Surviving R. Kelly (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript
I would definitely
characterize myself
as a survivor.
I do see myself
as a victim of R. Kelly.
I was a victim.
I don't
consider myself a victim.
I am a survivor.
I lived it
and I survived it.
Why do you want
to tell your story now?
I felt like my silence
allowed it to continue.
I worked up the courage to come
forward and tell my story.
A part of me always felt
like maybe I did something
for him to treat me that way.
I want my story to be heard
so people could take
this situation seriously.
But when I found out
it wasn't just me...
I just don't want it
to get any worse.
And it was just...
It just kept going
and going and going.
I just wanted to know
that it's not...
You know, you're not alone.
They're not alone.
It just made me...
furious.
I decided
that enough was enough.
Can you describe
the physical abuse?
I think I can't really talk
about being abused.
It's-it's, like...
it brings back memories,
and it's, it's very painful
to have to talk about it again.
- I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
♪ ♪
I met R. Kelly when I was 14.
When I met him,
I was 17 years old.
I wanted to be a singer.
I wanted to be a dancer.
We thought
we were gonna be stars.
I think my daughter's
going through prison right now.
We got a tip that she's here.
♪ Oh, say ♪
♪ Can you see... ♪
In the middle of all
of these allegations,
R. Kelly's just dropping music.
His songs were a huge part
of the soundtrack of our lives.
♪ I believe I can fly. ♪
Songs like "Ignition."
♪ It's the remix to "Ignition" ♪
♪ Hot and fresh
out the kitchen. ♪
"I Wish."
♪ I'll see you again some day ♪
♪ I wish, I wish, I wish. ♪
He had a voice
that was incredible.
Women loved the way he looked,
the way he sounded.
People looked at him
as the king of R&B.
He was the biggest artist
in the recording industry
at that time
in terms
of actual record sales.
Robert was working
with everyone.
Snoop, Céline Dion,
Michael Jordan, Janet Jackson.
He worked with Michael Jackson.
He worked with Jay-Z,
Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga.
R. Kelly was part
of that superstar milieu.
He was a hero.
-Robert, how do you feel?
-Was it you on the tape?
R&B superstar
R. Kelly on trial
for allegedly
videotaping himself
having sex
with an underage girl.
Jurors found him
not guilty on all charges.
R. Kelly has a problem.
The accusations are now part
of pop culture.
South Park touched on it.
Chappelle's Show touched on it.
After R. Kelly got off trial,
I'd do the interview.
He was very nervous.
Do you like teenage girls?
When you say "teenage,"
how old are we talking?
This is an industry
where anything goes.
He's a font of money.
He was like a bad boy,
like an antihero.
You know that he's dirty,
which is so delusional
for us to kind of feel like,
"Oh, it's all good now."
R. Kelly has power
over these young girls.
I had to wait for permission
to be able to use the bathroom.
It's okay. Okay.
Your dad says
he loves you so much.
What the heck is he doing
hanging around the high school?
R. Kelly believes he can fly
and that he is untouchable.
- Shame on you!
- Shame on you!
-Shame on you!
-Shame on you!
-Mute R. Kelly!
-Mute R. Kelly!
His performances
were increasingly pornographic.
-You understand me?
-Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Drop your , big dog.
That's right.
I am handcuffed,
like a lot of you mother.
I'm handcuffed by my destiny.
It's too late.
They should've did this
30 years ago.
-It's too late.
-Tell 'em, R.
My family grew up in Altgeld
Gardens housing projects.
My name is Carey Kelly,
and I'm R. Kelly's
baby brother.
Theresa's the oldest.
Bruce is the second oldest.
Robert, and then myself.
R. Kelly did face hardships
with his family.
Like many other,
you know, households
in the inner city.
You may not know where
your next meal was coming from.
People living check to check.
Even though we grew up
living in the projects,
Robert is not cut from a cloth
of being street.
He was mild-mannered, afraid.
He didn't come outside.
He stayed
in the house and played
with his keyboard.
My name's Bruce Kelly.
In my earliest
childhood memories,
Robert was shy and very timid,
you know.
If you'd stare at him
in his face, he'd start crying.
We would have
to urge him on to sing
'cause he was really shy,
and he would sing
with his back turned to people
so he wouldn't have
to look them in the face.
Everybody have a mother.
They have a father.
But our father had-had,
you know, just left
and said forget us.
It was a struggle,
but we never went hungry.
R. Kelly grew up
in the church.
His mother sang in the church.
My mother was
the lead singer of the choir.
She would make people catch
the spirits, as they call them.
She was a very big fan
of Aretha Franklin,
Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan.
When she would do
Gladys Knight,
we would be her Pips.
So it just grew.
We just, we loved music
just as much as she did.
Robert had problems reading
and writing.
He did apply hisself.
He-he took tutoring
and-and things of that nature.
He just couldn't...
he couldn't grasp a hold to it.
One day I came home,
Robert was locked
in the bathroom.
He was in there crying.
And I... I'm listening.
I hear him in there...
just crying.
I knock on the door. "Robert."
He tried to straight... "Yeah."
I said,
"What's wrong with you, man?"
Broke down,
started crying again.
"I'm just tired
of these kids always teasing me
'cause I can't read."
I'm like, "Man, look,
let me tell you something.
"It gonna be the same kids
that's gonna be crying
because you're famous."
He taught hisself
to play by ear.
What he hear...
If he hear a beat in his head,
he'd pick it until he...
until that beat come alive.
He would hum it and sing it,
versus having
to write it musically
or, you know,
write or read music.
He actually gravitated
to it like...
It's-it's like he knew
that-that was his purpose.
My name is Craig Williams.
I've known Rob about...
30 years, I guess.
I met him back in the late '80s.
I was at-at the recording
studio Chicago Trax.
Gavin Christopher was an artist
in Chicago.
He came to the studio,
and he brought this kid
with him.
And the kid was Rob.
He had a little
white Casio piano.
Gavin says,
"You got to check this kid out.
He can really sing."
He said, "Sing for him."
Rob turned on his piano,
and he started singing a song
about roses
or something like that.
He had a voice
that was incredible.
It sounded like a hit song
already, so I was thinking
he was playing something
that was already written,
but this was a song
that he had written himself.
At that point, I knew
that this kid was something.
He really reminded me
of Marvin Gaye
was the first thing,
and a Sam Cooke,
a legend.
He was amazing.
Robert pretty much stayed busy.
He pretty much went
to the studio.
He pretty much
became more creative.
He became obsessed
with doing music
because that was his outlet,
because it took his mind away
from reality...
which was kind of rough.
Like anything else
when you're a child,
whatever you're taught, um...
it goes with you.
Once we moved
out the projects...
a lot of things changed
for the worse.
I recently saw the interview,
uh, that R. Kelly did
with Tavis Smiley...
...which was striking.
At eight or nine years
of age, you talk in the book
about how exposed you were
to sex.
You saw it. There were adults
who should not have been
but were coming on to you
even when you were a child.
What'd that do to you
to be exposed to sex
at that early age?
Well...
um, I'm not gonna throw
any of my people
or... my family under a bus,
but I feel I owe my fans, um...
...at least enough for them
to have an understanding
as to what I went through.
- I was molested when I was seven
- And, yes
on to maybe 13, 14,
something like that,
uh, by people in my family.
Sexually,
it woke up my hormones
a lot earlier than it...
they were supposed
to be awakened.
When you're a child,
you don't really know.
You only see,
and you learn,
and you try to figure it out.
It enhances your curiosity
before its time.
You're not supposed
to be curious about sex,
because you're not supposed
to see sex right now.
I believe that-that Robert...
that it's possible.
I don't think that he...
If he's saying that,
I don't think that he's lying.
Because it happened to me.
It happened to me.
You know, I really don't talk
to people about a lot of things
that... that I
have been going through.
I just...
