Surviving R Kelly (2019) s01e01 Episode Script
The Pied Piper of R&B
1 ASANTE: I would definitely characterize myself as a survivor.
KANIKA: I do see myself as a victim of R.
Kelly.
LISA: I was a victim.
JERHONDA: I don't consider myself a victim.
LISA: I am a survivor.
JERHONDA: I lived it and I survived it.
INTERVIEWER: Why do you want to tell your story now? I felt like my silence allowed it to continue.
I worked up the courage to come forward and tell my story.
A part of me always felt like maybe I did something for him to treat me that way.
I want my story to be heard so people could take this situation seriously.
But when I found out it wasn't just me I just don't want it to get any worse.
KANIKA: And it was just It just kept going and going and going.
I just wanted to know that it's not You know, you're not alone.
They're not alone.
KANIKA: It just made me furious.
I decided that enough was enough.
(sighs) INTERVIEWER: Can you describe the physical abuse? (mumbles) (crying) I think I can't really talk about being abused.
It's-it's, like it brings back memories, and it's, it's very painful to have to talk about it again.
-I'm sorry.
-INTERVIEWER: It's okay.
(crying continues) WOMAN: I met R.
Kelly when I was 14.
WOMAN 2: When I met him, I was 17 years old.
WOMAN 3: I wanted to be a singer.
WOMAN 4: I wanted to be a dancer.
WOMAN 5: We thought we were gonna be stars.
MAN: I think my daughter's going through prison right now.
We got a tip that she's here.
Oh, say Can you see In the middle of all of these allegations, R.
Kelly's just dropping music.
His songs were a huge part of the soundtrack of our lives.
I believe I can fly.
Songs like "Ignition.
" It's the remix to "Ignition" Hot and fresh out the kitchen.
"I Wish.
" I'll see you again some day I wish, I wish, I wish.
He had a voice that was incredible.
LESLIE SEGAR: Women loved the way he looked, the way he sounded.
KANIKA: People looked at him as the king of R&B.
He was the biggest artist in the recording industry at that time in terms of actual record sales.
GEM PRATTS: Robert was working with everyone.
Snoop, Céline Dion, Michael Jordan, Janet Jackson.
ANN POWERS: He worked with Michael Jackson.
He worked with Jay-Z, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga.
R.
Kelly was part of that superstar milieu.
WOMAN: He was a hero.
-Robert, how do you feel? -Was it you on the tape? MIKE JERRICK: R&B superstar R.
Kelly on trial for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl.
NEWSWOMAN: Jurors found him not guilty on all charges.
R.
Kelly has a problem.
The accusations are now part of pop culture.
TOURE: South Park touched on it.
Chappelle's Show touched on it.
After R.
Kelly got off trial, I'd do the interview.
He was very nervous.
Do you like teenage girls? When you say "teenage," how old are we talking? This is an industry where anything goes.
NELSON GEORGE: He's a font of money.
He was like a bad boy, like an antihero.
MISS INFO: You know that he's dirty, which is so delusional for us to kind of feel like, "Oh, it's all good now.
" MAN: R.
Kelly has power over these young girls.
WOMAN: I had to wait for permission to be able to use the bathroom.
-It's okay.
Okay.
-(sobbing) Your dad says he loves you so much.
CRAIG WILLIAMS: What the heck is he doing hanging around the high school? R.
Kelly believes he can fly and that he is untouchable.
-PROTESTER: Shame on you! -PROTESTERS: Shame on you! -Shame on you! -Shame on you! -Mute R.
Kelly! -Mute R.
Kelly! POWERS: His performances were increasingly pornographic.
(indistinct chatter) -You understand me? -Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Drop your (bleep), big dog.
That's right.
I am handcuffed, like a lot of you mother(bleep).
I'm handcuffed by my destiny.
It's too late.
They should've did this (bleep) 30 years ago.
-It's too late.
-Tell 'em, R.
(children chattering) My family grew up in Altgeld Gardens housing projects.
(children continue chattering) My name is Carey Kelly, and I'm R.
Kelly's baby brother.
Theresa's the oldest.
Bruce is the second oldest.
Robert, and then myself.
KATHY CHANEY: R.
Kelly did face hardships with his family.
Like many other, you know, households in the inner city.
You may not know where your next meal was coming from.
People living check to check.
CAREY: Even though we grew up living in the projects, Robert is not cut from a cloth of being street.
He was mild-mannered, afraid.
He didn't come outside.
He stayed in the house and played with his keyboard.
My name's Bruce Kelly.
In my earliest childhood memories, Robert was shy and very timid, you know.
If you'd stare at him in his face, he'd start crying.
We would have to urge him on to sing 'cause he was really shy, and he would sing with his back turned to people so he wouldn't have to look them in the face.
