R. Kelly abused teenagers days after his secret marriage to Aaliyah, witness says

Two days after R. Kelly secretly married Aaliyah in 1994, the singer sexually abused a 17-year-old in his dressing room after a concert in Miami, the now 43-year-old testified on Monday in federal court in Brooklyn.

“I was in complete shock. I was just very introverted and shy and didn’t know what to say at all,” the woman, identified by her first name Addie in the singer’s sex crimes trial, told jurors on Monday, pointing out that she had only met Kelly once, at his September 1994 concert in Miami. “I just blacked out.”

The woman told jurors that the assault took place in a dressing room immediately after Kelly performed at the “Super Fest” concert at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, which also featured rap duo Salt N Pepper.

“The main reason” Addie and her friend got her mother all-access tickets to the show, she said, was to see the “Princess of R&B” Aaliyah headline the event on September 2, 1994.

However, without Addie’s knowledge, 15-year-old singer Kelly had married just days earlier in a Chicago hotel suite after a fake ID was obtained, prosecutors said.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work,” Addie added.

After the concert, Addie said, two men approached her and her 19-year-old friend to take them backstage to meet Kelly – where they got an autograph in front of the press. The hall was soon empty, with only the teenagers and the singer still there.

Alone, the singer asked the teens to play a game with him about “who can kiss better,” Addie testified. During the game, in which the teens kissed the singer, Addie said, Kelly led her to the back of the dressing room and unzipped her pants before “having intercourse with me.”

“I was in front of the counter and he was behind me,” she said, adding that Kelly “had unprotected sex with me.”

She said her 19-year-old best friend was in the room during the attack – and Kelly even tried to “grab her hands to force her to participate, but she refused.”

When Kelly finished, Addie said, she and her friend “ran to the door, unlocked it and ran out.”

She admitted that while her friend wanted her to press charges, she was uncomfortable “talking about the situation.” She added that as an aspiring dancer and actress at the time, she did not want “the industry to blacklist her.”

“I didn’t want to be exposed as a victim,” Addie added.

Addie is the fourth accuser to testify against Kelly in court as part of the federal case. So far, all of the victims who have testified against Kelly have said they were under 18 when they met the R&B singer – and that they were subjected to emotional abuse and bizarre rules during their relationship.

Kelly, 54, is accused of racketeering through kidnapping, sexual exploitation of children and forced labor, among other things. He is also accused of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of people across state lines for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of allegedly obtaining a fake ID for Aaliyah in order to marry her.

In February 1996, Aaliyah’s marriage to Kelly was annulled by her parents.

While Addie’s allegations are not part of the charges against Kelly, Brooklyn prosecutors argue that the disgraced singer abused at least six women and girls, four of whom were minors when he first had sexual contact with them. The Grammy-winning singer has denied the allegations, and his defense team argues that their client’s accusers are simply disgruntled women with “an agenda.”

During cross-examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick questioned Addie about her one-time encounter with Kelly – and her decision to keep the 1994 program signed by Kelly. The program, which was shown in court, also included Kelly’s room number after Addie said the singer invited her to come to her audition.

“You said someone raped you and you kept the program as a souvenir,” Cannick asked.

“It was in a box,” she added, later explaining that she never told anyone because “I didn’t want more victim shaming and trauma at the time.”

“I’m an adult now, I’m not a little girl anymore,” she added after Cannick asked her about her decision to speak out about the assault now, more than 25 years later.

Last Thursday, a woman named “Stephanie” testified that she had a six-month relationship with Kelly in the summer of 1999 – when she was 17. During that relationship, she said, she was often forced to have sex with the singer on camera and was not allowed to speak to men in his presence. She said that at a dinner with Kelly and hip-hop duo Boo & Gotti, the singer called himself a “genius” and compared himself to Jerry Lee Lewis, who married his cousin in the 1950s, which was controversial.

“He mentioned that he likes very young girls and that people make such a big deal out of it. Just look at Jerry Lee Lewis, he’s a genius and I’m a genius,” Stephanie said.

Also last week, a woman named “Jane” testified about a harrowing five-year relationship with Kelly that began when she was 17. She said that during the relationship, which began in 2015, she was held in a room for three days after buying the wrong size of Hollister sweatpants and was beaten with a size 12 Air Force 1 shoe for lying to the singer. In 2017, she said, the singer also forced her to have an abortion to “keep her body toned.”

Jerhonda Pace, 28, testified earlier in the trial that she was sexually and physically abused by Kelly when she was 16. She said she ended her six-month relationship with Kelly in January 2010 after he called her a “stupid bitch” for lying and slapped her hard in the face.

Pace also told jurors that Kelly had also infected her with herpes and never told her he had a sexually transmitted disease – a claim that Jane also confirmed.

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