Joann Kelly, the daughter of a famous American singer, R. Kelly, has claimed that her father sexually abused her as a child.
Speaking in a new two part documentary series for the TVEI Streaming Network, Joann said she first reported the abuse to her mother, Drea, in 2009.
The 26-year-old who did not detail the alleged abuse, stated in an episode of the documentary titled ‘Karma: A Daughter’s Journey’, that the jail sentence of the 57-year-old singer is well deserved.
“My father was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that he would do something to me even if he was a bad person.
“I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom. I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life, who I was as a person and the light I used to carry.
“After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother (Robert) and sister (Jaah) we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now I struggle with it a lot.”
Reacting to the documentary, the singer’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean in a public statement denied the allegations.
The singer was sentenced to 20 years in prison In February 2023, for child pornography and enticement charges.
He will serve the years concurrently with a prior 30-year prison sentence from a separate case in New York on July 29, 2022.