CAREY: Everybody have a mother.
They have a father.
But our father had-had, you know, just left and said forget us.
It was a struggle, but we never went hungry.
CHANEY: R.
Kelly grew up in the church.
His mother sang in the church.
BRUCE: My mother was the lead singer of the choir.
She would make people catch the spirits, as they call them.
She was a very big fan of Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan.
When she would do Gladys Knight, we would be her Pips.
So it just grew.
We just, we loved music just as much as she did.
Robert had problems reading and writing.
He did apply hisself.
He-he took tutoring and-and things of that nature.
He just couldn't he couldn't grasp a hold to it.
One day I came home, Robert was locked in the bathroom.
He was in there crying.
And I I'm listening.
I hear him in there just crying.
I knock on the door.
"Robert.
" He tried to straight "Yeah.
" I said, "What's wrong with you, man?" Broke down, started crying again.
"I'm just tired of these kids always teasing me 'cause I can't read.
" I'm like, "Man, look, let me tell you something.
"It gonna be the same kids that's gonna be crying because you're famous.
" He taught hisself to play by ear.
What he hear If he hear a beat in his head, he'd pick it until he until that beat come alive.
He would hum it and sing it, versus having to write it musically or, you know, write or read music.
He actually gravitated to it like It's-it's like he knew that-that was his purpose.
My name is Craig Williams.
I've known Rob about 30 years, I guess.
I met him back in the late '80s.
I was at-at the recording studio Chicago Trax.
Gavin Christopher was an artist in Chicago.
He came to the studio, and he brought this kid with him.
And the kid was Rob.
He had a little white Casio piano.
Gavin says, "You got to check this kid out.
He can really sing.
" He said, "Sing for him.
" Rob turned on his piano, and he started singing a song about roses or something like that.
He had a voice that was incredible.
It sounded like a hit song already, so I was thinking he was playing something that was already written, but this was a song that he had written himself.
At that point, I knew that this kid was something.
He really reminded me of Marvin Gaye was the first thing, and a Sam Cooke, a legend.
He was amazing.
CAREY: Robert pretty much stayed busy.
He pretty much went to the studio.
He pretty much became more creative.
He became obsessed with doing music because that was his outlet, because it took his mind away from reality which was kind of rough.
(train passing) R.
KELLY: Like anything else when you're a child, whatever you're taught, um it goes with you.
CAREY: Once we moved out the projects a lot of things changed for the worse.
I recently saw the interview, uh, that R.
Kelly did with Tavis Smiley which was striking.
SMILEY: At eight or nine years of age, you talk in the book about how exposed you were to sex.
You saw it.
There were adults who should not have been but were coming on to you even when you were a child.
What'd that do to you to be exposed to sex at that early age? (sighs) Well um, I'm not gonna throw any of my people or my family under a bus, but I feel I owe my fans, um at least enough for them to have an understanding as to what I went through.
R.
KELLY: I was molested when I was seven And, yes on to maybe 13, 14, something like that, uh, by people in my family.
Sexually, it woke up my hormones a lot earlier than it they were supposed to be awakened.
When you're a child, you don't really know.
You only see, and you learn, and you try to figure it out.
It enhances your curiosity before its time.
You're not supposed to be curious about sex, because you're not supposed to see sex right now.
I believe that-that Robert that it's possible.
I don't think that he If he's saying that, I don't think that he's lying.
Because it happened to me.
It happened to me.
You know, I really don't talk to people about a lot of things that that I have been going through.
I just I just keep it and hold it.
I was molested by a family member, and that shook my world, you know, 'cause I-I didn't understand it.
Um, I knew it wasn't right, even though I was six years old at that time.
I knew it wasn't right, but it was happening to me.
I was afraid to tell my mom, um um, because of the person, who they were.
I-I didn't I didn't know if she was gonna believe me, so I was afraid to tell her.
Robert, him being my big brother, I brought that to him and told-told him what happened to me.
And when I told him what happened to me, um he didn't, he didn't really respond to it like I felt that he should.
When-when I told him, he said, "No, that didn't, that didn't happen, that didn't happen to you.
" And I said, "Yes, it did.
" You know, Robert said, "No, it didn't.
" Then I left it alone.
I really knew not to take it to my mom then.
My brothers was the test.
If they believed me, then maybe I could've took it to an adult.
Child sexual abuse confuses power and control with sex.
And so children may want to say, like, "I want to be the one that's in that power position," right? "I never want to be a victim again.
"I want to the person that's in the power in a sexual relationship.
" And so, as they get older, they want to make sure that they're always in that power position.
And there's really no more powerful position in a sexual relationship than to be the abuser to the child.
I met Robert at Kenwood High School.
