Revealing How She Almost Committed Suicide Whilst Married to R Kelly’s, Andrea Kelly Breaks Her Silence 10-Years After Their Divorce
One of the voices conspicuously missing to date in the ongoing case of R. Kelly‘s alleged sexual abuse scandal is that of the singer’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, who is the mother of his three children.
In recent months, several women have come forward detailing the emotional and physical trauma they’ve allegedly experienced at the hands of the Chicago-based singer-songwriter.
The dancer/choreographer who was married to R. Kelly from 1996-2009, who has been silent on the allegations that Kelly has been keeping a group of young women in what has been deemed a “sex cult” for several years, reportedly controlling their movements, access to the outside world and even their bathroom habits—is now opening up.
In an exclusive interview on TV One’s daytime talk show Sister Circle, Andrea Kelly, spoke out about the domestic abuse allegedly caused by the R&B singer during their marriage. Kelly detailed for viewers the moment when she finally walked away from her ex-husband.
“That day, I just remember playing sick all day,” explained Kelly, while trying to fight back tears. “I went and got in the bed, and I was just like, ‘Okay, what are you going to do?’ And something just said, ‘end it.’ That was my first answer.”
Andrea said she prayed for guidance and that God steered her in the direction of a questionnaire on a domestic violence website.
“I remember going out on the balcony,” Andrea recalled. “We [Kelly and family] were at the Wyndham Grand Bay Hotel. I’ll never forget it…Coconut Grove. I actually climbed up on the balcony, and I had one foot propped up against the wall and my other foot I climbed up on the ledge.
I remember looking down, and it’s almost like God was able to let me see the future. I saw my body lying in blood, and I saw the ambulance coming. I saw housekeeping come out, and they were pointing up, and they [housekeeping in her vision] said, ‘she jumped from up there.'”
Crying uncontrollably, Kelly continued:
“Then, I remember my baby’s voice in the back going, ‘Mama, mama…why did mama jump? Why did mama leave us?'”
It was at that moment Kelly realized she had to do something, so she got down off the hotel balcony and pleaded with God for answer, saying,
“God, you have to give me an answer today, not tomorrow, not in an hour. I need it now. What do you want me to do, if this is not for me,” Kelly asked.
Kelly said God told her to “grab your laptop.” Though she questioned the command, thinking that she was “not the teeth missing, broken bone girl,” Kelly finally obliged. On her laptop, she said that God told her to type in “domestic violence.” It led her to the aforementioned questionnaire.
“I kept scrolling, and at the end of the domestic violence awareness website, there was a questionnaire,” she shared, with tears drenching her face.
“There were 17 questions and they ask you, ‘Has your abuser ever done…?’ And of the 17, Robert [R. Kelly] had done 15 to me.”
Kelly also sat with the parents of Joycelyn Savage, who have claimed that the singer has brainwashed their daughter and restricted their access to her, claims Savage has appeared to refute in handful of stilted media appearances.
“I just want you to know that I stand in the gap for Joycelyn, and I know I understand it to a level that no police officer, no counselor, no judge, nobody will understand,” Kelly told the Savages.
Andrea Kelly said her parents and family had taken some of the same public actions to reach her as the Savages have in appealing to the press for help in contacting their daughter.
Blaming R. Kelly’s ability to avoid prosecution or censure for his alleged actions on “enablers” who surround the singer and shield him from consequences, the Savages thanked Andrea Kelly for speaking out.
Kelly explained that she’s waited nearly a decade to break her silence because she feels that her ex-husband doesn’t have anyone in his life who truly loves him or who will encourage him to face reality.
“I don’t believe that my ex-husband has enough people in his life to be real with him, to be honest with him, who care about his healing, who care about these family’s healings,” she said.
Andrea Kelly did not appear to directly confront the details of the current allegations against her ex-husband, which have played out in a series of exposes over the past year that culminated last month in a police report filed in Dallas.
According to the report, a woman claims that R. Kelly knowingly infected her with an STD during an eight-month relationship that began when she was 19 years-old. The woman also claims that she was the victim of unlawful restraint, the furnishing of alcohol and illegal drugs to a minor and aggravated assault (via the alleged intentional STD infection).
Through her lawyer, the woman further alleged that she was “being groomed to join Kelly’s sex cult,” allegations of which first arose last year when parents of two young women living with Kelly told Buzzfeed they believed their daughters were being manipulated, abused, and prevented from contacting family.
“R. Kelly gradually introduced the cult to our client over the course of their relationship, culminating with an explanation that she would have to sign a contract and offer collateral information about herself and her family for Kelly’s protection,” the attorney’s statement said.
After the relationship with R. Kelly ended, the latest accuser reached out to the parents of a woman named in last year’s Buzzfeed report, who apparently advised her to get tested for STDs.
Kelly, who turned 51 in January, has faced accusations of sexual misconduct and grooming underage women for more than 20 years.
Last year’s Buzzfeed report — by journalist Jim DeRogatis, who has covered R. Kelly closely since receiving an anonymous sex tape that ultimately led to Kelly’s acquittal on child porn charges in 2008 — has led to intensified scrutiny.
In the months since the explosive “cult” report, a former radio DJ has alleged similar sexual and psychological abuse, saying some victims were as young as 14.
Another woman has said R. Kelly had sex with her while she was underage, then attempted to conceal the relationship by asking her to sign a false incriminating statement and a non-disclosure agreement.
The string of allegations against the singer have given rise to the online #MuteRKelly movement, which has sought to get him banned from radio and concert appearances in an effort to shine a light on what they say is a “25 year history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse allegations.”
Kelly has consistently denied all allegations of misconduct; a spokesperson for the singer had not returned requests for comment at press time.
This is deep. I am glad she left and didn’t end her life.