Andrea Kelly, the ex-wife of disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, says she believes every one of his accusers because their stories fall in line with the abuse she experienced.
via Page Six:
“You cannot not speak when someone’s life and what they’ve been through is parallel to yours,” Andrea Kelly said on “The View” on Thursday. “I wanted to bring validity to these women’s stories.”
Andrea, 44, and the singer, 51, were married from 1996 to 2009. Throughout the years, he has been accused of various sexual abuse allegations, including possessing child pornography, sexual contact with teenagers, and, most recently, holding women hostage in his home. He has denied the allegations.
Andrea recounted harrowing memories from their marriage, including him hogtying her in their bedroom and attacking her in the backseat of a Hummer to the point where she thought she would die.
She said she has PTSD from the incident.“His weight was on my body, but he didn’t realize his forearm was on my neck. So as he’s pressing down, my breathing is getting labored and the only reason why I think I made it out because I said to him, ‘Robert you’re gonna kill me, I can’t breathe, you have to get your arm off of my neck’ and I just remember sitting in the back of the Hummer and it got blue and I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die in the back of this Hummer and he’s going to drive off with my body in the back seat and nobody’s gonna know.’”
The former couple shares three children together — one of whom convinced Andrea to leave the singer.
“It was after an incident with my youngest daughter, Joann, who actually gave me the strength to leave. He was being belligerent with me and my daughter goes, ‘Daddy why are you being mean to my mom?’ And it was like a light went off for me. I knew in that moment, if you stay and she ends up with a man like him and you tell her to leave she’s going to say, ‘Why would I? You stayed with my dad all those years.’”
“So I I knew I had to be a living example, but even in that moment of strength I had a moment of weakness,” she said, recalling how she then went to her balcony and considered jumping.
“God allowed me to see myself laying in blood, and I just remember hearing my kids voices in the background, saying, ‘Why did she jump!’” she said. “That was my darkest moment, because as a mom when you leave your babies that is your lowest low.”
Of the allegation that he’s forced women to join a “sex cult,” Andrea says she can relate to the women currently living with the artist, recalling a time where her parents had to reach out to a reporter to get in touch with her because they didn’t have her phone number.
Andrea filed a restraining order from R. Kelly in 2009. She also revealed that he does not pay child support for their kids.
It’s not the first time Andrea has opened up about her ex-husband’s abuse, but hopefully each time someone else who is experiencing a similar situation hears Andrea and finds the courage to do something about it.
https://youtu.be/xFpcvwPrbR8