We were in the choir together.
Under Dr.
Lena McLin.
JAMILAH LEMIEUX: One of the crown jewels in Kenwood Academy's, you know, reputation is their concert choir under the direction of Dr.
Lena McLin.
GEM: She was truly like Rob's surrogate mother.
She loved that boy, took him under her wing, and really made him and honed him into being the singer that he is today.
My grandma taught at Kenwood Academy as a music teacher.
So don't nobody think I'm hard, 'cause I'm really very nice.
She was more than just a music teacher to a lot of people.
She was a mother to a lot of people, and still is.
My grandma's taught so many students, and of the notable students, Mandy Patinkin, Da Brat, Jennifer Hudson, Chaka Khan, just to name a few.
LENA: I was impressed, and I was amazed, because he was musically uh, genius material.
INTERVIEWER: Did he ever talk about his home life? No, he didn't talk about that, but you knew about it, because it came out in the music in what-what they express, you know.
Children express what they fear, they love, that's around them, you know.
And he was very very aggressive.
(laughs) What do you mean by aggressive? Well, yeah, aggressive in some of his sexual language, too.
Which we had to discuss and say that it wouldn't be appropriate to school.
It wouldn't really be really be appropriate, period.
GEM: He dropped out senior year.
You saw his confidence kind of swell once he realized he had a gift, you know, when it came to, uh, singing.
And it went from him being shy to confident.
It was really, uh, an evolution.
He just honed in on his craft and just he made himself into a great singer.
CAREY: He got noticed basically, when he actually went to Natalie Cole's Big Break.
Robert said, "I'm gonna win the show.
I'm gonna win the show.
" You had the best talent, you know, in the, in the nation, and it whittled down to two groups.
Okay, for R.
Kelly and MGM, -they received 280 points.
-(cheering) R.
Kelly and MGM is the champion! A hundred thousand dollars! Hello! CAREY: That's when all the labels start calling, and that's when he took off.
Once he signed to Jive Records, it was a wrap.
I was traveling through Hyde Park at one time, and I stopped at a store, and Rob was driving by, and he was on his way to Kenwood High School.
And I heard a lot about Rob going to Kenwood High School to, to hang out, and I always wondered, what the heck is he doing hanging around the high school? He's left high school many years ago.
And, uh That's all I can say on that one, 'cause I don't know, but I heard that, you know, he was picking up a lot of a lot of kids from the school.
My name is Jovante Cunningham.
I have known Robert Kelly since 1991.
At that time, I was about 14.
I met him through a dear friend of mine, Tiffany.
She was also, uh, yeah, 14.
He was an upcoming artist.
She knew him prior to me meeting her.
I believe they met at Kenwood High School, and she asked, "You want to go down and meet so and so?" And I'm like, "Who is that?" And we went.
And that's how it started.
Ooh.
Wasn't something that was talked about, you know.
I don't remember actually saying, "Hey, by the way, how old are you?" We were doing the background vocals for the Born into the 90's album.
He would just ask us to come into the studio, and, "You sing this, you sing this, you sing that, y'all sing it together.
" And that's how it would go.
I wanted to be a professional singer.
You're up close and personal with, um, someone who is potentially going to be seen in the in the world, and you're young, you know? You're excited.
You think, "Wow," you know? "Who's this person?" and "What do you got going on?" and "Can I hear your music?" And that was the first time I heard "Honey Love," and I was like, "Wow!" 'Cause there is something' that I want from you A very talented young man, and his ability to create music is ingenious.
It really is.
He's truly a talent.
JACQUES CONWAY: Right across the street from Kenwood High School, I would see R.
Kelly there on a regular basis, and these were high school girls, freshmen, sophomores, I couldn't tell exactly.
But I know they were students at the, at the high school.
His nickname is not Pied Piper for nothing.
Pied Piper's whole purpose is to bring the young people to him, to follow him, to admire him, to listen to him.
And so, he's good at it.
MIKKI KENDALL: The first time I saw R.
Kelly, I was probably around 12, maybe 13.
We would hang out at the McDonald's in Hyde Park.
I was 14 years old.
And we'd always see him come in by himself but leave with, with some student.
DEMETRIUS SMITH: We'd meet girls.
Robert would, um I would a lot of times, make people know that R.
Kelly's here.
KENDALL: You would see the Ford Explorer pull up.
There were a bunch of girls in Kenwood jackets, in high school clothes.
You would see him and his group of guys come in and kind of hang out.
"Mr.
Kelly wants to meet you.
" And you'd look over, and there was like a little nod.
If you're the girl that smiles back, that's when he starts talking to you.
CHANEY: Public Announcement, R.
Kelly, Born into the 90's.
He was on the rise.
