R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi claims that her father sexually abused her when she was a child.
In TVEI Streaming Network's new documentary series “R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter's Journey” Abi, 26, who the 57-year-old singer shares with ex-wife Andrea “Drea” Kelly, accuses Kelly of molesting her when she was 8 or 9 years old. Kelly and Drea, married from 1996 to 2009, are also the parents of son Robert and daughter Jaah.
“He was everything to me. For a long time I didn't even want to believe it had happened,” Abi, born Joann Kelly, said tearfully during the first episode of the two-part series.
“I didn't know that even if he was a bad person, he would do something to me,” Abi continued. “I was too scared to tell anyone. I was too afraid to tell my mom.”
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“I truly feel like that one millisecond completely changed my entire life, it changed who I was as a person, it changed the glow that I had and the light that I carried,” Abi said.
Abi claimed that she reported the alleged sexual assault to her mother in 2009 when she was 10 years old.
“When I told my mother, I didn't go there anymore; my brother and sister didn't go there anymore. And even to this day I struggle a lot with it.”
Kelly's lawyers did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
In a statement to People magazine, Kelly's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said: “Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, which was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and found to be unfounded. …And the “filmmakers,” whoever they are, have not contacted Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.
Abi detailed the alleged encounter in the second part of the documentary.
“When I was younger, my dad meant the world to me. You know everything,” Abi said. “I was about 8 or 9 years old. He was throwing a party and I didn't want to be left without him. So instead of sleeping in my room, I decided to sleep in his office, which was close to the party.”
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“And I just remember falling asleep and it must have been about 3 or 4 in the morning, and I just remember waking up to him touching me and not knowing what to do. So I just lay there and she pretended to sleep,” Abi recalled, crying. “And I didn't know what to do, so I just lay there and pretended to sleep.”
“I was too scared to tell anyone.”
Abi said that when she told Drea about the alleged abuse, it “completely broke her heart.” She recalled that she went to the police and gave a statement. The document said Abi was identified in the report as “Jane Doe.”
“I had to talk to officers and counselors and all these people about what happened, but because I waited so long to say anything, they really couldn't do anything about it,” Abi said. “My mother had to take my case to court. They couldn't actually charge him because I waited too long, so at that point in my life I felt like I had said something for nothing. “I felt like it was a waste of time. I felt like I was putting my mom through so much for no reason.”
Abi said she spent about two and a half weeks in a psychiatric hospital and attempted suicide “multiple times” because of the alleged sexual assault.
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In June 2022, Kelly was sentenced in New York to 30 years in prison after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. In February 2023, the rapper was sentenced in Chicago to an additional 20-year prison sentence on charges of child pornography and soliciting sex from minors. Kelly will serve all but one of his years concurrently and will likely be eligible for parole at age 80.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Kelly's request to hear an appeal of his Chicago conviction.
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“From my personal experience, prison is the right place for him,” Abi stated in “Karma: A Daughter's Journey.” Abi was pregnant while filming the docuseries and stated that she would not take her first child, a son she named Omni, to visit while he was in prison.
“If my son asks questions, I will be as honest as possible,” she said. “But I won't take my son to jail.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Violence Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to Rainn.org