R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi alleges singer sexually abused her as a child: 'I struggle with it'
R. Kelly's daughter Buku Abi has claimed that her father sexually abused her when she was a child.
In the TVEI Streaming Network's new docuseries "R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter’s Journey," Abi, 26, who the 57-year-old singer shares with ex-wife Andrea "Drea" Kelly, alleged that Kelly molested her when she was 8 or 9 years old. Kelly and Drea, who were married from 1996 to 2009, are also parents to son Robert and daughter Jaah.
"He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened," Abi, who was born Joann Kelly, said tearfully during the first episode in the two-part series.
"I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me," Abi continued. "I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom."
"I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry," Abi said.
Abi claimed that she reported the alleged sexual assault to her mother in 2009, when she was 10 years old.
"After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother and sister, we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now I struggle with it a lot."
Kelly's lawyers did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
In a statement to People magazine, Kelly's lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said, "Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these 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.... And the 'filmmakers,' whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims."
Abi detailed the alleged encounter in the second part of the docuseries.
"When I was younger, my dad, he meant the world to me. You know everything," Abi said. "I was about 8 or 9 and. He was having a party and I didn't want to be without him. So instead of sleeping in my room, I decided to sleep in his office which was near the party."
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"And just, I remember falling asleep, and it had to be like 3 or 4 in the morning, and I just remember waking up to him touching me and I didn't know what to do. So I just kinda laid there and I pretended to be asleep," Abi recalled as she cried. "And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep."
Abi said that when she told Drea about the alleged abuse, it "completely broke her heart." She recalled that they went to the police and filed a report. The documentary stated that Abi was identified in the report as "Jane Doe."
"I had to talk to officers and counselors, and all these people about what happened, but because I waited so long to say anything, they really couldn't do anything about it," Abi said. "My mom had to go to court for me. They basically couldn't prosecute him because I waited too long, so at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing. I felt like it was a waste of time. And I felt like I was putting my mom through so much for nothing."
Abi said that she spent about two and half weeks in a mental hospital and attempted suicide "multiple times" due to the alleged sexual assault.
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In June 2022, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. In February 2023, the rapper was sentenced in Chicago to an additional 20 years in prison on charges of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. Kelly will serve all but one of those years concurrently and will likely be eligible for parole at age 80.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a petition from Kelly to hear an appeal of his conviction in Chicago.
"From my personal experience with him that jail is a well-suited place for him to be," Abi said in "Karma: A Daughter’s Journey." Abi was pregnant during the filming of the docuseries and stated that she will not take her first child, a son who she named Omni, to visit while he is imprisoned.
"If my son asks questions, I'm going to be as truthful as possible," she said. "But I will not be taking my son to a prison."
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org