#Surviving RKelly: All the shocking claims we learned from the first part of the docu-series #SurvivingRKelly
Ahsinet Monee
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
“Surviving R. Kelly,” which premiered Thursday on Lifetime as part of a three-night, six-hour event, has been making headlines for the disturbing portrait it paints of the controversial singer.
Below, read more about the most troubling allegations in Part 1 of “Surviving R. Kelly.” Here:
R. Kelly’s brother says they were both molested as kids
Kelly has publicly said he was molested by an older female relative as a child, first in his 2012 “Soulacoaster” autobiography and several additional times over the years. In “Surviving R. Kelly,” the singer’s younger brother, Carey, says he experienced similar abuse.
“If he’s saying (he was abused), I don’t think he’s lying,” Carey Kelly says in an interview for the documentary. “Because it happened to me. It happened to me. … I was molested by a family member, and it shook my world, because I didn’t understand it. I knew it wasn’t right, even though I was 6 years old at the time.”
Former backup singer Jovante Cunningham claims R. Kelly had sex with an underage girl while others watched
Cunningham, one of Kelly’s former backup singers, is one of the few women interviewed in “Surviving R. Kelly” who worked with the singer while she was underage but does not claim he sexually propositioned her.
One of the many harrowing stories Cunningham tells recounts a time she was in the studio recording with Kelly when he started having sex with a girl she knew was underage – in full view of others.
“The first time I witnessed a sexual act in the studio was during the recording of (Kelly’s song) ‘Slow Dance (Remix).’ He had one of my teenage friends in the booth with him, bent over. We were all right there. I will not say with whom, but I knew she was underage.”
R. Kelly’s ex assistant describes Aaliyah as ‘worried, scared’ during alleged wedding
Kelly reportedly married singer Aaliyah on Aug. 31, 1994, using a falsified Cook County marriage certificate, later published by Vibe, that listed her age as 18. (She was, in fact, just 15 at the time.) Demetrius Smith, Kelly’s former tour manager and personal assistant, who has come out previously with disturbing details about his time with the singer, shared more details about Kelly and Aaliyah’s wedding day.
R. Kelly’s ‘You Are Not Alone’ may have a disturbing backstory
Lizzette Martinez says Kelly coerced her into a sexual relationship when she was underage. She said in the documentary that she became pregnant with Kelly’s child when she was a senior in high school, and miscarried shortly after she found out about the pregnancy.
Andrea Lee says her wedding to R. Kelly was a surprise – even to her
Lee was one of Kelly’s backup dancers before she married the singer in 1996 when she was 22. Lee, who recounts stories of her husband’s controlling and abusive behavior in “Surviving R. Kelly,” also shares the unconventional story of their wedding day, a surprise ceremony Kelly threw for Lee.
“My wedding was a surprise wedding. I did not know I was getting married,” she said. “We went to Colorado and I remember going into a hotel room and there was a violinist, there was a cello player, he had the cake, he had the food, he had everything. He went over the top.”
The six-hour Lifetime docuseries will continue Friday, January 4th at 9 p.m. ET/PT; and Saturday, January 5th at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Follow Hip-HopVibe.com on Twitter @HipHopVibe1.