CONVICTED sex offender R Kelly’s daughter has accused her father of sexually abusing her as a child, detailing the allegations in an emotional new interview.
Buku Abi, born Joanne Kelly, claims the disgraced singer molested her in Illinois in the early 2000s.
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R. Kelly’s daughter, Buku Abi, featured in the two-part documentary, R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s JourneyCredit: TVEI Network
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Singer R. Kelly leaves after appearing at a hearing in Leighton Criminal Court on September 17, 2019 in ChicagoCredit: Getty – Pool
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R Kelly pictured with his two daughters Buku Abi and Jaah Credit: TVEI Network
The 26-year-old made the allegations, which Kelly denies, in a new two-part TVEI documentary, R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey.
“He was everything to me,” she says of her dad in the document.
“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, he would do something to me.
“I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
Abi says she told her mom, Andrea, in 2009 when she was 10, and the couple went to press charges in an anonymous police report in Illinois.
However, they were told the officers would not be able to help because they had “waited too long” to speak.
Until 2019, prosecutors had a maximum of 10 years to bring charges against suspects for alleged sexual crimes, but only if the offense was reported to the police within three years of its commission.
“I really feel like that one millisecond completely changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the glow that I had and the light that I carried,” Abi said.
“After I told my mom, I didn’t go there anymore; my brother [Robert] and a sister [Jaah]we didn’t go there anymore. Even now, I struggle with it a lot.”
The brave daughter said the alleged abuse happened when she was around eight or nine years old.
R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey – OFFICIAL TRAILER, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkfz4_edz-Y
“I just remember waking up when he touched me,” she says through tears in the documentary.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I just lay there and pretended to be asleep.”
Kelly (57) strongly denied his daughter’s accusations.
In a statement shared with People, the singer’s attorney, attorney Jennifer Bonjea, said, “His ex-wife made the same claim years ago and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Families and found to be unfounded.
“And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, have not reached out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these damaging claims.”
In February 2023, Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of child pornography and solicitation of a minor for sex.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on racketeering and sex trafficking charges from New York the year before.
When Kelly was 27, he married 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in a secret ceremony in Chicago, but the marriage was annulled when it emerged that her real age was not listed on the marriage certificate.
Statement of Attorney R. Kelly
R. Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, released the following statement in response to his daughter’s allegations:
“Mr Kelly vehemently denies these allegations.
“His ex-wife made the same claim years ago and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and found to be unfounded…
“And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, have not reached out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these damaging claims.”
Kelly was hit with further allegations of sexual abuse of minors in 1996, 2001 and 2002.
He was charged with 21 counts of making videos of child sexual abuse in June 2002, but was acquitted of all counts during a 2008 trial.
In 2017, a Buzzfeed investigation claimed that Kelly had ensnared six women in a sex “cult.”
The singer is accused of controlling the women’s lives, including what they eat and wear, when they sleep, and keeping records of their sexual activity.
The chilling allegations prompted more accusers to come forward, and in July 2019, Kelly was arrested and charged with felony sex trafficking.
The singer is currently serving 19 years of his two sentences at FCI Butner Medium I Correctional Facility in North Carolina and will be eligible for release in 2045.
US Sun has approached R Kelly’s lawyer for comment.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues listed in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
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Kelly pictured with her three children Abi, Robert and Jaah Credit: TVEI Network
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The happy snaps show the dad smiling and laughing with his familyCredit: TVEI Network
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Buku Abi shed tears as she recalled the alleged childhood traumaCredit: TVEI Network
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Abia’s mom Drea also speaks in the documentary Credit: TVEI Network
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R. Kelly seen arriving at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse for a hearing on June 26, 2019 in ChicagoCredit: Getty
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Buku Abi pictured at The London West Hollywood on July 16, 2019. Credit: Getty
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