R. Kelly Arrested for Failure to Pay Child Support

Just hours after R. Kelly’s emotional appearance on “CBS This Morning” today, the embattled singer was taken into custody in Chicago after a child-support hearing, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The singer — pictured above arriving in court today — left the courtroom in handcuffs and a rep for the sheriff’s office told the paper he is returning to Cook County Jail, where he spent three days after being arrested on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims — three of whom were minors — on Feb. 22.

Last month, a Cook County judge issued an order that would send Kelly to jail if he did not pay $161,663 he owes his ex-wife, Drea Kelly, by 10 a.m. today. Drea was among multiple women who alleged sexual misconduct against the singer in the recent Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly.”

Kelly is estranged from the three children from his 10-year marriage to Drea, which ended in divorce in 2009. During his interview on “CBS This Morning,” he became quite emotional when talking about his children. “I’m not really fighting for my career here — I’m fighting for my rights and I’m fighting to have a relationship with my kids, more than anything, because I missed a lot of years of their life. They love me, I love them,” he said, welling up. When interviewer Gayle King asked whether the children want to have a relationship with him, Kelly replied, “I bet you they do. I bet my breath on it. [But] they’re pressured [not to see him], and I get it.”

Steven Greenberg, Kelly’s attorney, recently said Kelly has been struggling financially and the spent three days in jail after his arrest last month before he was able to raise the $100,000 required to secure his release on $1 million bail. A female fan ultimately put up the money.

Greenberg did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.

David France, Drea Kelly’s manager, told the Sun-Times, “Mr. Kelly has more than 20 people on his staff who, needless to say, are being paid. He is not without means. Not until he was arrested did he say he didn’t have any money.”

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