R. Kelly’s daughter claims singer sexually abused her as a child

R. Kelly’s daughter Buku Abi claims in a new documentary that her father sexually abused her as a child.

Abi, whom Kelly shares with his ex-wife Andrea “Drea” Kelly, made the accusation in the two-part series R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journeywhich premiered on Friday (October 11) on the TVEI Streaming Network.

“He was my everything. For a long time I didn’t even want to believe it happened. “I didn’t know he would hurt me even if he was a bad person,” Abi, whose legal name is Joann Kelly, says in the episode. “I was too afraid to tell anyone. I was too afraid to tell my mother.”

In the second episode, Abi, now 26, claims the abuse took place when she was 8 or 9 years old. “I just remember waking up to him touching me,” she recalls through tears. “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just laid there and pretended to be asleep.” She added: “From that moment on I was a different person.”

Abi says she first reported the alleged abuse to her mother in 2009 and filed a complaint under “Jane Doe,” but the statute of limitations had expired. “They couldn’t prosecute him because I waited too long. At that point in my life I felt like I had said something for nothing,” she said.

Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said in a statement People that the imprisoned singer “vehemently denies these allegations.” His ex-wife made the same claim years ago, which was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & 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 allegations.”

The disgraced R&B singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in 2021. In 2022, Kelly was also convicted of six counts of child pornography and enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity.

The first two episodes of R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey are currently streaming on the TVEI Streaming Network.