Choices have consequences and some can haunt you years later when you least expect the heat.Its been nothing but awful stories trending about rnb star R Kelly over sexual assaults and pedophilia allegations in addition.
“Surviving R. Kelly,” which premiered Thursday on Lifetime as part of a three-night, six-hour event, has been making headlines for the disturbing portrait it paints of the controversial singer.
Cunningham, one of Kelly’s former backup singers, is one of the few women interviewed in “Surviving R. Kelly” who worked with the singer while she was underage but does not claim he sexually propositioned her.
One of the many harrowing stories Cunningham tells recounts a time she was in the studio recording with Kelly when he started having sex with a girl she knew was underage – in full view of others.
“The first time I witnessed a sexual act in the studio was during the recording of (Kelly’s song) ‘Slow Dance (Remix).’ He had one of my teenage friends in the booth with him, bent over. We were all right there. I will not say with whom, but I knew she was underage.”
Kelly reportedly married singer Aaliyah on Aug. 31, 1994, using a falsified Cook County marriage certificate, later published by vibe, that listed her age as 18. (She was, in fact, just 15 at the time.) Demetrius Smith, Kelly’s former tour manager and personal assistant, who has come out previously with disturbing details about his time with the singer, shared more details about Kelly and Aaliyah’s wedding day.
“I’m not proud of that (day),” he said. “I had papers forged for them. Aaliyah was underage. We got the marriage license, we were at a hotel in Maywood, Illinois. It was just a quick little ceremony, nothing elaborate. Aaliyah didn’t have a white dress, Robert didn’t have on a tux, just everyday wear. Robert said ‘I do.’ Him and Aaliyah.”
“Aaliyah looked worried, scared,” he continued. “She was worried and scared. I wanted so much to grab Aaliyah and talk to her. She gave me a look like she wanted me to talk to her. … I knew that it had changed the course of everything.”
The marriage was annulled a short time later, with Kelly publicly maintaining that the wedding never happened.