I just keep it and hold it.
I was molested
by a family member,
and that...
shook my world, you know,
'cause I-I didn't understand it.
Um, I knew it wasn't right,
even though I was
six years old at that time.
I knew it wasn't right,
but it was happening to me.
I was afraid
to tell my mom, um...
um, because of the person,
who they were.
I-I didn't...
I didn't know
if she was gonna...
believe me,
so I was afraid to tell her.
Robert,
him being my big brother,
I brought that to him
and told-told him
what happened to me.
And when I told him
what happened to me,
um...
he didn't,
he didn't really respond to it
like I felt that he should.
When-when I told him, he said,
"No, that didn't,
that didn't happen,
that didn't happen to you."
And I said, "Yes, it did."
You know, Robert said,
"No, it didn't."
Then I left it alone.
I really knew not to take it
to my mom then.
My brothers was the test.
If they believed me, then maybe
I could've took it to an adult.
Child sexual abuse confuses
power and control with sex.
And so...
children may want to say, like,
"I want to be the one that's
in that power position," right?
"I never want to be
a victim again.
"I want to the person
that's in the power
in a sexual relationship."
And so, as they get older,
they want to make sure
that they're always
in that power position.
And there's really
no more powerful position
in a sexual relationship than
to be the abuser to the child.
♪ ♪
I met Robert
at Kenwood High School.
We were in the choir together.
Under Dr. Lena McLin.
One of the crown jewels
in Kenwood Academy's,
you know, reputation
is their concert choir under
the direction of Dr. Lena McLin.
She was truly like...
Rob's surrogate mother.
She loved that boy,
took him under her wing,
and...
really made him and honed him
into being the singer
that he is today.
My grandma taught at Kenwood
Academy as a music teacher.
So don't nobody think I'm hard,
'cause I'm really very nice.
She was more than just a music
teacher to a lot of people.
She was a mother to a lot
of people, and still is.
My grandma's taught
so many students,
and... of the notable students,
Mandy Patinkin,
Da Brat,
Jennifer Hudson,
Chaka Khan,
just to name a few.
I was impressed,
and I was amazed,
because he was musically...
uh, genius material.
Did he ever talk
about his home life?
No, he didn't talk about that,
but you knew about it, because
it came out in the music...
in what-what they express,
you know.
Children express
what they fear,
they love,
that's around them, you know.
And he was very...
very aggressive.
What do you mean by aggressive?
Well, yeah, aggressive in some
of his sexual language, too.
Which we had to discuss
and say that it wouldn't be
appropriate to school.
It wouldn't really be...
really be appropriate, period.
He dropped out senior year.
You saw his confidence...
kind of swell
once he realized he had a gift,
you know,
when it came to, uh, singing.
And it went from him
being shy to confident.
It was really,
uh, an evolution.
He just honed in
on his craft and just...
he made himself
into a great singer.
He got noticed...
basically, when he actually went
to Natalie Cole's Big Break.
Robert said,
"I'm gonna win the show.
I'm gonna win the show."
You had the best talent,
you know, in the, in the nation,
and it whittled down
to two groups.
Okay, for R. Kelly and MGM,
they received 280 points.
R. Kelly and MGM is
the champion!
A hundred thousand dollars!
Hello!
♪ ♪
That's when
all the labels start calling,
and that's when he took off.
Once he signed to Jive Records,
it was a wrap.
♪ ♪
I was traveling
through Hyde Park at one time,
and I stopped at a store,
and Rob was driving by,
and he was on his way
to Kenwood High School.
And I heard a lot
about Rob going
to Kenwood High School
to, to hang out,
and I always wondered,
what the heck is he doing
hanging around the high school?
He's... left high school
many years ago.
And, uh...
That's all I can say
on that one,
'cause I don't know,
but I heard that, you know,
he was picking up a lot of...
a lot of kids from the school.
♪ ♪
My name is Jovante Cunningham.
I have known Robert Kelly
since 1991.
At that time, I was about 14.
I met him through
a dear friend of mine,
Tiffany.
She was also, uh, yeah, 14.
He was an upcoming artist.
She knew him
prior to me meeting her.
I believe they met
at Kenwood High School,
and she asked,
"You want to go down
and meet so and so?"
And I'm like, "Who is that?"
And we went.
And that's how it started.
Ooh.
Wasn't something that
was talked about, you know.
I don't remember
actually saying,
"Hey, by the way,
how old are you?"
We were doing
the background vocals
for the Born into the 90's
album.
He would just ask us
to come into the studio,
and, "You sing this,
you sing this,
you sing that,
y'all sing it together."
And that's how it would go.
I wanted to be
a professional singer.
You're up close and personal
with, um, someone
who is potentially
going to be...
seen in the... in the world,
and... you're young, you know?
You're excited.
You think, "Wow," you know?
"Who's this person?"
and "What do you got going on?"
and "Can I hear your music?"
And that was the first time
I heard "Honey Love,"
and I was like, "Wow!"
♪ 'Cause there is
something' that ♪
♪ I want from you... ♪
A very talented
young man, and...
his ability to create music
is ingenious.
It really is.
He's truly a talent.
♪ ♪
Right across the street
from Kenwood High School,
I would see R. Kelly there
on a regular basis, and these
were high school girls,
freshmen, sophomores,
I couldn't tell exactly.
But I know they were students
at the, at the high school.
His nickname
is not Pied Piper for nothing.
Pied Piper's whole purpose is to
bring the young people to him,
to follow him, to admire him,
to listen to him.
And so, he's good at it.
The first time I saw R. Kelly,
I was probably around 12,
maybe 13.
We would hang out
at the McDonald's in Hyde Park.
I was 14 years old.
And we'd always see him
come in by himself
but leave with,
with some student.
We'd meet girls.
Robert would, um...
I would...
a lot of times, make people
know that R. Kelly's here.
You would see
the Ford Explorer pull up.
There were a bunch of girls
in Kenwood jackets,
in high school clothes.
You would see him
and his group of guys
come in and kind of hang out.
"Mr. Kelly wants to meet you."
♪ ♪
And you'd look over, and there
was like a little nod.
If you're the girl
that smiles back,
that's when he
starts talking to you.
Public Announcement,
R. Kelly, Born into the 90's.
He was on the rise.
He knew that
he had the singing career,
and he was blowing up,
and who wouldn't want to be
with a superstar?
He liked high school girls.
He could influence them more.
They were more impressionable.
He tries to slide in
in that space
where girls
don't know better yet,
where they can't necessarily
spot a predator.
People will say, "Well,
why didn't anyone notice?"
The answer is
that we all noticed;
no one cared
because we were black girls.
I would hear different
things, but I didn't realize
what was going on at the time.
I know when we were around,
as children ourselves,
as teenagers,
it was,
"Go out, find me some girls,"
to recruit, in a sense.
I mean, and at that time
you didn't think of it as that.
At that time you're thinking,
"Go get me some girls"?
I mean, we weren't looking
for underage women.
In our minds
we were just looking for girls.
We were so stupid.
Just so...
naive.
♪ ♪
The first time I witnessed
a sexual act in the studio
was during the recording
of "Slow Dance," the remix.
He had one of my teenage friends
in the booth with him bent over.
And we were all right there.
♪ ♪
I will not say with whom,
but none of us were of age.
None of us.
Um...
We went through a lot.
We experienced a lot.
We saw a lot. Um...
It was a period of time when...
um...
we were just trying to make it.
We had... we had big dreams,
and we thought
we were gonna be somebody.
"And don't give me
that bull about it.
You should not meet 'em."
And that was my language
to him consistently.
He has no business around them.
They were too young for him.
I told him, "Go on, live your
life the way you want to live,
but don't bring down
somebody else's life."
So, 1993,
we get 12 Play, which is,
in my opinion, what really
establishes R. Kelly as
one of the most influential,
if not the most influential
R&B artist of his generation.
