R. Kelly’s daughter has spoken about her father ahead of an upcoming documentary.
In June 2022, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking charges based out of New York.
However, 19 years of the two sentences will be served concurrently, and he is expected to be released in 2045.
Following this charge, the 57-year-old singer was sentenced in Chicago to 20 years in prison in February 2023 on charges of child sexual abuse images and enticement of minors for sex.
In a teaser for documentary titled R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, Joanne Kelly talks about how her father’s repeated sex crime convictions “changed my whole life” as she opens up about their broken relationship.
“Nobody wants to be the child of the father that is out here hurting women and children,” said Joanne.
“He knows exactly why we can’t have the relationship that we would have liked to have with him.”
“He was my everything,” she says of her father.
“For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that, even if he was a bad person, that he would do something to me.”
R. Kelly’s Daughter Speaks Out in Upcoming Documentary: ‘I Will Not Take My Son to a Prison to Meet His Grandfather’ https://t.co/B909eF7dhE
— People (@people) October 2, 2024
“I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life,” she said, referring toKelly’s conviction.
“If my son asks questions, I’m going to be as truthful as possible. And I will not be taking my son to prison to meet his grandfather,” she added.
An emotional scene from the trailer features Kelly’s ex-wife, Drea Kelly, who is the mother of Joanne and her siblings.
“Just because you’re not a good husband, doesn’t mean you can’t be a good father. And the fact that he didn’t even try,” Drea, said of R. Kelly.
“What he did to me, he did to me. But you didn’t have to do it to my damn kids.”
In 2020, R. Kelly was first accused of possessing child sexual abuse images and engaging in sexual acts with underage girls dating back to the mid to late-1990s.
His team argued that the statute of limitations window had closed.
Prosecutors disputed that argument, citing the PROTECT ACT, a 2003 law that declared the statute of limitations is indefinite for sex crimes against children.
