R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi claims singer father sexually assaulted her as a child
R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi claims in a new two-part documentary series that her father molested her as a child.
Abi, whom Kelly shares with ex-wife Andrea "Drea" Kelly, detailed her alleged sexual abuse in an episode of the "Karma: A Daughter's Journey" series.
"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," Abi, whose legal name is Joann Kelly, says in the documentary. Abi added that she "was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom."
She continued: "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." Abi said that "after I told my mom, I didn't go over there anymore; my brother (Robert) and sister (Jaah), we didn't go over there anymore."
In a statement to People magazine, Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean said, "Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. 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."
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USA TODAY reached out to reps for R. Kelly and the documentary for comment.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the imprisoned former R&B superstar's appeal of his 2022 federal conviction on charges involving child pornography and luring underage girls to have sex with him, one of two cases in which he was found guilty of sex crimes. Kelly, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, was acquitted of seven other charges that included obstruction of justice and conspiracy to receive child pornography.
Buku Abi was 'a different person' after alleged abuse
In the series, Abi goes in depth with disturbing details about the alleged sexual abuse, saying the alleged instance happened when she was 8 or 9.
"I just remember waking up to him touching me," she tearfully recalls. "And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep." She added that "from that moment on, I was a different person."
Abi says, "It was hard to accept that it happened" and later she had to tell her mom. The news "completely broke her heart" she says about mom Drea Kelly.
Abi is one of the embattled artist's three children with ex-wife Drea Kelly; the two were married from 1996 to 2009.
In 2019, the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer sparked a controversy when he shared a video to Instagram and Twitter, singing and telling his estranged daughter, "Happy birthday baby. Daddy loves you. I love you, no matter what, I love you so much."
R. Kelly criticized for 'shamelessly'singing 'Happy Birthday' to estranged daughter
Abi started using a different name to separate herself from her father's last name and previously took to social media in January 2019 to publicly condemn Kelly, calling him a "monster" and noting that "it has been years since my siblings and I have seen or have spoken to him." Abi publicly addressed her relationship with her father amid damning allegations against her father that were highlighted in Lifetime's "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries.
"R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter's Journey" is currently streaming on TVEI Streaming Network.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
Contributing: Maeve McDermott, Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY; John Kruzel, Reuters