*Married a minor: In 1994, at the age of 27, Kelly married 15-year-old singer Aaliyah at a secret ceremony in Chicago. Over the next two and half decades he would face dozens of other allegations, culminating this week with the airing of a new documentary, Surviving R Kelly, which made accusations of the singer taking part in underage sex. Kelly, who was 27 at the time, said he knew from the very beginning that Aaliyah, his managers teen niece, was gonna be a star, whether I work with her or not, The testimony came a day after Kelly's former tour manager told jurors about the night the sham marriage to Aaliyah was executed. Get a daily dose of showbiz gossip direct to your inbox. In her explosive new book, Baby Girl: Better Known As Aaliyah, biographer Kathy Iandoli claims the teen was forced to sign a legal document banning her from discussing emotional distress or physical harm caused by Kellys abuse. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Aaliyah was introduced to R. Kelly through her uncle Rewinding a bit, the pair first met through Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson, who also happened to be Kelly's manager. ( Gladys Knight and Toni And I just wanted to tell my truth and my mothers truth because I feel like its time and its needed. She goes on to say shes had to keep her identity secret for years because of the industry. She then claims shes an extension of her mother, Aaliyah Haughton. Ad Choices. In what has been called the biggest music industry scandal since Michael Jackson stood trial in 2005 on charges of child molestation, the 54-year-old singer is accused of racketeering, sexual abuse and bribery in relation to his illegal marriage to Aaliyah and conduct with five other teenage girls. [catid] => 4625 Since the 1990s, Kelly has been accused and convicted of several crimes, including prostitution, child abuse, sex trafficking and child pornography. In 2000, my colleague Abdon M. Pallasch and I reported in the Chicago Sun-Times that, shortly after the marriage, Kelly and Aaliyah had gotten an annulment and had signed a settlement agreement stipulating that they would sever all personal and professional contact, and avoid making any public comments about each other. Lawyers for R. Kelly real name Robert Sylvester Kelly denied underage sexual contact and said there is no proof Aaliyah was pregnant. Kelly married Aaliyah in 1994 when she was only 15, according to documents The 56-year . 2014 - 2023. R. Kellys former tour Aaliyah is the only Jane Doe included in charging documents who did not testify at Kellys trial because she died in a plane crash in 2001. Her biggest selling single Try Again, produced by Timbaland, was released in 2000 as part of the soundtrack to the movie Romeo Must Die, in which she starred opposite Jet Li. Prosecutors claim that Kelly was having sexual contact with Aaliyah and may have impregnated her while she was a minor; he then illegally married her. What's he waiting for? +:966126531375 Why would she do this to herself..she's setting herself up to be drug. Her passing was heartbreaking for fans. Twenty two white doves were released to symbolise each year of her life. The conductors move to the New York Philharmonic may be less of a loss for L.A. than it appears. He does not deserve the credit. Aaliyah was never pregnant by the then rising R&B star. The R&B superstar's musical accomplishments have long been shadowed by allegations that he sexually abused women and children. Hankerson has been busy lately. Only now is Kelly being prosecuted for the crimes he allegedly committed against her, as well as against nineteen other women and two men, in a case brought by the Eastern District of New York. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? There are no particularly easy ways to ask a man about his alleged relationships with underage girls, but at least the story of R. Kelly and Aaliyah offers a reasonably direct way in. But she was signed to star in several future films, including Honey, a romantic film Some Kind of Blue, and a Whitney Houston-produced remake to the 1976 film Sparkle. They met at a party at his house when she was about 15. Shortly after that she graduated from the Detroit School of Performing Arts and instantly launched an acting career, starring in the 2000 hit movie Romeo Must Die, opposite Jet Li. Apologies that fans cannot visit Aaliyah's resting place.". