Robert Kelly, 52, simply known as R. Kelly to millions of music fans had a global audience, three Grammy awards, and sold some 75 million records. But now he is a mirror, reflecting a reckoning at the heart of the times we live in.
He is famous for the music he has given us. And he is infamous, for allegations he sexually abused women, for over two decades. Kelly vehemently denies those allegations.
The exclusive, explosive interview “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King had with him this week is part of a larger conversation America is smack in the middle of. It has to do with violence, privilege and the rights of women. It has to do with the behavior of public figures.
You may have already seen some of King’s interview with R Kelly. But you haven’t seen it all — not yet.
King met with Kelly in a high-rise in Chicago just eight short miles, and a world away from the Cook County jail, where he now sits.
R. Kelly is currently behind bars. The issue: failure to pay child support. Kelly owes his ex-wife Andrea more than $161,000 for their three children. It’s the latest in his mounting legal troubles.
Kelly was indicted before a Cook County grand jury on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims.
Prosecutors in Chicago say three of Kelly’s victims were underage girls and that Kelly abused them over a span of about a dozen years. As disturbing as these allegations are, they are not the only ones.
There are also accusations that Kelly has beaten, starved and held other women against their will — a so-called “sex cult.”
When King spoke to him earlier this week, it was clear the pressure was getting to him.
“Believe me, man! This is not me! They lying on me! They’re lying on me! I’m cool, bro,” he said standing and screaming.
“All right. Robert,” said King.
“I’m cool. I’m good. I’m not afraid because I’m telling the truth. I’m not afraid because I’m telling the truth!” he said covering his face with his hands.
The truth, according to Kelly, is that he’s never abused women sexually or physically or held anyone captive. And he adamantly denies that he preyed on underage girls.
“See the thing is that I’m not a controlling person. It’s just that I am in control of my household. Like, say, if you live with me, I consider myself the king of the castle and you’re the queen of the castle,” R. Kelly told King.
The way R. Kelly tells it – he treats women like royalty. But his recent legal troubles began when a very different story was told in January on the six-part Lifetime series “Surviving R. Kelly.”
“– everybody says something bad about me. Nobody said nothing good. They was describing Lucifer. I’m not Lucifer.
“I was horrified when I started hearing about how he was operating,” says series executive producer Dream Hampton. “I’ve heard it called a sex cult.”
“Just a lot of rumors that suggest that I’m handcuffing people, starving people. I have a harem. – whatcha call it, a cult. I don’t even know what a cult is. But I know I don’t have one,” Kelly told King.
But according to interviews in the documentary, Kelly preys on young girls he spots in places like McDonalds and at malls, using his popularity to lure them in.