“We have decided we were moving on too fast,” singer says in brief statement

Jan 24, 2012 15:40 GMT  ·  By

All wedding plans are off for Aretha Franklin and William Wickerson. Less than a month after announcing the engagement – and a summer wedding – the 69-year-old singer has had a change of heart.

In a brief statement to Us Weekly, the iconic singer breaks the news to the world: she's not getting married after all, having decided that the timing was not right.

It's not just that, she says. She and Willie had also come to the conclusion that they had rushed into marriage plans – which basically means they're not ruling out the possibility of tying the knot at a later date.

“Will and I have decided we were moving a little too fast, and there were a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly,” the singer says in the statement.

“There will be no wedding at this time,” she adds. She seems open to the idea of marrying farther down the road.

In the same statement, Franklin makes it clear that she has no further intention of talking about the failed marriage plans ever again.

“We will not comment on it any further because of the very personal and sensitive nature of it. We appreciate all of the many well wishes from friends,” she says.

As we also noted a while back, at the time she announced her engagement, Franklin also joked that hers wasn't a shotgun wedding and even revealed some details about the upcoming ceremony.

She wanted to get married in Miami Beach and have the reception on board of a private yacht, surrounded by exclusive guests.

Also then, the singer revealed she was thinking of wearing a wedding gown by Vera Wang, Donna Karen or Valentino.

“I feel fabulous. We're looking at June or July for our date and no, I'm not pregnant, LOL!” a newly engaged Aretha Franklin said at the time.