"Bump n' Grind" is
his first big song.
♪ With a little
bump and grind ♪
♪ With a little bump
and grind... ♪
It's kind of slow,
like a ballad,
but then it's like,
there's nothing wrong
with being physical and sexual.
And so, it's sort of that
classic R&B message of, like,
sexuality's okay,
like, it's okay to be physical.
In the beginning, with
12 Play, we get to this point
where it's less about having
beautiful lyrics, or a beautiful
melody and a great voice,
and almost about this kind
of shock and awe,
and this raunch
and this raw sexuality.
You know, "Sex Me."
I mean, a lot of these
songs are great, you know.
It's just that, when you start
to think about the sort of
person behind them,
you start to go, like...
I remember Rob from nothing
and sleeping in his car...
to stardom just that fast.
I can only imagine that
he got caught up
and lost himself
in the fame and the fortune.
And then Rob met Aaliyah
through his manager, which...
Aaliyah was
Barry Hankerson's niece.
Right now I'm producing
a very talented young lady,
Aaliyah.
Uh, she's real sweet.
She just be chillin'.
- Hey, Aaliyah?
- Yo.
-That first verse is funky,
right?
-Mm-hmm.
What I want you to do is...
I want you to try to get into it
-just a little bit more for me.
-Okay.
Just get into it a little more,
make it a little more street.
-All right?
-All right.
-You sound good, though, baby.
-All right.
Uh... very shy kid,
very tomboyish.
Glasses, braces.
No-no swag.
She's truly
an angelic individual.
She was truly
a beautiful young lady.
Aaliyah just needed a look.
That's all.
She just needed a little...
a little something
to spice it up.
She was still very young.
She was 12 years old.
We taught her her street thing,
we gave her her vibe.
She went from wearing
fitted clothes
to the baggy jeans
with the half shirts,
with the baseball caps.
We taught her how
to be an artist in the sense
of having a stage presence.
We would sneak Aaliyah
out of the hotel...
...and take her
all over the place.
It was fun.
We used to take her
to my dad's house, and...
we'd dance and sing
in the living room.
Aaliyah became very close
with Tia and myself.
We were all very close.
She and myself had
a very close-knit relationship
and friendship.
Those were the good old days.
But those are the things
that also... make you cry.
Aaliyah's first album
is made by R. Kelly,
and it's called
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.
And that main...
the title song, is about
a young girl
who's trying to get an older guy
to go all the way with her.
I mean...
it's, it's-it's frightening
and it's disgusting.
♪ Boy, be brave ♪
♪ Don't be afraid ♪
♪ 'Cause tonight
we're gonna go all the way ♪
♪ Age ain't nothin'
but a number ♪
♪ Throwin' down
ain't nothin' but a thing. ♪
There's this young girl who's
obviously not even, you know,
barely in puberty, right?
But there's a... there's a kind
of sexuality to her
that is part of why it worked,
and R. Kelly used that.
And calling it... age is just
but a, you know, but a number--
he's playing on all of that
right away, and that's a...
"Age ain't nothing but a number"
is a thing
in the black community I've
heard since I was a little boy,
when a, when a hot young girl
walks by,
and a guy
in a barbershop says that.
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number"
is definitely
a perfect song
for hiding in plain sight.
Robert brought
a beauty out of her voice
to where she became the star
that she was.
He said he wanted her
to have the best of everything.
He said, "Man, I want
to make her the biggest star
in the world, man.
Look at her. She's so..."
She was so beautiful to him.
And she always had him laughing.
They would...
I'm gonna just tell you.
We'd go get ice cream,
and I'm in the back, and I'm
walking behind 'em all the time.
And they...
They're just so silly, man.
You know, they were silly.
I met Aaliyah once
at the studio at CRC.
At that point, I didn't see
anything, uh, unusual,
um... except a producer
working with an artist.
It wasn't until
I was maybe a teenager myself
that it really bothered me
just how much older
he was than her.
At the time I remember
thinking, "That's not right.
I don't have
no grown man friends." Right?
Like, I just can't wrap my brain
around, like,
having a grown-up,
period, as a friend.
You know, a babysitter
or a friend of the family,
but never being left alone
in the care of a male,
aside from my father.
Her parents trusted.
They trusted me.
They trusted us.
I thought
they were getting closer.
I was beginning to suspect
things but didn't want to.
So I asked Robert.
I said, "Robert, man,
what's going on, man?
You ain't messing..."
"Hell no, man.
I'm not messing with Aaliyah."
It was under talks
for a long time
about having them come up
to the show.
It was kind of like, they don't
want you to talk about the age.
They don't want you to talk
about any of this stuff.
But as a journalist,
you kind of have to decide,
are you gonna take this risk
while this platform is
in front of you
and ask the questions
that the people want to know?
Okay, let's clear something up,
'cause, you know,
I have been getting
the rundown on the street.
Everybody seems to think
that y'all are either
girlfriend and boyfriend,
- or cousins, or friends.
- Look at my man.
Just let's... let's just
get the record straight.
We're just very close.
He's my best friend.
Yeah, cool.
In the whole wide world.
- Now who found who?
- In the whole wide world.
They are asked
direct questions.
"Are you guys dating?" And they
would not give direct answers.
They would both give
these vague answers
that left it all up in the air.
So they knew this wasn't right.
And for the record,
you are how old?
-That's a secret. Shh.
-Uh-oh.
A woman doesn't disclose
her age, y'all.
- Keeping it under wraps.
- That's right.
Seeing them dressed alike
was really kind of like dangling
candy in front of a baby.
Like, this is promotion,
this is a media machine.
We're gonna work this
to our benefit,
and we're gonna toy with you,
we're gonna play with you,
and we're not gonna give you
any direct answers,
and we're gonna kind of
leave you wondering,
"Well, are they a couple?"
We were out on the road
with Aaliyah.
On a tour bus, there really
aren't any confined spaces.
When you get on the bus,
there are bunks.
And so, these bunks have little
curtains you can pull at night
if you don't want anybody
to see you sleeping.
So it just so happened
we were all laying in our bunks.
It was... And curtains are open.
Everybody's communicating,
laughing.
We used to play different pranks
on each other.
And, uh...
I think it was intended to...
prank time,
when the door flew open
on the bus.
Robert was having sex
with Aaliyah.
I feel protective of Aaliyah
right now,
which is why
I can't get my mouth to say...
He destroyed a lot of people.
Destroyed a lot of people.
A lot of people who loved
and adored him, and...
I can't stress
to you enough how...
people are still suffering
behind things
that went on 20 years ago.
After that,
it kind of started the breakup
of everything and everybody.
A lot of people...
People's emotions
were challenged.
Our whole family
just kind of ripped up.
Robert came to me.
We were in Miami.
Robert said, "Man,
we got Aaliyah in trouble."
And, um, "Aaliyah in trouble?
What do you mean?"
"Man, we got to get to Chicago."
I said, "Well, I'm-I'm-a call
Barry and tell Barry."
"No, man, we can't tell Barry."
Robert mentioned to me that,
um, "I think she's pregnant."
And... that broke my heart
right there.
I was so disappointed in him,
'cause I really believed him
when he said that, you know,
he wasn't doing
and messing with Aaliyah.
'Cause I questioned him,
and, um...
once he told me that,
I was, like...
I just... I was... I was lost
for words, man. Um...
He married Aaliyah.
I was in the room
when they got married.
In 1994,
I was working at MTV News
as a writer, not on air,
and the issue of,
"Is he married to Aaliyah?"
was-was wild
and being talked about widely.
Finally, my boss told me, "Call
the Cook County Clerk's Office
and tell them to send you
the marriage certificate."
Hip-hop star R. Kelly
did indeed marry his protégée,
the 15-year-old singer
Aaliyah Haughton.
