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New abuse claims made against R Kelly
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 24 October 2017
New allegations of abuse have been made against R Kelly in a lengthy interview in Rolling Stone with former radio DJ Kitti Jones, who claims she was mentally and physically abused during a two year relationship with the singer from 2011 to 2013.
Jones says she began a relationship with Kelly after meeting him at a concert in 2011 and subsequently relocated to Chicago to move into his apartment.
She alleges that Kelly offered to pay her double her current salary to make the move, while telling her that he wanted her to meet some of his female friends. She claims he told her: “I have friends and I have girls I’ve raised. I eventually want you to meet them, but I want to make sure you’re mentally ready for that”.
During her time living in Kelly’s homes, Jones says that the singer was routinely controlling over her life and the lives of other women, who were often monitored and required to ask for permission to undertake mundane tasks. She was also allegedly forced to become sexually involved with those other women for Kelly’s gratification.
She states: “He videotapes everything that he does, and sometimes he’ll just make you watch what he’s done to other girls or girls that he had be together. He would masturbate to that and then have you give him oral sex while he’s watching what he did with somebody else on his iPad”.
Jones alleges physical abuse too, in particular after she questioned Kelly about his 2008 child pornography trial – in which he was acquitted – and when she tried to reclaim some belongings after deciding to end their relationship.
The experience ultimately resulted in Jones becoming suicidal, before she decided to get away from Kelly, telling the singer she needed to return to Dallas to see her son.
Numerous abuse allegations have been made against Kelly over the years, including the accusations of him sexually abusing underage girls, which led to the 2008 court case.
American journalist Jim DeRogatis has regularly reported on those allegations, documenting numerous lawsuits that have been brought against Kelly alleging sexual abuse, all of which the singer settled out of court.
His most recent piece for BuzzFeed in July claimed that R Kelly was running an abusive cult, with three sets of parents alleging that their daughters had been “brainwashed” by the singer who was now controlling their lives, down to what they eat and wear, and when they sleep and bathe.
Kelly has always denied the various allegations made against him. Responding to the new allegations in the Rolling Stone interview, a representative said: “Mr Kelly is aware of the repeated and now evolving claims of [Ms Jones]. It is unfortunate that Ms Jones, after public statements to the contrary, is now attempting to portray a relationship history with Mr Kelly as anything other than consensual involvement between two adults”.
The rep continued: “As stated previously, Mr Kelly does not control the decision-making or force the actions of any other human being, including Ms Jones, by her own admission. Any claim of wrongdoing of any kind or of mistreatment of any woman by him is false, ill-motived and defamatory”.
