R. Kelly is behind bars, but Surviving R. Kelly’s work continues. Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning premiered on Lifetime Thursday, the first of a three-night event showcasing the aftermath of the original Surviving R. Kelly docuseries that premiered in early 2019. Survivors of R. Kelly’s alleged abuse spoke out on their experiences now that the world knows who they are. Since the first documentary, R. Kelly has been arrested and charged with 13 counts in Illinois federal court, five counts in New York federal court, ten charges in Illinois state court, and two charges in Minnesota. He’s been dropped by his label RCA/Sony, campaigned against with the viral hashtag #MuteRKelly, and denounced by his former collaborators, including Lady Gaga. The documentary doesn’t have all the answers, but it outlines everything the public needs to know about the alleged serial abuser and the system that allowed him to thrive. Here are some of the major developments in Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning.
R. Kelly was ***ually abused by more than one person as a child.
R. Kelly’s brothers, Bruce and Carey Kelly, recalled an incident that occurred when R. Kelly was a child. Their neighbor, a “play uncle” named Mr. Henry, exposed himself to the young boys and abused R. Kelly multiple times. “He did identify the man that abused him,” R. Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Lee, recalled. “He said ‘I was so afraid ’cause I was so little. He would take me out in the field and he would tell me, ‘Robert you can’t tell anybody, otherwise I’m a cooked goose.’” One day, after Kelly “ran home” from Mr. Henry’s house, his mother called the police. “The police came through and a lot of guys in the neighborhood, they ended up jumping Mr. Henry,” Carey remembered. “Beating him until blood came everywhere ’til the police got there. When the police got there, they act like they wasn’t even there. They just turned their backs and let the guys finish beating him before they went off to jail.” In the end, Bruce claims Mr. Henry paid their mother $5,000 to miss court, dropping the charges.
The docuseries also discussed R. Kelly’s abuse at the hands of a female family member. Kelly has opened up about the ***ual abuse before in the song “I Admit.” Carey admits to being abused by the same woman who was allegedly not much older than the children, but that he thought Robert “enjoyed it.” “Someone who struggles with that type of trauma at an early age would be really confused about what *** is, what the rules around *** are, and how should I live a ***ual life, what are the appropriate boundaries around ***,” clinical psychologist Dr. Jody Adewale said in the documentary.
R. Kelly sought help for masturbating to *** tapes.
Bruce Kelly recalls a time when Robert sought help from a pastor. Kelly confessed to Bruce and the pastor, referring to a closet “full of” *** tapes, presumably similar to the ones that have been publicized. “He was telling the pastor ‘I look at those video tapes and I [expletive] off,’” Bruce said. “He was asking for help, like I have a problem. That’s the only time, I think, that Robert admitted that he has a problem.”
Faith Rodgers suffered an epileptic seizure after being threatened by someone defending R. Kelly.
After a gun threat evacuated the Surviving R. Kelly premiere, Faith Rodgers, one of R. Kelly’s victims, and her mother were approached by a woman who claimed to have naked photos of Faith. Last year when they met and were shown the photos, Faith, who has epilepsy, became so distressed that she had a seizure. “It took a lot out of me, that night, emotionally, physically, and spiritually,” Faith admits.
R. Kelly’s former employees support victim-blaming the survivors who stepped forward.
Jen Emrich and Lindsey Perryman-Dunn, two former assistants, defended R. Kelly in the documentary. Emrich said she supports the now-deleted “Surviving Lies” Facebook page, which exposed private information and photographs of the survivors, including explicit photos of Faith Rodgers. “As far as being part of that, I certainly coached Rob to speak out because Rob is not a fighter, so that’s why this has gone so far,” Emrich said. “I do not know personally who put ‘Surviving Lies’ together, but I am aware of ‘Surviving Lies’ and I definitely support that.”
Two more survivors, Tiffany Hawkins and Ebony Wilkins, share their stories.
Tiffany Hawkins was the first woman to publicly accuse R. Kelly of ***ual abuse. “It should have ended with Tiffany Hawkins, victim number one, patient zero, the first girl who sued Kelly for ***ual contact that started when she was 15 in 1991,” Jim DeRogatis, the author of Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, says in the doc. At first, Tiffany would bring her friends to have *** with Kelly, including Ebony Wilkins. Eventually, Tiffany and Kelly began a ***ual relationship, moved in together, and Kelly gave Tiffany a job working with the singer Aaliyah. “When I found out that Robert and Aaliyah got married, I didn’t care,” Tiffany said. “It didn’t bother me because if someone else was sleeping with him that was great because it meant I didn’t have to.”