MTV News was the first
to put out
this marriage certificate
on which Aaliyah had said
that she was 18,
when she's actually 15,
and R. Kelly was 27,
and they were married.
I, uh, went,
and I, um... I, um...
I'm not proud of that.
I forged, I had papers forged
for them.
But Aaliyah was underage.
Got the marriage license,
and we were in a hotel
in, uh, Maywood, Illinois.
It was just
a quick little ceremony.
Nothing elaborate; she didn't
have on a white dress.
Robert didn't have on a tux.
Just everyday wear.
Robert said, "I do."
He said, "I do."
Him and Aaliyah.
Aaliyah looked worried.
Scared.
Worried and scared.
I wanted so much to grab
Aaliyah and talk to her.
I wanted so much
to talk to her.
'Cause she looked at me,
she gave me a look
like she wanted me
to talk to her.
That's why I feel like I left
her-- I-I failed them.
Both of them.
I knew that it had changed
the course of everything.
was not familiar with how the
annulment happened with Aaliyah.
I just know that it did.
Her parents had
the last say-so.
The Aaliyah situation,
a lot of us kind of forgave
but were kind of like,
"That was weird, but okay.
What else you got?"
Well, they're both performers,
and she's old beyond her years.
And they just have
that special connection.
It didn't yet appear like
here's a person
who is a predator.
Where was the outrage?
Where was Essence?
Where was Ebony?
Where was the local news?
Where was anyone?
Like, why was this not,
in that moment, full stop?
Why didn't the culture say
something is wrong?
You had this whole history
of adult male musicians who hung
out with young girls.
Musicians who "mentor"
young girls.
You had the history of musicians
who married young girl fans.
And I think while it was
disturbing to people,
it's very easy
to rationalize things
when you're in the industry
and you see
this flourishing career,
not only of Kelly,
but of Aaliyah.
If you listen to the history
of American popular music,
particularly rock and roll,
there's a whole thing
about underage girls
that's a big running theme
in-in so much of the songs.
"Sweet Little Sixteen."
There's a body of work
of underage girls
being sexual targets,
being sexually promiscuous,
being celebrated.
It's hard to think
of a group or an artist
who didn't pay tribute
to teenage girls
in a way that
we might question today.
Even the Beatles, you know.
"When I Saw Her
Standing There."
"She was just 17,
if you know what I mean."
Jerry Lee Lewis
famously married
his 13-year-old cousin
Myra, um,
and they flaunted
their relationship.
That actually brought down
his career.
Elvis Presley was more subtle
and careful
with his teenage girlfriend
Priscilla,
who he met when he was
a soldier abroad in Germany
and whom he brought to live
with him as a young teenager.
So when you think of girls
who are going to shows,
attending concerts, becoming
completely hysterical, um,
and then meeting their heroes,
these-- this is a situation ripe
for, uh, men taking advantage
of young girls.
Robert feels
as if he's invincible.
"I can't be touched."
And in hindsight, in society,
we kind of made him feel
that way.
Because he's progressively
done this
for as far back
as I can remember,
and nothing
has been done about it.
R. Kelly created and occupied
a position of outrageousness
that kind of masked everything
that was happening
behind the scenes.
And then, when you get
that type of fame
and that type of power,
and you come from nothing
and you know nothing,
and all you know is that
everyone around you is "yes"
and "okay," "sure,"
and you have everything
at your beck and call,
you kind of lose perspective
of reality.
Oftentimes, perpetrators
will be so brave to say,
"I'm gonna let the world know.
"I'm gonna let everyone see
what's going on,
and you'd better not say
anything."
That speaks
to the amount of control
an individual might have
over another person.
I went to a few parties
at Rob's house.
One particular time
I was there,
I went down to the studio.
There was a girl standing next
to Rob,
and she was naked and he was
feeling on her booty.
Um...
You have a big star.
That is part of the lifestyle.
But when you see that there are
girls there that look young,
it becomes
very questionable to me.
And I didn't check IDs
and didn't ask for IDs,
but you can clearly see that
these were babies in my eyes.
And that was something that
I didn't want to be around.
When I was out there
on tour with him,
he had a lot of guys that,
you know, would pretty much,
you know, if-if he say,
"Go get some girls
from the mall,"
they'll go get some girls.
You look at the people
around somebody,
and it's very upsetting
that he really didn't have
to do much
to get these young girls.
Oh, we'd always go
to the mall, too.
We'd go in the mall
in every city.
We're just chilling.
We're gonna go to the mall
today.
We're gonna try
to keep it low-key.
We'll see what happens.
My name is Lizzette Martinez,
from Sunny Isles Beach,
Florida.
I was a typical teenager.
I was at Aventura Mall
with some girlfriends,
and, uh, I see someone.
A really tall guy
wearing sunglasses.
So I said to my friend,
"Oh, I think that's R. Kelly."
And she's like,
"Why would he be at the mall?"
And I said, "No, that's him."
And he heard me,
and then he turned around,
and I was kind of starstruck,
you know.
Here's this person
in front of me
that I think is,
like, the world.
And he walked up to me
and gave me a hug,
and I kind of, like, just...
I was kind of frozen.
And then he said he was
recording an album.
I said, "Okay, nice
to meet you." And he left.
But then his bodyguard
came back
and handed me his phone number
and said, "R. Kelly would like
you to call him."
My best friend was with me,
and she said,
"Liz, this is your big break.
Like, you better call,
or I'm gonna call for you."
For me, singing was always
an outlet,
and I planned on having
a career.
So I called and he said,
"Well, I'd like you to come
to dinner with us."
My girlfriend said, "Let's get
your makeup and hair done now.
You know, this is it.
You're gonna make it."
We were so naive.
His bodyguard handed
me his phone number and said,
"R. Kelly would like you
to call him."
So we met him at
the steakhouse.
It came up that I was, you know,
an aspiring singer.
Later on, we went
to the recording studio,
and my heart was thumping
when I walked in.
And he starts to play the piano.
He plays a song by Boyz II Men
and asked me to sing along
with it.
And I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I'm sitting
with R. Kelly.
I'm 17, and he's right here,
singing.
I just couldn't believe it.
I don't even know what to say.
And then he just said that, you
know, I sound really great.
Had a great look.
He thought I could make it
and he was gonna help me.
And then he leaned over
and kissed me.
And I was really, uh,
taken aback by that.
I didn't know how to say no.
All of a sudden,
his tongue is in my mouth.
This is my dream.
How do I handle this?
I wanted the dream so bad,
but I knew it was gonna be
something else.
I knew it was gonna be
something else.
I met R. Kelly
by going to his trial,
and I didn't want to believe
that he was guilty.
Sex with him always felt
not natural.
You fall in love
with the charmer,
and then slowly
he lets the other one creep in.
♪ ♪
There's a difference
between R. Kelly and Robert.
R. Kelly's this fun,
laughing, loving guy.
But Robert...
is the devil,
is the devil, is the devil.
R. Kelly has brought
so much pain to so many people.
This sickness lived within him.
Spotify is saying, basically,
they're gonna, like,
downgrade him.
He's a control freak.
He's the puppet master.
There's girls in every room.
What the hell is going on?
♪ ♪
This is really
about an adult man who is using
the power of his fame
and wealth and whatever
to systematically degrade
black girls.
He became more abusive
and more aggressive.
He just started
kicking me and slapping me.
It's okay, baby. It's okay.
♪ ♪
Mr. Kelly has been indicted.
There's been a warrant issued
for his arrest.
A lot of people saw
that pee tape.
It was circulating
in the streets.
She was actually 14.
And he's urinating
on her in her mouth.
He was not thought of
as guilty,
even though the evidence
was there.
I should have never introduced
her to him.
I should have never introduced
my family to him.
There she go.
I said, "R. Kelly,
"I want you to remember my name.
Okay?"
