New Details About The R. Kelly Documentary — Including How He Got Aaliyah Pregnant And How Timabland Also Confessed His Love For Her
WOAH.
Allegations of sexual abuse against R. Kelly are back in the spotlight thanks to a new Lifetime documentary series.
The bombshell six-part series, "Surviving R. Kelly," highlights the rapper's life, which the network describes as "riddled with rumors of abuse, predatory behavior, and pedophilia," through his accusers as well as insiders.
The show's Thursday premiere brought the #MeToo Movement into 2019 and caused quite a stir with its content. It revisits prior accusations against the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer accompanied by detailed and emotional interviews with his accusers, witnesses, and family; including his alleged relationship with 15-year-old singer Aaliyah Haughton and a 2011 video interview of producer Timbaland also confessing that he had romantic feelings for the underaged girl.
Although Kelly, 52, has continuously denied any and all allegations regarding sexual abuse and claims of relationships with underage girls throughout his music career, "Surviving R. Kelly" came at him with full force.
"Women are emerging from the shadows and uniting their voices to share their stories" of the "sexual, mental, and physical abuse" they suffered at the hands of the R&B icon.
The documentary series, airing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, is comprised of over 50 interviews with exes, family members, and celebrities, including Kelly's ex-wife Andrea Kelly, ex-girlfriend Kitti Jones, brothers Carey and Bruce Kelly, singer John Legend, talk show host Wendy Williams, to tell what they call the "true story" of R. Kelly's life.
According to TMZ, R. Kelly intends to sue Lifetime over the series, claiming it is full of false allegations and that the network was aware that "some of the girls are lying, but that the budget was too high to turn back now." Prior to the Jan. 3 debut, Kelly threatened to sue Lifetime if the series aired, but the network had no plans of canceling the special.
"Lifetime has always been a brand that champions women’s stories," a Lifetime rep told TMZ.
The first episode focuses on R. Kelly's relationship with Haughton. In an emotional interview, former backup singer Jovante Cunningham details how she directly witnessed the "Bump n' Grind" singer's sexual relationship with Haughton, who was just 15 years old at the time.
Rumors spread of a marriage between Kelly and Haughton and his former personal assistant Demetrius Smith admitted to obtaining false marriage documents that claimed the then 15-year-old girl was 18. Smith went on to say that at first, he didn't believe Kelly was messing around with such a young girl but when the rapper confided in him about he possibly got Haughton pregnant, he was shocked.
“Robert came to me, we were in Miami,” Smith recalled. “Robert said, ‘Man we got Aaliyah in trouble.’” It was then that Smith realized what was going on. “Robert mentioned to me that ‘I think she’s pregnant.' That broke my heart right there because I really believed him when he said that he wasn’t messing with Aaliyah…Once he told me that I was at a loss for words.”
Despite the marriage and rumored sexual relationships with underage black girls, Kelly's career continued to flourish. But his rise to the top of the charts was riddled with accusations of sexual misconduct since the 1990s.
In 2002, he was indicted after the discovery of a video that appeared to be of him engaging in sexual acts with a minor who was reportedly 14. Both Kelly and the girl denied they were in the video and he was never charged for it. He made headlines again when he was charged with 21 counts of child pornography but was found not guilty in 2008.
According to a 2017 report by BuzzFeed, Kelly allegedly kept at least six women against their will at his Georgia and Chicago properties and was grooming them for his "sex cult," although no charges were ever filed against him for it. Kelly later released the 18-minute single "I Admit" in 2018, in which he admitted to infidelity but denied any sexual abuse accusations.
The nature of the documentary series is tough and its production was even jeopardized by an unnamed Chicago man who called the studio threatening to shoot up the place.
“When I said I'm at war with R. Kelly, this is what I meant. I don't ever want to underestimate him," the show's producer, dream hampton, told Shadow and Act. “This is a man who has built systems around his abuse, which is something that you'll see in the docuseries."
Along with struggling to safely create "Surviving R. Kelly," hampton had trouble finding celebrities who would agree to appear in it. Many big-names reportedly turned down interviews, according to Hampton.
"It was incredibly difficult to get people who had collaborated (artistically) with Kelly to come forward," she told the Detroit Free Press. "We asked Lady Gaga. We asked Erykah Badu. We asked Celine Dion. We asked Jay-Z. We asked Dave Chappelle. (They're) people who have been critical of him. That makes John Legend even more of a hero for me."
But their declinations were not in support of the rapper's alleged decades of abuse, hampton believes. It's just a subject no one wants to touch.
"It's not because they support him, it's because it's so messy and muddy," hampton explained to Shadow and Act. "It's that turning away that has allowed this to go on."
John Legend was one of the few celebrities to appear on the series and speak out against Kelly's lifestyle and has been applauded for standing up against one of the biggest names in music. He was just doing what he felt was right, he told his followers.
"To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn't feel risky at all," Legend tweeted Thursday. "I believe these women and don't give a f*** about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision."
So what will come of the docuseries? Social death, hampton hopes.
“I think that social death is a real thing and a possible, just thing," hampton told Shadow and Act. "So my hope is that we truly turn away from him. My wish was that it would've been 15 years ago."
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.