R. Kelly: breaks silence to discuss controversy in his life

Jet, May 27, 2002 by Ed Gordon

I've done a lot of wrong things in my life, but I am not a criminal. I am not the monster that people are saying I am ... I gotta deal with showing people that I'm not guilty," singer R. Kelly told award-winning journalist Ed Gordon during an exclusive interview with "BET Tonight with Ed Gordon."

Kelly broke his media silence during a one-on-one interview from Atlanta, where the 34-year-old entertainer responded to recent allegations that he performed sexual acts with underage girls, reportedly including those captured on a now infamous videotape that surfaced publicly. He granted the interview in Atlanta where he is living while recording his new album.

"I haven't seen the tapes ... I can say it with all confidence that it's not me because I didn't do it," Kelly told Gordon of a tape that reportedly shows Kelly performing various sexual acts with an underage girl.

Singer Sparkle, a former Kelly protegee, said the underage girl is her niece, Gordon reported. According to news reports, Sparkle said she introduced her niece, an aspiring performer, to Kelly when her niece was 12. News reports indicate the girl was either 14 or 15 at the time of the taping.

The 26-minute, 39-second videotape was sent to the Chicago SunTimes newspaper in February, a week before Kelly was to perform at the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The newspaper turned the tape over to the Chicago police. They investigated and passed evidence to the Cook County state's attorney's office to continue the investigation. No charges have been filed.

"I want America to know that you can't believe everything you hear; now you can't believe everything you see ... Nowadays you can make a tape. You can make a song. It can sound like a person or look like a person ... but that's not me," Kelly told Gordon of the tape of which bootleg versions have been sold on streets across the country like hotcakes.

He admitted that he had already settled two lawsuits brought by women who alleged they were teenagers at the time that they had sexual relationships with him, but says that he settled only because of his lawyers' advice. He says his long silence was only because of their counsel and that he'd always wanted to address the allegations.

Now there is a third lawsuit, which Kelly says he's fighting. He says that he regrets that he settled the first two. In the third suit, a woman said Kelly had sex with her when she was a minor and forced her to have an abortion. He called the charges in the latest lawsuit "totally false."

He said that he didn't think that settling the first two suits would be seen as an admission of his guilt.

A seductive maestro of song, Kelly won acclaim as the handsome hunk with the golden voice who was often noted for dropping his pants during early concert performances. Songs like Sex Me, Bump `N Grind, Your Body's Callin', You Remind Me Of Something, Down Low and Feelin' On Yo Booty earned him the titles "Sex Man" and "Sex King." Kelly admitted that he "accepted that crown."

Though Kelly was well-noted for his sensuality as a performer, he has always tried fiercely to keep his personal life to himself. It is no secret that throngs of women adore him. His fan base is largely comprised of women.

So when he wed the late singer Aaliyah on August 31, 1994, in Rosemont, IL, according to court records, the two made headlines. Music's most eligible bachelor had married a woman who was only 15; he was 12 years her senior. The marriage was later annulled in Michigan because Aaliyah falsified information by saying that she was 18. Both denied the reports and never discussed the details of their relationship.

To this day he refuses to talk about it. "I will not discuss Aaliyah here out of respect for her parents," Kelly adamantly told Gordon of the late singer who died in a plane crash last year. He said that because she is not here to defend herself and that she had nothing to do with the current problems he's facing, any comments from him would be inappropriate.

And when Kelly tied the knot in 1996 with his current wife, 28-year-old Andrea Lee, reportedly one of his former backup dancers, the ceremony was very quiet. The two are the parents of young daughters, Joann-named for his late mother, Joann Kelly, who died of cancer in 1993--and Jaya.

Ever-guarded about his personal life, when JET asked him about the "rumors" of his marriage to Lee during a 1998 interview, he never acknowledged it.

"I've heard so many things about my personal life that it is unbelievable. That's why I don't get into it. I just like to sit back and read and listen to what everybody else thinks and says and just laugh. If I set the record straight, it's no fun for me. I can't tell everybody everything," he laughed.

Since Kelly's recent troubles, he says that his wife is "totally behind me because she knows the truth. She's in my corner. All of this has brought me to a conclusion for me to make a change in my life and realize how important my family is."

He later told Gordon, "I've got a life and I've got to protect that life ... I do think about jail and I'm very concerned. That's why I'm here. I'm not a perfect person. I know I'm not a criminal."