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Kellys lawyers had previously attempted to dismiss claims by prosecutors that involved Jane Doe #1 due to her unfortunate passing on 25 August 2001, citing that she is legally unavailable. And thats what I saw with Aaliyah.. [created_user_id] => 524 After severing professional ties with Kelly in 1995, Aaliyah went on to have a successful music career, but always shut down questions about her former association with Kelly. She has a fan base that grows by the day, from kids who are 13 or 14 to people well into their 50s. There is speculation that she was pregnant but he couldnt be held accountable for any crime because she was technically his wife. You know, Im a Muslim, I went to Minister Farrakhan, and we just prayed about it and just resolved ourselves to let God handle him. In lower Manhattan, across the East River from the federal courthouse where the R. & B. star R. Kelly is being tried for racketeering and sex trafficking, there is a three-story billboard of his most famous protg and victim, the late singer Aaliyah, who is portrayed with her eyes closed and her hands on her hips, underneath the message Aaliyah is coming. The billboard is meant to promote the recent release of Aaliyahs music on streaming platforms. ONE In A Million, Aailyahs second album, is appearing for the first time on streaming services this week ending years of contractual problems delaying its re-release. Aaliyah was thought to have been pregnant at the time of her marriage to Kelly, then 27 in 1994, and he is accused of bribing an official to forge documents. Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001.) During 1994 it was widely reported Kelly and Aaliyah had secretly married, but both denied it. Her second movie, the gothic horror Queen Of The Damned, came out a year after her death. [category_id] => 4625 And no doubt after this public outcry, we may need to do a wellness check up on her. The incident with Aaliyah occurred in 1992 or 1993, when Angela and another young woman decided to play a prank on Mr Kelly, she told the court. R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison today in a Chicago courtroom after being charged with crimes against minors. Her life was cut tragically short in 2001 when she was killed in a plane crash. She looked worried and scared.. . The woman, who testified In the same year she also starred in Tommy Hillfiger jeans ad campaign. Until her death in 2001, Aaliyah distanced herself from Kelly. While researching the book, Kathy found a video from a then 13-year-old Bahamian baggage handler who said Aaliyah took a pill before getting on the doomed flight and was walked on to the plane in a sleepy state. Blessed with raw talent, looks and charisma, most observers were predicting that Aaliyahs fame would quickly go stratospheric. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. After getting their marriage license from a clerk in Cook County, Kelly and Aaliyah were married on August 31, 1994, by a Baptist minister in a room at the Sheraton, near Chicago OHare Airport. [created] => 2023-02-27 12:42:06 The singer, whose full name is Robert Kelly, is not charged with rape or assault, but prosecutors are allowed to present evidence of potential crimes related to the racketeering charge, regardless of when they occurred. The shows host Ed McMahon recalled: Theres a thing that you see when somebody walks out on the stage, I call it the fire. During R. Kellys bombshell trial in 2021, it was learned that Aaliyah had become pregnant with the rapper's baby at age 15 and illegally married him. Aaliyah was just 22 when she was killed in a plane crash in 2001, The singer married R Kelly at the age of 15 in a hotel room, Aaliyah's first album sold 3million copies in the US, Aaliyah was a rising Hollywood star when she died, The singer had finished filming a music video on the Bahamas when her plane crashed, The singer's premature death led to an outpouring of grief. Im not proud of that. There were so many things she had yet to experience, like marriage or rather, a real marriage built on love. Aaliyah married R Kelly when she was just 15-years-old. Kelly is on trial for a long list of allegations, including claims he and others bribed a government official to obtain a fake ID so Kelly could take Aaliyah as his child In fact, the embattled R&B star married her when she was just 15 years old. From the vantage point of 2021, it is hard to imagine how a sexual-abuse scandal involving two of the biggest names in popular music would not derail the alleged abusers career. Prosecutors claim that Kelly was having sexual contact with Aaliyah and may have impregnated her while she was a minor; he then illegally married her. Aged 17, she worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott on her second album, One in a Million, which sold over eight million copies worldwide. Kelly was acquitted of the child pornography charges in 2009 after being found not guilty by a jury. In fact, the embattled R&B star married her when she By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. When that album came out, Aaliyah was fifteen, and a sophomore at what was then called the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts. Almost immediately after their marriage, Kelly and Aaliyah split, and her career thrived as wellshe sold more than two million copies of each of her next two albums, which she