Music icon Diana Ross will delight fans when she takes to the stage for Glastonbury Festival this weekend.
The Stop In The Name Of Love singer will headline the legends slot, following in the footsteps of Chain Reaction songwriter Barry Gibb.
Throughout the decades she has led a highly successful music career, both in The Supremes and as a solo artist – but she has also had an interesting love life too.
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From finding love with record executive Berry Gordy, to dating huge rockstars and rumours of a romance with Michael Jackson, Daily Star takes a closer look inside Diana Ross’ love life.
Berry Gordy
(Image: Getty Images)
It was not only fame that Diana Ross found when she signed to Motown Records in the 60s – she also found love too.
Motown founder Berry Gordy met the singer when she was part of trio The Primettes, who later signed to the record label once they had left school under a new name – The Supremes.
They are reported to have become a couple in 1965, with the founder saying to Playboy: “Everybody knew Diana was my baby.”
(Image: Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Along with their sweet relationship, the stars also continued to collaborate with one another too after Diana Ross left The Supremes – both on Diana’s solo work and on films including Billie Holliday biopic Lady Sings The Blues.
However, Diana and Berry split a few years later and agreed to stop seeing each other.
Although the couple have since split, Berry Gordy has continued to gush about Diana during interviews throughout the decades, telling Vanity Fair: “She was my star, and she came from the bottom up.
With her it was not only fun, it was just like heaven working with her because she would surpass anything … and she always kept her self-esteem.
“She always told me, ‘If you think it, I can do it.’ And she did.”
Robert Ellis Silberstein
(Image: Michael Ochs Archives)
Following her split from Berry Gordy, Diana Ross met music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein while on a shopping trip in Los Angeles.
However, Diana Ross and Berry Gordy later shared one night together during this time, from which Diana became pregnant with their daughter Rhonda.
Two months into her pregnancy with daughter Rhona, Diana wed Robert – with the music executive raising Rhonda with the singer.
Diana Ross later revealed on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993 that Rhonda was Berry Gordy’s daughter, with the singer also telling her daughter who her father was when she was 13 years old.
(Image: Michael Ochs Archives)
Berry Gordy told Playboy Magazine: “She felt that the child should not know anything until she was able to handle it and understand it.
“She made a wise decision, because when she did tell her, Rhonda was able to handle it well.”
One year after their marriage in 1972, Diana welcomed her first child with Robert – a daughter called Tracee Joy – with the couple later welcoming a second daughter called Chudney Lane.
Speaking to People Magazine in 1976, Diana described Robert as “a rare thing, a gentleman who is young, alive and very handsome—all the fantasy things you think of in a husband.”
However, the couple later divorced in 1977.
Gene Simmons
(Image: Getty Images)
Rock icon and Kiss guitarist Gene Simmons met Diana Ross in 1979 when he was dating fellow music icon Cher, after the singer recommended that he call Diana Ross to find out what he should buy her for Christmas.
Describing her as a “strong woman”, Gene told The Mirror: “One Christmas I asked her what I should buy her and she said, “Call my friend Diana Ross, she will tell you exactly what I like as she is my best friend”.
“So I called Diana up and we went shopping.
(Image: Getty Images North America)
“Then our feelings for each other developed very fast and we started a relationship together. I guess thereafter Cher and Diana never spoke.”
The couple dated until 1984, when Gene Simmons met a Playboy playmate called Shannon Tweed, who told Diana about three weeks later.
Gene also went on to marry Shannon in 2011, with who he shares two children called Nick and Sophie.
Arne Naess Jr
(Image: NY Daily News via Getty Images)
One year after her romance with Gene Simmons ended, Diana Ross married husband Arne Naess Jr, who was a Norwegian businessman.
The couple were married for over 15 years between 1985-2000, during which time the couple welcomed two children together called Ross Arne and Evan Olav.
However, tragedy struck when Arne died in an accident in 2004.
(Image: Sygma via Getty Images)
He was climbing in the Groot Drakenstein mountains, about 44 miles from Cape Town, when he apparently slipped, said a police spokeswoman, Mary Martins-Engelbrecht, at the time.
Speaking about Arne during an interview with Closer Magazine, Diana said: “He was charming.
He was a man’s man, a lover so much. A romantic. [There are] so many wonderful things about Arne.
“A great businessman, not afraid of anything. Fearless. You would never think anything would ever happen to him. He will be missed.”
Michael Jackson
(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Another future star was also signed to Motown Records during the 60s – this time a young Michael Jackson.
Biographer and close friend of Michael, J Randy Taraborrelli, wrote in his book, Call Me Miss Ross, that Diana Ross said Michael “idolised her.”
However despite rumours that the two had a romantic fling, J Randy Taraborrelli confirmed that there was no relationship between them.
Although there was no relationship, it is reported that Michael was “heartbroken” when Diana Ross married Arne Naess Jr in 1986, with Michael later telling Taraborrelli: “I was jealous because I’ve always loved Diana Ross and always will.”
The two singers remained close friends until Michael Jackson’s death at the age of 50 years old on June 25, 2009.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
