The saddest part of this month’s VIBE magazine cover story featuring Ciara isn’t the stark photos of Ciara posing in the nude. It’s the reason behind the photos: Ciara wanted to prove she wasn’t a man.

Ciara’s sudden rise to the top of the R&B charts coupled with her lean, athletic build, fueled rampant Internet rumors that she was a male transvestite.

A source close to Ciara told me the vicious rumors made Ciara cry.

“They said I was a man! It doesn’t get any worse than that,” said Ciara in the October issue of VIBE where she bares it all for the second time in her career – the first time was on the cover of 50 Cent’s CD which she claimed was not her.