R Kelly’s daughter has accused her father of sexual abuse in a new two-part documentary that interviews the disgraced singer’s family about moving on after his convictions
Disgraced R&B singer R Kelly was convicted of various sex crimes but now his daughter is alleging more possible crimes against him.
Buku Abi, the singer’s daughter who was born Joanne Kelly, has claimed she was one of her father’s victims in a new two-part documentary. The series, R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, premiered Friday on the TVEI Streaming Network and includes interviews with Kelly’s family and how their lives were affected by Kelly’s crimes.
In 2022, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking. A year later, he was convicted of illegal sexual activity and three counts of creating pornography that showed him abusing a minor and sentenced to 20 years. He is serving both charges simultaneously for a total of 31 years.
“He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened,” Abi said in the documentary, “I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me. I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
Kelly is serving 31 years in prison (
POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
She claimed the abuse happened when she was around 8 or 9 years old. “I just remember waking up to him touching me,” she said through tears, “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”
Abi alleges she eventually told her mother and claims the two went to the police but nothing could be done. There is no police report because it was past the statute of limitations “They couldn’t prosecute him because I waited too long. So at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing,” she said.
Her mother, Andrea Kelly, was married to Kelly from 1996 to 2009. She has also accused Kelly of abuse but has never gone to court with these allegations.
Kelly’s lawyer shared a statement with People denying his daughter’s claims. “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,” said his attorney Jennifer Bonjean, “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.”
