ARETHA FRANKLIN CALLS OFF HER WEDDING!

Aretha Franklin’s wedding is off.

On Monday, the Queen of Soul announced that she and William (Willie) Wilkerson, 64, were not going through with the summer wedding they had planned.

As we reported on Jan. 18, sources in Franklin’s camp told us they were skeptical that Franklin would actually walk down the aisle.

Franklin’s publicist released a joint statement, signed “Aretha and Will” that said: "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. There will be no wedding at this time."

The couple added: "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."

This marks at least the second time that Franklin, 69, was briefly affianced to Wilkerson, a retired firefighter and, a source tells us, a member of the singer’s security detail. The “Respect” singer was reportedly engaged to Wilkerson for a bit in 1987, about the same time the couple appeared on the cover of Jet magazine.

(Rumors also circulated last summer that the couple were going to get hitched.)

That same source says that when Franklin was hospitalized in 2010, reportedly for pancreatic cancer, Wilkerson “was there almost 24/7 taking care of Aretha.”

In early January, Franklin said that she and Wilson were back together and planning a summer wedding.

When CNN’s Soledad O’Brien asked Franklin in a Jan. 9 interview, “Why get married now?”, Franklin replied: “Well, why not get married now? I need someone to take care of me. Help take care of me."

“You don’t feel taken care of?” said O’Brien.

“Well not as good as I could be,” Franklin said. “I take fabulous care of myself. Let’s just put that on record. But it wouldn’t hurt you know someone to be there to remind you of certain things, you know, wouldn’t hurt.”

When we initially wrote about doubts that Franklin would actually wed, our source told us that the singer’s indecision over where the wedding would be held was a sign that she was having a change of heart.

Initially, the singer said the ceremony would take place in Miami Beach, but in a later interview, she changed the location to the Hamptons. In either case, it would have been a hot wedding - and not just as a media event.

Franklin is famous for forbidding air conditioning wherever she performs, reportedly for fear it would hurt her golden voice.

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