"Stay the away
from my daughter."
characterize myself
as a survivor.
I do see myself
as a victim of R. Kelly.
I was a victim.
I don't
consider myself a victim.
I am a survivor.
I lived it
and I survived it.
Why do you want
to tell your story now?
I felt like my silence
allowed it to continue.
I worked up the courage to come
forward and tell my story.
A part of me always felt
like maybe I did something
for him to treat me that way.
I want my story to be heard
so people could take
this situation seriously.
But when I found out
it wasn't just me...
I just don't want it
to get any worse.
And it was just...
It just kept going
and going and going.
I just wanted to know
that it's not...
You know, you're not alone.
They're not alone.
It just made me...
furious.
I decided
that enough was enough.
Can you describe
the physical abuse?
I think I can't really talk
about being abused.
It's-it's, like...
it brings back memories,
and it's, it's very painful
to have to talk about it again.
- I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
♪ ♪
I met R. Kelly when I was 14.
When I met him,
I was 17 years old.
I wanted to be a singer.
I wanted to be a dancer.
We thought
we were gonna be stars.
I think my daughter's
going through prison right now.
We got a tip that she's here.
♪ Oh, say ♪
♪ Can you see... ♪
In the middle of all
of these allegations,
R. Kelly's just dropping music.
His songs were a huge part
of the soundtrack of our lives.
♪ I believe I can fly. ♪
Songs like "Ignition."
♪ It's the remix to "Ignition" ♪
♪ Hot and fresh
out the kitchen. ♪
"I Wish."
♪ I'll see you again some day ♪
♪ I wish, I wish, I wish. ♪
He had a voice
that was incredible.
Women loved the way he looked,
the way he sounded.
People looked at him
as the king of R&B.
He was the biggest artist
in the recording industry
at that time
in terms
of actual record sales.
Robert was working
with everyone.
Snoop, Céline Dion,
Michael Jordan, Janet Jackson.
He worked with Michael Jackson.
He worked with Jay-Z,
Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga.
R. Kelly was part
of that superstar milieu.
He was a hero.
-Robert, how do you feel?
-Was it you on the tape?
R&B superstar
R. Kelly on trial
for allegedly
videotaping himself
having sex
with an underage girl.
Jurors found him
not guilty on all charges.
R. Kelly has a problem.
The accusations are now part
of pop culture.
South Park touched on it.
Chappelle's Show touched on it.
After R. Kelly got off trial,
I'd do the interview.
He was very nervous.
Do you like teenage girls?
When you say "teenage,"
how old are we talking?
This is an industry
where anything goes.
He's a font of money.
He was like a bad boy,
like an antihero.
You know that he's dirty,
which is so delusional
for us to kind of feel like,
"Oh, it's all good now."
R. Kelly has power
over these young girls.
I had to wait for permission
to be able to use the bathroom.
It's okay. Okay.
Your dad says
he loves you so much.
What the heck is he doing
hanging around the high school?
R. Kelly believes he can fly
and that he is untouchable.
- Shame on you!
- Shame on you!
-Shame on you!
-Shame on you!
-Mute R. Kelly!
-Mute R. Kelly!
His performances
were increasingly pornographic.
-You understand me?
-Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Drop your , big dog.
That's right.
I am handcuffed,
like a lot of you mother.
I'm handcuffed by my destiny.
It's too late.
They should've did this
30 years ago.
-It's too late.
-Tell 'em, R.
My family grew up in Altgeld
Gardens housing projects.
My name is Carey Kelly,
and I'm R. Kelly's
baby brother.
Theresa's the oldest.
Bruce is the second oldest.
Robert, and then myself.
R. Kelly did face hardships
with his family.
Like many other,
you know, households
in the inner city.
You may not know where
your next meal was coming from.
People living check to check.
Even though we grew up
living in the projects,
Robert is not cut from a cloth
of being street.
He was mild-mannered, afraid.
He didn't come outside.
He stayed
in the house and played
with his keyboard.
My name's Bruce Kelly.
In my earliest
childhood memories,
Robert was shy and very timid,
you know.
If you'd stare at him
in his face, he'd start crying.
We would have
to urge him on to sing
'cause he was really shy,
and he would sing
with his back turned to people
so he wouldn't have
to look them in the face.
Everybody have a mother.
They have a father.
But our father had-had,
you know, just left
and said forget us.
It was a struggle,
but we never went hungry.
R. Kelly grew up
in the church.
His mother sang in the church.
My mother was
the lead singer of the choir.
She would make people catch
the spirits, as they call them.
She was a very big fan
of Aretha Franklin,
Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan.
When she would do
Gladys Knight,
we would be her Pips.
So it just grew.
We just, we loved music
just as much as she did.
Robert had problems reading
and writing.
He did apply hisself.
He-he took tutoring
and-and things of that nature.
He just couldn't...
he couldn't grasp a hold to it.
One day I came home,
Robert was locked
in the bathroom.
He was in there crying.
And I... I'm listening.
I hear him in there...
just crying.
I knock on the door. "Robert."
He tried to straight... "Yeah."
I said,
"What's wrong with you, man?"
Broke down,
started crying again.
"I'm just tired
of these kids always teasing me
'cause I can't read."
I'm like, "Man, look,
let me tell you something.
"It gonna be the same kids
that's gonna be crying
because you're famous."
He taught hisself
to play by ear.
What he hear...
If he hear a beat in his head,
he'd pick it until he...
until that beat come alive.
He would hum it and sing it,
versus having
to write it musically
or, you know,
write or read music.
He actually gravitated
to it like...
It's-it's like he knew
that-that was his purpose.
My name is Craig Williams.
I've known Rob about...
30 years, I guess.
I met him back in the late '80s.
I was at-at the recording
studio Chicago Trax.
Gavin Christopher was an artist
in Chicago.
He came to the studio,
and he brought this kid
with him.
And the kid was Rob.
He had a little
white Casio piano.
Gavin says,
"You got to check this kid out.
He can really sing."
He said, "Sing for him."
Rob turned on his piano,
and he started singing a song
about roses
or something like that.
He had a voice
that was incredible.
It sounded like a hit song
already, so I was thinking
he was playing something
that was already written,
but this was a song
that he had written himself.
At that point, I knew
that this kid was something.
He really reminded me
of Marvin Gaye
was the first thing,
and a Sam Cooke,
a legend.
He was amazing.
Robert pretty much stayed busy.
He pretty much went
to the studio.
He pretty much
became more creative.
He became obsessed
with doing music
because that was his outlet,
because it took his mind away
from reality...
which was kind of rough.
Like anything else
when you're a child,
whatever you're taught, um...
it goes with you.
Once we moved
out the projects...
a lot of things changed
for the worse.
I recently saw the interview,
uh, that R. Kelly did
with Tavis Smiley...
...which was striking.
At eight or nine years
of age, you talk in the book
about how exposed you were
to sex.
You saw it. There were adults
who should not have been
but were coming on to you
even when you were a child.
What'd that do to you
to be exposed to sex
at that early age?
Well...
um, I'm not gonna throw
any of my people
or... my family under a bus,
but I feel I owe my fans, um...
...at least enough for them
to have an understanding
as to what I went through.
- I was molested when I was seven
- And, yes
on to maybe 13, 14,
something like that,
uh, by people in my family.
Sexually,
it woke up my hormones
a lot earlier than it...
they were supposed
to be awakened.
When you're a child,
you don't really know.
You only see,
and you learn,
and you try to figure it out.
It enhances your curiosity
before its time.
You're not supposed
to be curious about sex,
because you're not supposed
to see sex right now.
I believe that-that Robert...
that it's possible.
I don't think that he...
If he's saying that,
I don't think that he's lying.
Because it happened to me.
It happened to me.
You know, I really don't talk
to people about a lot of things
that... that I
have been going through.
I just...
I just keep it and hold it.
