R Kelly’s daughter claims she was sexually abused by singer when she was a child in new documentary
‘I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom,’ Joanne Kelly says in ‘R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.R Kelly’s daughter, Joanne Kelly, has opened up about her childhood with the convicted sex offender, alleging now for the first time that she too was one of his victims.
Joanne, 26, came forward with the accusations in TVEI Network’s new two-part documentary titled R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, which features “raw and emotional” interviews with Joanne, her siblings and their mother Drea Kelly, who was married to the disgraced rapper from 1996 to 2009.
“He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me,” Joanne said of her father in the documentary. “I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
Joanne does not go into detail about the alleged abuse in the first episode but says that jail is a “well-suited place” for Kelly, 57, to be in, especially due to her “personal experience.”
“I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry,” she added. “After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother [Robert] and sister [Jaah], we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now I struggle with it a lot.”
In the second episode, Joanne claimed she was only eight or nine when she allegedly faced sexual abuse at the hands of Kelly.
“I just remember waking up to him touching me,” she tearfully recalled. “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”
Joanne said when she eventually told her mother about the alleged abuse in 2009, the two went to the police and filed an anonymous complaint.
“They couldn’t prosecute him because I waited too long. So at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing,” she said.
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
In a statement shared with People via his lawyer, Kelly vehemently denied these allegations, saying: “His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded.... And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.”
The “Ignition” artist is currently serving a 31-year prison sentence at North Carolina’s FCI Butner Medium I correctional facility.
He was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. A year later, he was sentenced to 20 years on charges of illegal sexual activity as well as three counts of creating pornography that showed him abusing a minor.
A judge dismissed the prosecutor’s request that Kelly serve the sentences consecutively, instead ruling that he would serve both sentences simultaneously, with an additional one year.
The judge later rejected Kelly’s appeal to the 2023 prison sentence.
R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey is available to stream now on TVEI Networks.
If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.