R. Kelly's daughter claims singer abused her as a child
Oct 12, 2024
Los Angeles [US], October 12 : R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi has levelled shocking allegations against the imprisoned singer in a new documentary for the TVEI Streaming Network.
Buku claimed that R Kelly sexually abused her as a child, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
"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," a tearful Buku Abi said in R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter's Journey. "I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom."
Her untold story is revealed as part of the two-part documentary that includes emotional interviews with Abi's siblings, Jaah and Robert Kelly Jr. and their mother, Drea Kelly. "What he did to me, he did to me. But you didn't have to do it to my damn kids," his ex-wife said.
"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. After I told my mom, I didn't go over there anymore," Abi said, via People. "My brother (Robert) and sister (Jaah), we didn't go over there anymore. And even up until now, I struggle with it a lot."
"Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations," Kelly's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, of the New York City-based Bonjean Law Group said in a statement to People. "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."
In 2021, Kelly, who had become an R&B superstar known for his anthem "I Believe I Can Fly," was convicted after a sex trafficking trial that followed decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children.
As per People, In February 2023, Kelly was sentenced in Chicago to 20 years in prison on charges of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. The year prior, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking charges based out of New York.