I was molested
by a family member,
and that...
shook my world, you know,
'cause I-I didn't understand it.
Um, I knew it wasn't right,
even though I was
six years old at that time.
I knew it wasn't right,
but it was happening to me.
I was afraid
to tell my mom, um...
um, because of the person,
who they were.
I-I didn't...
I didn't know
if she was gonna...
believe me,
so I was afraid to tell her.
Robert,
him being my big brother,
I brought that to him
and told-told him
what happened to me.
And when I told him
what happened to me,
um...
he didn't,
he didn't really respond to it
like I felt that he should.
When-when I told him, he said,
"No, that didn't,
that didn't happen,
that didn't happen to you."
And I said, "Yes, it did."
You know, Robert said,
"No, it didn't."
Then I left it alone.
I really knew not to take it
to my mom then.
My brothers was the test.
If they believed me, then maybe
I could've took it to an adult.
Child sexual abuse confuses
power and control with sex.
And so...
children may want to say, like,
"I want to be the one that's
in that power position," right?
"I never want to be
a victim again.
"I want to the person
that's in the power
in a sexual relationship."
And so, as they get older,
they want to make sure
that they're always
in that power position.
And there's really
no more powerful position
in a sexual relationship than
to be the abuser to the child.
♪ ♪
I met Robert
at Kenwood High School.
We were in the choir together.
Under Dr. Lena McLin.
One of the crown jewels
in Kenwood Academy's,
you know, reputation
is their concert choir under
the direction of Dr. Lena McLin.
She was truly like...
Rob's surrogate mother.
She loved that boy,
took him under her wing,
and...
really made him and honed him
into being the singer
that he is today.
My grandma taught at Kenwood
Academy as a music teacher.
So don't nobody think I'm hard,
'cause I'm really very nice.
She was more than just a music
teacher to a lot of people.
She was a mother to a lot
of people, and still is.
My grandma's taught
so many students,
and... of the notable students,
Mandy Patinkin,
Da Brat,
Jennifer Hudson,
Chaka Khan,
just to name a few.
I was impressed,
and I was amazed,
because he was musically...
uh, genius material.
Did he ever talk
about his home life?
No, he didn't talk about that,
but you knew about it, because
it came out in the music...
in what-what they express,
you know.
Children express
what they fear,
they love,
that's around them, you know.
And he was very...
very aggressive.
What do you mean by aggressive?
Well, yeah, aggressive in some
of his sexual language, too.
Which we had to discuss
and say that it wouldn't be
appropriate to school.
It wouldn't really be...
really be appropriate, period.
He dropped out senior year.
You saw his confidence...
kind of swell
once he realized he had a gift,
you know,
when it came to, uh, singing.
And it went from him
being shy to confident.
It was really,
uh, an evolution.
He just honed in
on his craft and just...
he made himself
into a great singer.
He got noticed...
basically, when he actually went
to Natalie Cole's Big Break.
Robert said,
"I'm gonna win the show.
I'm gonna win the show."
You had the best talent,
you know, in the, in the nation,
and it whittled down
to two groups.
Okay, for R. Kelly and MGM,
they received 280 points.
R. Kelly and MGM is
the champion!
A hundred thousand dollars!
Hello!
♪ ♪
That's when
all the labels start calling,
and that's when he took off.
Once he signed to Jive Records,
it was a wrap.
♪ ♪
I was traveling
through Hyde Park at one time,
and I stopped at a store,
and Rob was driving by,
and he was on his way
to Kenwood High School.
And I heard a lot
about Rob going
to Kenwood High School
to, to hang out,
and I always wondered,
what the heck is he doing
hanging around the high school?
He's... left high school
many years ago.
And, uh...
That's all I can say
on that one,
'cause I don't know,
but I heard that, you know,
he was picking up a lot of...
a lot of kids from the school.
♪ ♪
My name is Jovante Cunningham.
I have known Robert Kelly
since 1991.
At that time, I was about 14.
I met him through
a dear friend of mine,
Tiffany.
She was also, uh, yeah, 14.
He was an upcoming artist.
She knew him
prior to me meeting her.
I believe they met
at Kenwood High School,
and she asked,
"You want to go down
and meet so and so?"
And I'm like, "Who is that?"
And we went.
And that's how it started.
Ooh.
Wasn't something that
was talked about, you know.
I don't remember
actually saying,
"Hey, by the way,
how old are you?"
We were doing
the background vocals
for the Born into the 90's
album.
He would just ask us
to come into the studio,
and, "You sing this,
you sing this,
you sing that,
y'all sing it together."
And that's how it would go.
I wanted to be
a professional singer.
You're up close and personal
with, um, someone
who is potentially
going to be...
seen in the... in the world,
and... you're young, you know?
You're excited.
You think, "Wow," you know?
"Who's this person?"
and "What do you got going on?"
and "Can I hear your music?"
And that was the first time
I heard "Honey Love,"
and I was like, "Wow!"
♪ 'Cause there is
something' that ♪
♪ I want from you... ♪
A very talented
young man, and...
his ability to create music
is ingenious.
It really is.
He's truly a talent.
♪ ♪
Right across the street
from Kenwood High School,
I would see R. Kelly there
on a regular basis, and these
were high school girls,
freshmen, sophomores,
I couldn't tell exactly.
But I know they were students
at the, at the high school.
His nickname
is not Pied Piper for nothing.
Pied Piper's whole purpose is to
bring the young people to him,
to follow him, to admire him,
to listen to him.
And so, he's good at it.
The first time I saw R. Kelly,
I was probably around 12,
maybe 13.
We would hang out
at the McDonald's in Hyde Park.
I was 14 years old.
And we'd always see him
come in by himself
but leave with,
with some student.
We'd meet girls.
Robert would, um...
I would...
a lot of times, make people
know that R. Kelly's here.
You would see
the Ford Explorer pull up.
There were a bunch of girls
in Kenwood jackets,
in high school clothes.
You would see him
and his group of guys
come in and kind of hang out.
"Mr. Kelly wants to meet you."
♪ ♪
And you'd look over, and there
was like a little nod.
If you're the girl
that smiles back,
that's when he
starts talking to you.
Public Announcement,
R. Kelly, Born into the 90's.
He was on the rise.
He knew that
he had the singing career,
and he was blowing up,
and who wouldn't want to be
with a superstar?
He liked high school girls.
He could influence them more.
They were more impressionable.
He tries to slide in
in that space
where girls
don't know better yet,
where they can't necessarily
spot a predator.
People will say, "Well,
why didn't anyone notice?"
The answer is
that we all noticed;
no one cared
because we were black girls.
I would hear different
things, but I didn't realize
what was going on at the time.
I know when we were around,
as children ourselves,
as teenagers,
it was,
"Go out, find me some girls,"
to recruit, in a sense.
I mean, and at that time
you didn't think of it as that.
At that time you're thinking,
"Go get me some girls"?
I mean, we weren't looking
for underage women.
In our minds
we were just looking for girls.
We were so stupid.
Just so...
naive.
♪ ♪
The first time I witnessed
a sexual act in the studio
was during the recording
of "Slow Dance," the remix.
He had one of my teenage friends
in the booth with him bent over.
And we were all right there.
♪ ♪
I will not say with whom,
but none of us were of age.
None of us.
Um...
We went through a lot.
We experienced a lot.
We saw a lot. Um...
It was a period of time when...
um...
we were just trying to make it.
We had... we had big dreams,
and we thought
we were gonna be somebody.
"And don't give me
that bull about it.
You should not meet 'em."
And that was my language
to him consistently.
He has no business around them.
They were too young for him.
I told him, "Go on, live your
life the way you want to live,
but don't bring down
somebody else's life."
So, 1993,
we get 12 Play, which is,
in my opinion, what really
establishes R. Kelly as
one of the most influential,
if not the most influential
R&B artist of his generation.
