Entertainment
R. Kelly’s daughter reveals a shocking alleged family secret that she only told her mother years later
Just a few days after the US Supreme Court ruling close In response to R. Kelly’s appeal of his 20-year federal sentence for child pornography charges and catching underage girls to have sex with him, the disgraced R&B singer’s daughter shared her own truth.
Buku Abi, the eldest daughter of the “Age is Just a Number” producer and his ex-wife Drea Kelly, née Joann Kelly, has revealed that her father molested her.
The mother-daughter duo will star in a recent docu-series titled “R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey,” by which Buku details how a convicted sex offender touched her inappropriately.
In a clip from the primary episode of “Growing Up,” he says in a darkly lit room: “He was everything to me. 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,” she continued, before adding: “I used to be too scared to inform anyone. I used to be too afraid to inform my mom.
When the neighborhood conversation sent clip from the documentary, fans were outraged and sprung into motion, disgusted that Kelly’s crimes could affect his own children.
While many comments spoke of her daughter’s healing, many questioned Drea’s role in protecting her children from a sexual predator, lamenting her decision to maintain the name R. Kelly.
“Where was her mother? Idc what no one says their moms know,” one person wrote.
Another comment reads: ‘It’s as much as everyone, but when I were a mother, I would not have his surname, especially if he touched our child! I do not care what so-called opportunities lie behind having a name. It’s not price it in case your name is related to sexual harassment and abuse!”
“Wow… and Andrea still sings her songs… crazy,” another person added.
A fourth comment read: “They need to play this in prison and let all the inmates see it.”
When multiple comments stated that they didn’t imagine R. Kelly’s daughter, one person said, “Only God knows the truth, and if that is true, not everyone feels comfortable talking about abuse until they feel the time is right. 100%. If it’s not true, God will take care of it!”
Although that is the primary time she has publicly shared the news of this incest, People magazine reports that Buku mustered the courage to inform her mother in 2009, when she was 10 years old and after the couple’s divorce.
The couple separated in 2005, with Drea filing for defense and dissolving the wedding 4 years later. According to to the Essence.
According to Buku, Abi Drea, as “Jane Doe”, later took her child to the police to file a criticism. However, because she stated that the assault had occurred several years earlier, law enforcement told the family that they “could not prosecute him.”
As a result, the mother stopped visiting the youngsters at his home.
“I truly feel like that one millisecond completely changed my entire life, it changed who I was as a person, it changed my radiance and the light that I carried,” Abi recalled. “When I told my mother, I didn’t go there anymore; my brother (Robert) and sister (Jaah) didn’t go there anymore. And even to at the present time I struggle a lot with it.
In the second episode, Abi explained that her father began touching her when she was 8 or 9 years old, claiming that she would sleep within the bed and get up when the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer “touched” her.
“I just remember waking as much as him touching me. I didn’t know what to do, so I just lay there and pretended to sleep,” she said within the documentary.
R. Kelly’s daughter, Buku, claims that she was sexually abused by him as a child:
“He was every part to me. For a very long time I didn’t even wish to imagine that it had happened. I didn’t know that even when he was a bad person, he would do something to me. I used to be too scared to inform anyone. AND… pic.twitter.com/939kAUmsME
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 11, 2024
Buku said she would never bring her son to prison to go to his grandfather.
During a meeting with Osei the Dark Secret on “The Culture Club Uncensored”, Drea said that she had not spoken to Kelly in about ten years.
When asked what he was like as a dad, Drea quickly replied “terrible,” noting that the singer confused being a “provider” with being a “father.”
In the interview, she alluded to a rift between him and the youngsters because he was too busy with work to find time for them.
Osei touched on a conversation concerning the adult kid’s relationship with their father after his conviction, and the choreographer said, “I actually do not know. They are adults now.”
“I left,” she explained. “When Robert Jr. he turned 18, I believed, ‘Whatever you select from here… If you would like to call him, you do not have to get permission. If you would like to visit him in prison, you do not have to have my permission. You are a young adult. Now it’s as much as you.
The longtime dancer claims that her relationship as Kelly’s ex-wife is different from being considered one of his children, which allows her to “separate” from him far more easily. “They share DNA,” she said.
Drea, who maintains she is keeping her ex-husband’s surname for the sake of the youngsters, spoke out within the documentary about her daughter’s recent allegations, saying she is happy with her.
“To say that I am proud of Joann Arielle Kelly does not begin to convey the level of bravery and bravery you have @buku.abi you are the voice of those who have no voice. Those who have been told should see you, NOT HEAR what you say” – Drea he wrote in a comment under the post promoting the series.
“Keep going and NEVER LOOK BACK, PRETTY FACE. Your sister and brother are the captains of your teams, and I will be your cheerleader until my last breath! Thanks to you, I survived. I owe you my life. I love you with all my heart.”
Kelly, nonetheless, issued a statement to People through his legal team denying the accusations.
“Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the identical allegation many years ago, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated the matter and located it to be without merit… And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they’re, haven’t been contacted with Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to disclaim these hurtful claims,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean said.
Kelly is currently serving a total of 31 years in prison. A federal judge sentenced the “R&B Pied Piper” to twenty years in prison for child pornography and soliciting sex from minors, including his 14-year-old goddaughter. Many of his crimes were exposed within the six-part documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which exposed many years of alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of underage girls and young women of color.
The court ruled that all but one yr of his prison sentence can be served concurrently with a previous 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking handed down in his 2021 Brooklyn case.
The two-episode “R. “Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey” may be watched on TVEI Streaming Network.