In the wake of Lifetime’s bombshell R. Kelly documentary, another accuser is speaking out for the first time, claiming he also sexually abused her when she was a teenager. Tracy Sampson tells Dateline that Kelly allegedly abused her beginning in the summer of 1999 when she was 16 and working as an intern at Epic Records. She claims he forcibly kissed her then initiated a sexual relationship with her all while she was underage. Sampson told Dateline that Kelly asked her, “‘Can I kiss you?’ and I was like, ‘No,’†to which he responded, “‘Well, give me a hug.’ And then, like, when I gave him a hug he just started kissing me.†She continued, “I was in love with him. I just didn’t know what to do. Like, I didn’t know if this was normal. I didn’t know if this is how adults acted.â€
Sampson says she ended the relationship after she turned 18 and then sued Kelly in 2001 for sexual abuse, including forcing her to receive oral sex from another woman. Kelly denied the allegations but settled with Sampson out of court for $250,000. Kelly has been accused by multiple women of sexual abuse throughout his 25-year career, many of whom told their stories in Surviving R. Kelly, and in 2017 was accused of holding women against their will as part of an alleged “sex cult.†Kelly’s lawyer tells Dateline now that all of Kelly’s accusers are lying, “every one of them.â€