"Bump n' Grind" is
his first big song.
♪ With a little
bump and grind ♪
♪ With a little bump
and grind... ♪
It's kind of slow,
like a ballad,
but then it's like,
there's nothing wrong
with being physical and sexual.
And so, it's sort of that
classic R&B message of, like,
sexuality's okay,
like, it's okay to be physical.
In the beginning, with
12 Play, we get to this point
where it's less about having
beautiful lyrics, or a beautiful
melody and a great voice,
and almost about this kind
of shock and awe,
and this raunch
and this raw sexuality.
You know, "Sex Me."
I mean, a lot of these
songs are great, you know.
It's just that, when you start
to think about the sort of
person behind them,
you start to go, like...
I remember Rob from nothing
and sleeping in his car...
to stardom just that fast.
I can only imagine that
he got caught up
and lost himself
in the fame and the fortune.
And then Rob met Aaliyah
through his manager, which...
Aaliyah was
Barry Hankerson's niece.
Right now I'm producing
a very talented young lady,
Aaliyah.
Uh, she's real sweet.
She just be chillin'.
- Hey, Aaliyah?
- Yo.
-That first verse is funky,
right?
-Mm-hmm.
What I want you to do is...
I want you to try to get into it
-just a little bit more for me.
-Okay.
Just get into it a little more,
make it a little more street.
-All right?
-All right.
-You sound good, though, baby.
-All right.
Uh... very shy kid,
very tomboyish.
Glasses, braces.
No-no swag.
She's truly
an angelic individual.
She was truly
a beautiful young lady.
Aaliyah just needed a look.
That's all.
She just needed a little...
a little something
to spice it up.
She was still very young.
She was 12 years old.
We taught her her street thing,
we gave her her vibe.
She went from wearing
fitted clothes
to the baggy jeans
with the half shirts,
with the baseball caps.
We taught her how
to be an artist in the sense
of having a stage presence.
We would sneak Aaliyah
out of the hotel...
...and take her
all over the place.
It was fun.
We used to take her
to my dad's house, and...
we'd dance and sing
in the living room.
Aaliyah became very close
with Tia and myself.
We were all very close.
She and myself had
a very close-knit relationship
and friendship.
Those were the good old days.
But those are the things
that also... make you cry.
Aaliyah's first album
is made by R. Kelly,
and it's called
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.
And that main...
the title song, is about
a young girl
who's trying to get an older guy
to go all the way with her.
I mean...
it's, it's-it's frightening
and it's disgusting.
♪ Boy, be brave ♪
♪ Don't be afraid ♪
♪ 'Cause tonight
we're gonna go all the way ♪
♪ Age ain't nothin'
but a number ♪
♪ Throwin' down
ain't nothin' but a thing. ♪
There's this young girl who's
obviously not even, you know,
barely in puberty, right?
But there's a... there's a kind
of sexuality to her
that is part of why it worked,
and R. Kelly used that.
And calling it... age is just
but a, you know, but a number--
he's playing on all of that
right away, and that's a...
"Age ain't nothing but a number"
is a thing
in the black community I've
heard since I was a little boy,
when a, when a hot young girl
walks by,
and a guy
in a barbershop says that.
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number"
is definitely
a perfect song
for hiding in plain sight.
Robert brought
a beauty out of her voice
to where she became the star
that she was.
He said he wanted her
to have the best of everything.
He said, "Man, I want
to make her the biggest star
in the world, man.
Look at her. She's so..."
She was so beautiful to him.
And she always had him laughing.
They would...
I'm gonna just tell you.
We'd go get ice cream,
and I'm in the back, and I'm
walking behind 'em all the time.
And they...
They're just so silly, man.
You know, they were silly.
I met Aaliyah once
at the studio at CRC.
At that point, I didn't see
anything, uh, unusual,
um... except a producer
working with an artist.
It wasn't until
I was maybe a teenager myself
that it really bothered me
just how much older
he was than her.
At the time I remember
thinking, "That's not right.
I don't have
no grown man friends." Right?
Like, I just can't wrap my brain
around, like,
having a grown-up,
period, as a friend.
You know, a babysitter
or a friend of the family,
but never being left alone
in the care of a male,
aside from my father.
Her parents trusted.
They trusted me.
They trusted us.
I thought
they were getting closer.
I was beginning to suspect
things but didn't want to.
So I asked Robert.
I said, "Robert, man,
what's going on, man?
You ain't messing..."
"Hell no, man.
I'm not messing with Aaliyah."
It was under talks
for a long time
about having them come up
to the show.
It was kind of like, they don't
want you to talk about the age.
They don't want you to talk
about any of this stuff.
But as a journalist,
you kind of have to decide,
are you gonna take this risk
while this platform is
in front of you
and ask the questions
that the people want to know?
Okay, let's clear something up,
'cause, you know,
I have been getting
the rundown on the street.
Everybody seems to think
that y'all are either
girlfriend and boyfriend,
- or cousins, or friends.
- Look at my man.
Just let's... let's just
get the record straight.
We're just very close.
He's my best friend.
Yeah, cool.
In the whole wide world.
- Now who found who?
- In the whole wide world.
They are asked
direct questions.
"Are you guys dating?" And they
would not give direct answers.
They would both give
these vague answers
that left it all up in the air.
So they knew this wasn't right.
And for the record,
you are how old?
-That's a secret. Shh.
-Uh-oh.
A woman doesn't disclose
her age, y'all.
- Keeping it under wraps.
- That's right.
Seeing them dressed alike
was really kind of like dangling
candy in front of a baby.
Like, this is promotion,
this is a media machine.
We're gonna work this
to our benefit,
and we're gonna toy with you,
we're gonna play with you,
and we're not gonna give you
any direct answers,
and we're gonna kind of
leave you wondering,
"Well, are they a couple?"
We were out on the road
with Aaliyah.
On a tour bus, there really
aren't any confined spaces.
When you get on the bus,
there are bunks.
And so, these bunks have little
curtains you can pull at night
if you don't want anybody
to see you sleeping.
So it just so happened
we were all laying in our bunks.
It was... And curtains are open.
Everybody's communicating,
laughing.
We used to play different pranks
on each other.
And, uh...
I think it was intended to...
prank time,
when the door flew open
on the bus.
Robert was having sex
with Aaliyah.
I feel protective of Aaliyah
right now,
which is why
I can't get my mouth to say...
He destroyed a lot of people.
Destroyed a lot of people.
A lot of people who loved
and adored him, and...
I can't stress
to you enough how...
people are still suffering
behind things
that went on 20 years ago.
After that,
it kind of started the breakup
of everything and everybody.
A lot of people...
People's emotions
were challenged.
Our whole family
just kind of ripped up.
Robert came to me.
We were in Miami.
Robert said, "Man,
we got Aaliyah in trouble."
And, um, "Aaliyah in trouble?
What do you mean?"
"Man, we got to get to Chicago."
I said, "Well, I'm-I'm-a call
Barry and tell Barry."
"No, man, we can't tell Barry."
Robert mentioned to me that,
um, "I think she's pregnant."
And... that broke my heart
right there.
I was so disappointed in him,
'cause I really believed him
when he said that, you know,
he wasn't doing
and messing with Aaliyah.
'Cause I questioned him,
and, um...
once he told me that,
I was, like...
I just... I was... I was lost
for words, man. Um...
He married Aaliyah.
I was in the room
when they got married.
In 1994,
I was working at MTV News
as a writer, not on air,
and the issue of,
"Is he married to Aaliyah?"
was-was wild
and being talked about widely.
Finally, my boss told me, "Call
the Cook County Clerk's Office
and tell them to send you
the marriage certificate."
Hip-hop star R. Kelly
did indeed marry his protégée,
the 15-year-old singer
Aaliyah Haughton.
