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R. Kelly's Daughter Says It's 'Unfair' That He Claims She Was 'Brainwashed' By Her Mom When He Knows Exactly What He Did
R. Kelly's daughter, Buku Abi, disputes claims of being brainwashed by her mother, saying her father's actions shaped their relationship. She reveals her experiences in Karma: A Daughter's Journey.
Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse, child pornography, and more.
R. Kelly’s daughter Buku is refuting claims that her opinions on her father stem from brainwashing by her mother, Andrea Kelly. In TVEI Streaming Network’s new two-part docuseries Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, Abi, 26, responds to allegations made in 2019 by a source close to her father, who told TMZ that the R&B singer believed she had been “brainwashed” by her mother. At that time, the musician was facing sexual abuse allegations following the release of the Surviving R. Kelly documentary.
Abi had called her father a “monster” back then.
“When it comes to him feeling as if my mom has brainwashed us, I feel like it’s bull****,” Abi (who was born Joanne Kelly) says in Karma. She goes on to say that her father is well aware of why they can’t have the relationship they would’ve liked to have. Abi expresses shock over her father’s expectations of them having a normal relationship after he put his wife—and her mother—through “extreme mental and emotional turmoil.”
Abi’s mom, Andrea, was married to Kelly from 1996 to 2009. In 2018, she accused him of being abusive towards her on The View.
“I thought I was never going to get my mama back,” Abi, who’s also a musical artist, says in the docuseries, now streaming. “So for you [Kelly] to say, ‘Oh, she’s brainwashing them.’ It’s like, no, you know exactly what you did. And I just don’t see how that, in his mind, wouldn’t affect us.” Abi noted that she feels it's "unfair" that her father keeps saying that because they all know it's not true.
R. Kelly is currently serving two concurrent prison sentences. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of child pornography and incitement of minors for sex in February 2023. A year before that, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking charges based out of New York. The Ignition (Remix) singer will only be eligible for release in 2045.
Elsewhere in the docuseries, Abi, per People, claims that she was sexually abused by her father when she was 8 or 9 years old. She first reported it to her mother in 2009, when she was 10.
“He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person, that he would do something to me,” Abi says in the series.
In a statement given to People, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, refuted Abi’s claims, saying her client is the most investigated person on the planet when it comes to child sexual abuse. She said if his daughter’s claims had merit, they would have been included in his indictment.
Criticizing the makers of the documentary in which Abi shared her experience, Bonjean stated that they never reached out to Kelly or his team to allow him to deny the allegations.
If you need support or know someone who is struggling with assault or abuse, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist, NGO or speak to someone about it. There are several helplines available for the same.
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