago, the Roc Nation executive. The engagement was broken off some months after its announcement.
There had also been reports that Houghton had been put on "indefinite leave," "fired," or "suspended from Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, where he is a worship leader.
A representative of Lakewood Church declared in a statement, "We can confirm that Israel is on indefinite leave, but it is important to clarify that we still consider Israel to be a part of the Lakewood family and that his employment has not been terminated."
Houghton has been with the church since 2011 according to a separate report which has claimed that traces of the Gospel group frontman of Israel & New Breed have been wiped from the church website. It also stated that a representative of the church had confirmed he was no longer connected with them after his divorce and cheating announcement.
A representative of the gospel singer has spoken with BET.com to address these claims.
"Israel has been on staff at Lakewood for 15 years since 2001 (not 2011) and actually remains officially on staff. He was never suspended, nor was he put on an indefinite leave but is on a personal sabbatical of his choosing."
No word or comment has been documented from Houghton's Meleasa regarding this story.
