After new allegations from a bombshell BuzzFeed report this week about R. Kelly’s sexual behavior, which accused the singer of running a “sex cult†that preys on women, one of his sexual partners has divulged disturbing new details about the operation. According to a woman described as a sometime member of Kelly’s entourage and identified only as “Kim†who spoke to Jezebel, Kelly has been with one of the women since she was “14 or 15.†“He was telling me that he ‘raised her.’ Those were his words,†she says. The woman confirms that Kelly has at least five or six women in his circle. She says all of the women are now above the age of consent and that when she met Kelly at one of his his concerts a year ago and subsequently had sex with him, he “paused their lovemaking long enough to ask her, ‘Baby girl, how old are you?’†(Kim is in her mid-20s, and learned the extent of the alleged cult through the BuzzFeed report.) A spokesperson for Kelly denies the claim that Kelly was ever involved with any women while they were underage, telling Jezebel, “This is a crew of adults here. There are no children. No underage anything. I’ve never witnessed it.â€
According to Kim, the women are not being held against their will per se, but she’s concerned that they may be “brainwashed.†“They can leave. But it was like witnessing Stockholm syndrome. All these girls are so nice and trusting and young,†she says. “All these girls just dote on him. It’s so fucked up. They’re completely manipulated and brainwashed.†Kelly’s spokesperson also tells Jezebel that the women are “free to come and go and communicate and eat and sleep when and where and how they please.†Kim describes Kelly as “very controlling†though not violent, and the sex “not nonconsensual, I guess. But I don’t know if [the other women] even realize the situation they’re in is wrong.†She recalls a particular instance where one of the women was “punished†for not properly acting out a sexual situation with her:
“He had his iPad recording and she was naked except for a big chain and she was running laps from one end of the room to the other. She was running laps around the room and apologizing. She kept saying, ‘I’ve been bad, I’m sorry Daddy,’ shit like that. And I’m standing there and she starts apologizing to me.†Kim said she told her it was all right, but Kelly cut her off. The younger girl continued in tears, she said, telling her, “I know I have to do what Daddy says, I have to act like I miss you more, I wasn’t getting into it.â€
Kim also confirms that Kelly records all sexual activity with the women and has “at least three iPads filled with footage of both his daily life and his sexual encounters.†She says she has no plans to see Kelly again: “After all this? Absolutely not.â€