Convicted sex offender R. Kelly is essentially scandal pinata — the stories just never seem to end and his reputation continues to worsen. Most recently, it was revealed that the former R&B patriarch silenced the family of fellow artist Aaliyah with a non-disclosure agreement after his marriage to the 15-year-old singer was annulled.
These allegations were made in the concluding episode of Lifetime’s Surviving R Kelly: The Final Chapter docuseries. The two-part series focused on Kelly’s 2022 federal trial, in which the NDA was used as evidence against him. Aaliyah, who died in a 2001 plane crash, was listed as Jane Doe #1.
The #MeToo movement has brought attention to how NDAs, in addition to other legal technicalities, have been utilized by perpetrators in sexual harassment/assault cases to silence or dismiss allegations made against them.
The final installment of the documentary shed light on Kelly’s relationship with Aaliyah with emphasis on grooming, considering she was much younger than him when they got married in the 90s. He mentored her through the best-known stages of her career and produced the album (you can’t make this up), Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. Aaliyah was 14 years old at the time and only a year away from her marriage to Kelly, which is why the Lifetime series suggests that she was another one of his victims and not just a partner.
The two singers, with 12 years between them, secretly married in 1994. The official certificate, however, listed Aaliyah’s age at the time as 18. Six months later, her parents annulled the marriage. Those close to them as well as Kelly’s team members who witnessed these proceedings were interviewed for the documentary, with several of them expressing their regret for not stepping in. Others clarified the alleged legal agreement that protects Kelly from repercussions in this particular matter.
Aaliyah’s family declined to comment for the docuseries.
Kelly’s childhood friend and former security, Gem Pratt, said that Aaliyah’s father forced the annulment upon finding out about the marriage: “Her dad didn’t want her anywhere near him.” Furthermore, he claims that Aaliyah’s family had a contractual arrangement with Kelly that prevented them from pressing charges against him for the illegitimate marriage, the conditions being their silence in exchange for the rights to Kelly’s first three albums.
Executive producer Jesse Daniels recently told Variety that he was careful so as to not exploit Aaliyah’s situation while trying to show viewers the extent to which Kelly went to avoid being convicted of statutory rape of a minor: “We have had a lot of conversations about how to tell Aaliyah’s story every time because we really want to be respectful of her legacy. But what she went through, we can’t turn our backs on.”
Since Surviving R Kelly first launched in 2019, the disgraced singer has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering. (NME)
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