Trigger warning: This article contains mention of sexual abuse, child pornography, and suicidal thoughts
R. Kelly’s daughter Baku Abi is opening up publicly for the first time about the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of her father as a child. The final minutes of TVEI streaming network’s new two-episode documentary reveal that Abi, 26, was abused by the singer as a child and first reported it to her mother Andrea in 2009 when she was ten years old. Was.
“He was my everything. For a long time I didn’t want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even though he was a bad person that he would do something to me,” Abi says in the documentary, the first episode of which is now streaming. “I was so afraid to tell anyone. I was too afraid to tell my mother.”
Abi, who was born Joan Kelly, according to People, did not elaborate on the alleged abuse in the show’s first episode, however, she did say she believed that for Kelly, 57, Prison is a “well-suited place”. As she knows from personal experience.
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For those who may not know, in February 2023, Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography and soliciting minors for sex. A year before that, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for fraud and sex trafficking. He is currently serving a concurrent sentence of 19 years from his two sentences. He will be eligible for release only in 2045.
According to the publication mentioned above, Abi recalls waking up from Kelly touching her in the second episode of the documentary. She says she didn’t know what to do because she was only 8 or 9 years old, so she just lay there and pretended to sleep.
In a statement to People, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said, “Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegations years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The claim was made by Kelly and was baseless. The lawyer claimed to the publication that the producers of the documentary did not even contact Kelly to deny the allegations being aired by his daughter.
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R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey follows her family as they try to move on with their lives after her arrest and conviction. It shows Abi preparing to welcome a child of her own after revealing in the first part of the series that she struggled with suicidal thoughts while living in her father’s shadow.
Meanwhile, R. Kelly’s other two children, Robert Jr. and Joe Kelly, also said in the documentary that they were satisfied with their father’s sentence.
If you need support or know someone who is struggling with assault, abuse or suicidal thoughts, please contact your nearest mental health professional, NGO or talk to someone about it. There are many helplines available for this.
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