made with other producers, and launched a film career. Everyone on earth knows R. Kelly had a romantic relationship with a teenaged Aaliyah in the 1990s. But for someone with a fear of flying, who could see some of the ground staff were not happy with the plane taking off, thats out of character. In 1994, when she was 15, Aaliyah said in an interview that she was rather close to Kelly, but denied that the pair had married. ["Detail"]=> There was his marriage to 15-year-old Aaliyah.The video widely believed to show him having sex with and urinating on a minor. But you can't really answer the question.". She was only 22 years old. Kelly, who was twenty-seven, and living in Chicago, where the age of consent was seventeen, was worried about being charged with statutory rape, and he immediately flew home. A new book scheduled for release this summer makes the shocking claim that R.Kelly gave Aaliyah a gut full before he put a ring on it back in the day. He then oversaw the second most successful period of Kellys career, until late 2013, when he sued the star in a financial dispute. The verdict ended a six-year saga that began when a videotape surfaced of a man looking likeKelly having sex with a girl believed to be as young as 13. Mr Kelly's former assistant also testified on Monday, saying she did not witness any of the abusive behaviour alleged by other witnesses. You know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn't true. Monday also saw a second male accuser testify against Mr Kelly. After the marriage was annulled in 1995, Kelly continued to ascend in the music business, while Aaliyah blossomed into a superstar. A woman identified in court by the pseudonym "Jane" testified on Monday that Kelly, who maintained strict control over the lives of his partners, once took her and his other "girlfriends" to a park and told them they could ask him whatever they wanted. She got her first taste of fame at ten on the TV show Star Search. She was the 10th accuser to take the stand, and told a story of under-age sexual abuse that echoed many of the previous witnesses. string(1) "3" Then 26, the now-incarcerated singer knew better. In an excerpt leaked online former R.Kelly entourage member Demetrius Smith Sr writes, I think shes pregnant he said, in a voice that sounded as if he wanted to burst out in tears. ["GalleryID"]=> ), After Kelly, there is perhaps no one alive who knows more about what happened between Aaliyah and Kelly than Hankerson. In the recent Netflix documentary Surviving R. Kelly, his former assistant Demetrius Smith admitted helping forge marriage documents and revealed the 15-year-old singer had believed she was pregnant. string(15) "http://grc.net/" While the others died on impact, her security guard Scott Gallin survived the impact, and spent his last moments worrying about Aaliyahs condition, according to ambulance drivers. Copyright 2023 Distractify. I was in the room when they got married. I had papers forged for them when Aaliyah was underage. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Following her death, artists including Chris Brown and Drake released posthumous collaborations, and two compilation albums were released. Kelly, who was 27 at the time, said he knew from the very beginning that Aaliyah, his managers teen niece, was gonna be a star, whether I work with her or not, he told GQ during an interview in his hometown of Chicago. Hankerson rarely speaks about what happened between Kelly and Aaliyah, and he has never spoken about it in detail. [0]=> [category_title] => When Aaliyah was just 15 years old, she is alleged to have married Kelly, who was aged 27, on August 31 1994 in Chicago. Kelly stands accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating Aaliyah when she was 15, around the time he married the "One in a Million" artist after procuring a fake ID for her. In August, 2001, she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas, at the age of twenty-two. But will Hankerson testify at the trial in Brooklyn? Per Insider, Smith explained that Kelly's relationship with Aaliyah started out [0]=> Numerous witnesses are expected to be called to the stand by Kellys prosecutors, including women who claim they were sexually and physically abused by the singer. R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison today in a Chicago courtroom after being charged with crimes against minors. Although they first met when he was 16, he said Mr Kelly first pressured him into sex when he was 20. To people well into their 50s fans can not visit Aaliyah 's resting place. `` killed... Now-Incarcerated singer knew better R Kelly when she was pregnant but he couldnt be held accountable for crime. Not witness any of the abusive behaviour alleged by other witnesses life was cut tragically short in,... Accountable for any crime because she was technically his wife R. 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