MTV News was the first
to put out
this marriage certificate
on which Aaliyah had said
that she was 18,
when she's actually 15,
and R. Kelly was 27,
and they were married.
I, uh, went,
and I, um... I, um...
I'm not proud of that.
I forged, I had papers forged
for them.
But Aaliyah was underage.
Got the marriage license,
and we were in a hotel
in, uh, Maywood, Illinois.
It was just
a quick little ceremony.
Nothing elaborate; she didn't
have on a white dress.
Robert didn't have on a tux.
Just everyday wear.
Robert said, "I do."
He said, "I do."
Him and Aaliyah.
Aaliyah looked worried.
Scared.
Worried and scared.
I wanted so much to grab
Aaliyah and talk to her.
I wanted so much
to talk to her.
'Cause she looked at me,
she gave me a look
like she wanted me
to talk to her.
That's why I feel like I left
her-- I-I failed them.
Both of them.
I knew that it had changed
the course of everything.
was not familiar with how the
annulment happened with Aaliyah.
I just know that it did.
Her parents had
the last say-so.
The Aaliyah situation,
a lot of us kind of forgave
but were kind of like,
"That was weird, but okay.
What else you got?"
Well, they're both performers,
and she's old beyond her years.
And they just have
that special connection.
It didn't yet appear like
here's a person
who is a predator.
Where was the outrage?
Where was Essence?
Where was Ebony?
Where was the local news?
Where was anyone?
Like, why was this not,
in that moment, full stop?
Why didn't the culture say
something is wrong?
You had this whole history
of adult male musicians who hung
out with young girls.
Musicians who "mentor"
young girls.
You had the history of musicians
who married young girl fans.
And I think while it was
disturbing to people,
it's very easy
to rationalize things
when you're in the industry
and you see
this flourishing career,
not only of Kelly,
but of Aaliyah.
If you listen to the history
of American popular music,
particularly rock and roll,
there's a whole thing
about underage girls
that's a big running theme
in-in so much of the songs.
"Sweet Little Sixteen."
There's a body of work
of underage girls
being sexual targets,
being sexually promiscuous,
being celebrated.
It's hard to think
of a group or an artist
who didn't pay tribute
to teenage girls
in a way that
we might question today.
Even the Beatles, you know.
"When I Saw Her
Standing There."
"She was just 17,
if you know what I mean."
Jerry Lee Lewis
famously married
his 13-year-old cousin
Myra, um,
and they flaunted
their relationship.
That actually brought down
his career.
Elvis Presley was more subtle
and careful
with his teenage girlfriend
Priscilla,
who he met when he was
a soldier abroad in Germany
and whom he brought to live
with him as a young teenager.
So when you think of girls
who are going to shows,
attending concerts, becoming
completely hysterical, um,
and then meeting their heroes,
these-- this is a situation ripe
for, uh, men taking advantage
of young girls.
Robert feels
as if he's invincible.
"I can't be touched."
And in hindsight, in society,
we kind of made him feel
that way.
Because he's progressively
done this
for as far back
as I can remember,
and nothing
has been done about it.
R. Kelly created and occupied
a position of outrageousness
that kind of masked everything
that was happening
behind the scenes.
And then, when you get
that type of fame
and that type of power,
and you come from nothing
and you know nothing,
and all you know is that
everyone around you is "yes"
and "okay," "sure,"
and you have everything
at your beck and call,
you kind of lose perspective
of reality.
Oftentimes, perpetrators
will be so brave to say,
"I'm gonna let the world know.
"I'm gonna let everyone see
what's going on,
and you'd better not say
anything."
That speaks
to the amount of control
an individual might have
over another person.
I went to a few parties
at Rob's house.
One particular time
I was there,
I went down to the studio.
There was a girl standing next
to Rob,
and she was naked and he was
feeling on her booty.
Um...
You have a big star.
That is part of the lifestyle.
But when you see that there are
girls there that look young,
it becomes
very questionable to me.
And I didn't check IDs
and didn't ask for IDs,
but you can clearly see that
these were babies in my eyes.
And that was something that
I didn't want to be around.
When I was out there
on tour with him,
he had a lot of guys that,
you know, would pretty much,
you know, if-if he say,
"Go get some girls
from the mall,"
they'll go get some girls.
You look at the people
around somebody,
and it's very upsetting
that he really didn't have
to do much
to get these young girls.
Oh, we'd always go
to the mall, too.
We'd go in the mall
in every city.
We're just chilling.
We're gonna go to the mall
today.
We're gonna try
to keep it low-key.
We'll see what happens.
My name is Lizzette Martinez,
from Sunny Isles Beach,
Florida.
I was a typical teenager.
I was at Aventura Mall
with some girlfriends,
and, uh, I see someone.
A really tall guy
wearing sunglasses.
So I said to my friend,
"Oh, I think that's R. Kelly."
And she's like,
"Why would he be at the mall?"
And I said, "No, that's him."
And he heard me,
and then he turned around,
and I was kind of starstruck,
you know.
Here's this person
in front of me
that I think is,
like, the world.
And he walked up to me
and gave me a hug,
and I kind of, like, just...
I was kind of frozen.
And then he said he was
recording an album.
I said, "Okay, nice
to meet you." And he left.
But then his bodyguard
came back
and handed me his phone number
and said, "R. Kelly would like
you to call him."
My best friend was with me,
and she said,
"Liz, this is your big break.
Like, you better call,
or I'm gonna call for you."
For me, singing was always
an outlet,
and I planned on having
a career.
So I called and he said,
"Well, I'd like you to come
to dinner with us."
My girlfriend said, "Let's get
your makeup and hair done now.
You know, this is it.
You're gonna make it."
We were so naive.
His bodyguard handed
me his phone number and said,
"R. Kelly would like you
to call him."
So we met him at
the steakhouse.
It came up that I was, you know,
an aspiring singer.
Later on, we went
to the recording studio,
and my heart was thumping
when I walked in.
And he starts to play the piano.
He plays a song by Boyz II Men
and asked me to sing along
with it.
And I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I'm sitting
with R. Kelly.
I'm 17, and he's right here,
singing.
I just couldn't believe it.
I don't even know what to say.
And then he just said that, you
know, I sound really great.
Had a great look.
He thought I could make it
and he was gonna help me.
And then he leaned over
and kissed me.
And I was really, uh,
taken aback by that.
I didn't know how to say no.
All of a sudden,
his tongue is in my mouth.
This is my dream.
How do I handle this?
I wanted the dream so bad,
but I knew it was gonna be
something else.
I knew it was gonna be
something else.
I met R. Kelly
by going to his trial,
and I didn't want to believe
that he was guilty.
Sex with him always felt
not natural.
You fall in love
with the charmer,
and then slowly
he lets the other one creep in.
♪ ♪
There's a difference
between R. Kelly and Robert.
R. Kelly's this fun,
laughing, loving guy.
But Robert...
is the devil,
is the devil, is the devil.
R. Kelly has brought
so much pain to so many people.
This sickness lived within him.
Spotify is saying, basically,
they're gonna, like,
downgrade him.
He's a control freak.
He's the puppet master.
There's girls in every room.
What the hell is going on?
♪ ♪
This is really
about an adult man who is using
the power of his fame
and wealth and whatever
to systematically degrade
black girls.
He became more abusive
and more aggressive.
He just started
kicking me and slapping me.
It's okay, baby. It's okay.
♪ ♪
Mr. Kelly has been indicted.
There's been a warrant issued
for his arrest.
A lot of people saw
that pee tape.
It was circulating
in the streets.
She was actually 14.
And he's urinating
on her in her mouth.
He was not thought of
as guilty,
even though the evidence
was there.
I should have never introduced
her to him.
I should have never introduced
my family to him.
There she go.
I said, "R. Kelly,
"I want you to remember my name.
Okay?"
"Stay the away
from my daughter."