From what I hear, Irv is really cool. I guess there's a certain image he has to keep up (what with him being the frontman of a major record label), but behind that image he's pretty decent. I remember when he logged on to the official forums all those years ago, just after news had broke that he signed Vanessa, and he seemed pretty excited and even had a small chat with the fans. There were big plans for that album, and from what my friend told me, Vanessa didn't really seem interested in them. Not saying she wanted the album to be a commercial failure, but I mean ... I think Irv and Vanessa had different ideas of what success would be with that album - he wanted her playing at big award shows, scoring hits on the BB charts, etc, etc and she cared more about the critical acclaim and touring.
I think it's good they both realised their BUSINESS relationship wasn't going to work out but their personal friendship remained intact. You hear stories where artists usually leave their label on bad terms and it's all a big mess.