R. Kelly, jailed over failure to pay child support, says he’s got about $350,000 left
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Updated Mar 7, 2019 2:56 PM EST
Watch CBS News’ primetime special, “The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly,” on Friday, March 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT
Hours after his explosive interview with Gayle King aired on “CBS This Morning,” R. Kelly found himself back behind bars Wednesday where authorities said he’ll remain until he comes up with the more than $161,000 he owes in child support payments. Kelly told King he has just around $350,000 left in his bank account.
“So many people have been stealin’ my money. People was connected to my account. I went into — I went by myself for the first time to a Bank of America. Didn’t know what I was doing. Didn’t know what the hell was going on,” he said.
Kelly claims the first time he went alone to a Bank of America was about a month ago. “Because I was so tired of not knowin’ where my money was, what my publishing is.”
- R. Kelly says parents of the women he lives with handed their daughters over to him
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Kelly conceded a lot of not knowing his own financial situation is his fault, saying, “a lot of it’s on me.” To those who say he doesn’t have money because he’s had to pay out so many settlements, he said, “Lie.”
According to court documents, Kelly settled three lawsuits with women who allege they were minors when he had sex with them. But Kelly said what really cost him is the people who had access to his bank account, something he found out from a bank teller.
“Because the songs I’ve written, baby, I mean, you know, the songs I’ve written are songs that can handle settlements and everything else,” Kelly said.
“I had, like, $350,000 in the bank. And I told her, ‘Look, take that. I’m gonna start a new account.’ And that’s where it is, right? So she said, ‘Okay. It’s gonna take six to seven business days to clear.’ Does that make sense?”
The day after the trip to the bank, Kelly was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He said he was unable to access his bank account to make bail. Now, he’s back in jail for the separate child support case. Something he became emotional about during our interview.
“How can I pay child support? How?! If my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can’t work? How can I work? How can I get paid? How can I take care of my kids? How?” he said through tears.
Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, claims he abused her. Kelly said it’s a lie.
“Thirteen years being married … I flew in on a helicopter. I flew in on a helicopter,” Kelly said.
“I believe I’m telling y’all. I’m telling y’all. I flew in on a helicopter with a damn puppy. And I proposed to Drea who I was in love with and told her, ‘Hey, look, I make mistakes. I’m not perfect.’ … We got married. Okay. We had three beautiful kids … Not once have I ever had a domestic violence call at the house and all this that and the other. It never happened. Okay.”
But in the Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” his ex-wife Andrea described a tumultuous and sometimes dangerous relationship.
“I went to the National Domestic Violence awareness hotline. And there’s 17 questions. There was only two things on that list that Robert hadn’t done to me. And that’s when it became real to me, like ‘Drea, you’re being abused,'” she said in the series.
“She’s not telling the truth. I love her to death. I, you know, I have nothing against her still. That is my kids’ mother,” Kelly said.
“I’m not disrespecting her by saying she’s not telling the truth. I’m just being honest … Somebody sent me something on my phone and it said that I hogtied her. I don’t know how to hogtie people. Why would I hogtie her? My kids is listening to this, all of this nonsense and I ain’t been able to spend no time with them. This is real. This is not a lie,” he said through tears.
He continued, “What kind of woman would tear down a dad who’s trying to have a relationship with their kids? You know how many kids need a relationship with their father?”
Kelly said his relationship with his children is “zero.” “But I know my kids love me. And I’m in love with my kids. I love my kids.”
Kelly has three children. After Lifetime aired the docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which featured interviews with seven accusers and former members of his inner circle, Kelly’s oldest child wrote in an Instagram post that she and her siblings hadn’t had a relationship with their father for years. He believes they still want a relationship with him despite the charges he’s facing and the intense scrutiny he’s under.
“I’m really not really fightin’ for my career here. I’m fightin’ for my rights and I’m fightin’ to have a relationship with my kids most of all, more than anything. I want a relationship with my kids ’cause I’ve missed a lot of years of their life. They love me. I love them,” he said.
“I bet ya they do. I bet my breath on it, you know? But they’re pressured. And I get it. They’re pressured. So I get it. But I believe that’s gonna change in due time,” he said.
“You have daughters. If your daughters called you and said that somebody is doing to them what the allegations are about you, would you be OK with that?” King asked.
“Then I would have to arrest myself after I did what I had to do,” he replied.
CBS News reached out to Andrea Kelly for comment on R. Kelly’s allegations, but her representatives said they do not have any statements at this time.
The two women who live with R. Kelly are defending him and their relationship with him. Azriel Clary, 21, and Joycelyn Savage, 23, also sat down with King and told her that they love Kelly even though their families claim he has brainwashed them. The women said there is nothing inappropriate about their relationship with the 52-year-old.
King told Clary she spoke with her father the day before their interview. “He says, ‘My daughter is brainwashed,’ and he’s very concerned. He said he was here two days ago, and you wouldn’t even look him in the eye,” King said.
“Okay, I wouldn’t look him in the eye because he’s a liar. He’s a manipulative liar,” Clary said.
“I’ll tell you why they’re concerned, Azriel, because they say, ‘She’s 17. We found text messages that indicated that she was having sex with R. Kelly when she was 17.’ Is that true?” King asked.
“No. No, that is a lie. That is a lie. I was not having sex with him at 17,” Clary said.
“Why would they want to lie about you, their daughter?”
“Okay, so when I first met Robert, my parents told me to lie about my age. So when I met him, he thought that I was 18,” Clary said. “On top of that, when I was 17, my parents were actually making me, trying to get me to take photos with him, take sexual videos with him, all kinds of stuff.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Your parents encouraged you to do sexual videos with R. Kelly?” King asked.
“Yes,” Clary said. “Yes, and they said, because if they ever have to blackmail him, what they’re trying to do now, they can use it against him, which is exactly what they’re doing.”
Savage nodded in agreement, adding, “everything that she’s saying is true.”
“Both our parents are basically out here trying to get money and scam, because they didn’t agree on what happened, you know, with music or whatever it could be. And they’re just very upset,” Savage said.
Savage’s family held a press conference Wednesday morning claiming Kelly lied in his interview with King. They reiterated their belief that the R&B singer has kept their daughter estranged from her family for two years.
The Savage family denied being in it for the money.
“We want the record to remain clear that at no point did Tim, Jonjelyn Savage ever request, ever demand, ever receive any financial compensation from Robert Sylvester Kelly,” the Savage family attorney Gerald Griggs said during his press conference.
In a statement after King’s interview with Clary and Savage aired, Michael Avenatti, an attorney for Clary’s parents, released a statement, saying in part: “Azriel’s parents never attempted to blackmail anyone and never suggested their daughter take nude photos or sexual videos. And they have never asked R. Kelly for a single penny. These are absolute lies fabricated by R. Kelly and we have evidence to show that these claims are bogus.”
Watch CBS News’ primetime special, “The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly,” on Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT
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