Kelis Doesn't Want Her Son To Be 'exploited' By Fame

Kelis doesn't want her son to be ''exploited'' by being in the limelight.

The 34-year-old singer, who has four-year-old son Knight with ex-husband Nas, understands she has to deal with her family being in the spotlight but wants to protect their little boy as he grows up under the glare of the media eye.

In an interview in Spin magazine, she said: ''I'm a mother and I'm not going to let people exploit me or my son. He has his own life. Like while I'm here -- he's the centre of my life. I am very cautious and I think people think you're public property, which I don't agree with. But I recognize that's the position that I put myself in. They don't put you in that place. It's not up for discussion.''

The 'Milkshake' singer insists when she started out in the music industry at 16, she didn't realise she would have to deal with the pressures of being a role model.

Kelis explained: ''I had no intentions of being a female role model. Quite frankly, I thought I had a choice. I thought I could be like, 'Well if I say I don't want to be then I won't be'. Fast-forward about 20 years and things have changed.

''But what I will say is that I'm grateful that I was raised by parents -- and more specifically by a mother -- who gave us a sense of worth and of confidence and understanding about who we were in this great big place.''