In a new two-episode documentary, "Karma: A Daughter’s Journey," artist Buku Abi claims that her father, R. Kelly, sexually abused her when she was a child, which she says she hid from friends and family for years.
In her testimony in the documentary, which marks the first occasion Abi has spoken publicly about the alleged abuse, she says, “He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me. I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
As People highlights in their coverage of the artist's shocking revelation, Abi, who was born Joann Kelly, "does not go into detail about the alleged abuse in the first episode, she says that she believes jail is a 'well-suited place' for Kelly, 57, to be, as she knows from her 'personal experience.'
“I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry,” she says. “After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother [Robert] and sister [Jaah], we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now I struggle with it a lot.”
In a statement to People, Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean said, "Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded.... And the 'filmmakers,' whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims."
Kelly, who was sentenced in 2023 to 20 years in prison on charges of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex, is currently serving 19 years of his two sentences concurrently and he will be eligible for release in 2045.
