R. Kelly's ex-wife is speaking out about the abuse she said she endured during her 13-year marriage to the R&B star.
During an interview on "The View," she recounted several incidents of alleged domestic abuse, including being attacked in the back of a Hummer.
While arguing with her in the vehicle, he pulled her left arm behind her back and pushed his forearm against her neck, laboring her breath, she said.
“I think the reason why I think I made it out is because I said, ‘Robert, you're going to kill me. I can't breathe,’” she recalled. “I remember sitting in the back of the Hummer and it got blue. I just thought, ‘Oh, my God. I'm going to die.’”
In another alleged incident, she was hog-tied during a fight, she said.
“When he grabbed me and threw me down, I was on my stomach. I’m trying to fight to get away,” she explained. “So what he did, he grabbed the strap to his robe off of the bed. He had his knee in my back, and he took both of my arms behind me, tied them and then attached my legs to my arms.”
She said she was left on the side of the bed and was only able to escape when her then-husband fell asleep.
Andrea Kelly, who was married to the artist from 1996 to 2009, said she is choosing to speak out now, because she wants to save lives and bring validity to other women’s stories of alleged abuse against the entertainer.
Activists have even joined forces to target R. Kelly. The Time's Up movement launched a campaign singling him out over the the sexual abuse claims against him. And the social media campaign #MuteRKelly seeks to stop his music from being played and cancel his concerts.
Although R. Kelly is not facing any criminal charges and is not known to be under investigation, he has been accused of many crimes over the years, which he has denied.
A 2017 BuzzFeed article said the Grammy-winning artist "held women against their will in a cult" at his homes in two cities, including one in metro Atlanta.
R. Kelly’s attorney at the time, Linda Mensch, sent a statement to the AJC refuting the claims in Buzzfeed.
“Mr. Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him,” the statement said. “Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”
In April 2018, Mensch and R. Kelly’s assistant resigned from their positions after working with the entertainer for years.
In 2008, he was acquitted on 14 charges of making child pornography.
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