R. Kelly’s eldest daughter, Buku Abi, formerly known as Joann Kelly, claims in a new docuseries that her father, who is a convicted sex offender, molested her when she was around 8 or 9 years old.
R. Kelly’s eldest daughter, Buku Abi, claims in a new docuseries that her disgraced father, who is a convicted sex offender, molested her when she was around 8 or 9 years old.
“I just remember waking up to him touching me,” the 26-year-old, formerly known as Joann Kelly, recalled amid tears in “Karma: A Daughter’s Journey,” according to People.
The musical artist, whom R. Kelly shares with ex-wife Drea Kelly, adds in an episode from the two-part series, “I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”
Abi said she was in disbelief at times over what the “Ignition” singer allegedly did to her and she “didn’t even want to believe that it happened” because he was her “everything.”
“I didn’t know that, even if he was a bad person, that he would do something to me,” she explained. “I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
A lawyer for R. Kelly — who was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in 2022 and convicted in a separate case for child pornography in 2023 — “vehemently denies” Abi’s allegations.
“His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded,” Jennifer Bonjean claimed to People Friday.
“And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr.
