During the 2000s, Fergie was a pop-star mainstay. She achieved superstardom as a member of the wildly popular hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas and forged her own successful career as a solo artist. But it’s been a minute since the singer has had a hit. So what happened to Fergie? Here’s a look at what the pop star is up to today.
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Why Fergie Left The Black Eyed Peas
Fergie (whose real name is Stacy Ferguson) became lead singer for the Black Eyed Peas in 2002. She fronted the band on some of their biggest hits, including “Let’s Get It Started,” “Boom Boom Pow,” “My Humps,” and “I Gotta Feeling.” But after 15 years and four albums, the pop star decided to leave the group. While Fergie never revealed the exact reason for her departure, it was rumored that she left the band to concentrate on her solo career. Her former band mates said it was also because she wanted to focus on being a mom to her young son.
“That’s a hard job, and that’s what she really wants to do and we’re here for her, and she knows how to contact us for a retreat or a breakaway,” Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am said in a 2020 interview. “It’s really the way Fergie designed it, so we’re respecting her design. We love Fergie, and we don’t want anything but awesomeness for her.”
Fergie was replaced by singer J. Rey Soul, who had been a finalist on the first season of The Voice of the Philippines.
She Released Her Second Solo Album And Launched Her Own Music Label In 2017
Fergie did focus on her solo career, releasing her second solo album, Double Duchess, in 2017. “It’s been 11 years since I released an album so I felt like it was time to show all the parts—intimate, fun, laughing, crying,” she told People magazine. “All of it. And this is the place for me to release what’s in my journals. I’ve been through a lot of experiences in life and I felt like why not share them?”
The album, which featured appearances from her then four-year-old son, Axl Jack, and artists like Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj, was the first album Fergie released under her own record label, Duchess Music. The pop star formed Duchess Music in partnership with BMG, after leaving her previous label, Interscope Records. Double Duchess debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart and received mixed reviews from critics and fans.
She Divorced Josh Duhamel In 2017
Fergie also made headlines in 2017 when she announced that she and her husband of eight years, actor Josh Duhamel, were calling it quits. The couple had been dating since 2004 and have one son together, Axl Jack, born in 2013. Two years after their separation was announced, Fergie filed for divorce and their split became official in November of 2019.
While there had been tabloid rumors of infidelity and other issues during the course of their marriage, the pair had simply grown apart. Today, they remain friends and actively co-parent their son. “Fergie and I had a great relationship,” Duhamel said in an interview a year after their divorce. “I love that girl and I always will. Unfortunately, we didn’t work. But I will always have her back and she is the mother of my baby.”
She Hosted Two Seasons Of ‘The Four: Battle for Stardom’ And Leaned Into Her Boss Babe Side
While Fergie hasn’t released an album since Double Duchess, she’s stayed quite busy over the past few years. In 2018, the “M.I.L.F. $” singer hosted two seasons of the Fox competition reality show, The Four: Battle for Stardom, which featured celebrity panelists such as Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, and Meghan Trainor.
Fergie says she signed on for the gig in large part because she wanted to work with the esteemed panelists. “What I loved about [the show] is that I’ve known all the people on the panel throughout my career from different times,” she told People magazine in 2018. “So I knew they would be fun. I also love the diversity music-wise on the show because I’ve always been such a huge fan of hip-hop, not only the culture but the music and the fact that we can bring MC’s onto this show, onto primetime.”
Fergie has also been focusing on her entrepreneurial pursuits, which includes two footwear lines, Fergalicious by Fergie and Fergie Footwear. “Shoes are a metaphor; you’re walking your path,” the singer said of her shoe lines in a 2019 interview with Fashion magazine. “Everyone’s got their own path and it’s an individual manifestation of everything that has occurred in your life. For me, it’s always, ‘walk your path with pride, walk your path with confidence.’”
Fergie also owns the Santa Barbara-based winery, Ferguson Crest, which she founded with her dad, Pat Ferguson, back in 2006. In 2020, they released three new vintages—the 2012 Syrah, the 2012 Fergalicious, and the 2013 Viognier.
Is Fergie Making A Comeback?
Fans longing to see the feisty hip-hop star back on stage got their wishes fulfilled at the 2022 VMAs. Fergie re-emerged during a performance of Jack Harlow’s “First Class,” which samples her 2006 hit “Glamorous.” Described as the “pop-culture moment of the year,” her performance was the talk of the night. The singer stunned in a sparkling sequined minidress, and her chops clearly haven’t suffered from her time out of the spotlight.
The question is, what’s next? While she’s been pretty tight-lipped about her plans in recent years, a post-VMAs Instagram post promised “More to come”:
It sounds like Fergie has a few more tricks up her sleeves; we can only hope some new music is on her agenda! We can’t wait to see where she ends up next.