He knew that he had the singing career, and he was blowing up, and who wouldn't want to be with a superstar? He liked high school girls.
He could influence them more.
They were more impressionable.
He tries to slide in in that space where girls don't know better yet, where they can't necessarily spot a predator.
People will say, "Well, why didn't anyone notice?" The answer is that we all noticed; no one cared because we were black girls.
JOVANTE: I would hear different things, but I didn't realize what was going on at the time.
I know when we were around, as children ourselves, as teenagers, (laughs): it was, "Go out, find me some girls," to recruit, in a sense.
I mean, and at that time you didn't think of it as that.
At that time you're thinking, "Go get me some girls"? I mean, we weren't looking for underage women.
In our minds we were just looking for girls.
We were so stupid.
Just so naive.
The first time I witnessed a sexual act in the studio was during the recording of "Slow Dance," the remix.
He had one of my teenage friends in the booth with him bent over.
And we were all right there.
I will not say with whom, but none of us were of age.
None of us.
Um We went through a lot.
We experienced a lot.
We saw a lot.
Um It was a period of time when um we were just trying to make it.
We had we had big dreams, and we thought we were gonna be somebody.
"And don't give me that bull(bleep) about it.
You should not meet 'em.
" And that was my language to him consistently.
He has no business around them.
They were too young for him.
I told him, "Go on, live your life the way you want to live, but don't bring down somebody else's life.
" LEMIEUX: So, 1993, we get 12 Play, which is, in my opinion, what really establishes R.
Kelly as one of the most influential, if not the most influential R&B artist of his generation.
"Bump n' Grind" is his first big song.
With a little bump and grind With a little bump and grind It's kind of slow, like a ballad, but then it's like, there's nothing wrong with being physical and sexual.
And so, it's sort of that classic R&B message of, like, sexuality's okay, like, it's okay to be physical.
LEMIEUX: In the beginning, with 12 Play, we get to this point where it's less about having beautiful lyrics, or a beautiful melody and a great voice, and almost about this kind of shock and awe, and this raunch and this raw sexuality.
You know, "Sex Me.
" TOURE: I mean, a lot of these songs are great, you know.
It's just that, when you start to think about the sort of person behind them, you start to go, like (Touré sucks in through teeth) (grunts) CRAIG: I remember Rob from nothing and sleeping in his car to stardom just that fast.
I can only imagine that he got caught up and lost himself in the fame and the fortune.
And then Rob met Aaliyah through his manager, which Aaliyah was Barry Hankerson's niece.
R.
KELLY: Right now I'm producing a very talented young lady, Aaliyah.
Uh, she's real sweet.
She just be chillin'.
-Hey, Aaliyah? -AALIYAH: Yo.
-That first verse is funky, right? -Mm-hmm.
What I want you to do is I want you to try to get into it -just a little bit more for me.
-Okay.
Just get into it a little more, make it a little more street.
-All right? -All right.
-You sound good, though, baby.
-All right.
Uh very shy kid, very tomboyish.
Glasses, braces.
No-no swag.
She's truly an angelic individual.
She was truly a beautiful young lady.
Aaliyah just needed a look.
That's all.
She just needed a little a little something to spice it up.
She was still very young.
She was 12 years old.
We taught her her street thing, we gave her her vibe.
She went from wearing fitted clothes to the baggy jeans with the half shirts, with the baseball caps.
We taught her how to be an artist in the sense of having a stage presence.
We would sneak Aaliyah out of the hotel (laughs) and take her all over the place.
It was fun.
We used to take her to my dad's house, and we'd dance and sing in the living room.
Aaliyah became very close with Tia and myself.
We were all very close.
She and myself had a very close-knit relationship and friendship.
Those were the good old days.
But those are the things that also make you cry.
TOURE: Aaliyah's first album is made by R.
Kelly, and it's called Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.
And that main the title song, is about a young girl who's trying to get an older guy to go all the way with her.
I mean it's, it's-it's frightening and it's disgusting.
Boy, be brave Don't be afraid 'Cause tonight we're gonna go all the way Age ain't nothin' but a number Throwin' down ain't nothin' but a thing.
There's this young girl who's obviously not even, you know, barely in puberty, right? But there's a there's a kind of sexuality to her that is part of why it worked, and R.
Kelly used that.
And calling it age is just but a, you know, but a number-- he's playing on all of that right away, and that's a "Age ain't nothing but a number" is a thing in the black community I've heard since I was a little boy, when a, when a hot young girl walks by, and a guy in a barbershop says that.
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" is definitely a perfect song for hiding in plain sight.
DEMETRIUS: Robert brought a beauty out of her voice to where she became the star that she was.
He said he wanted her to have the best of everything.
He said, "Man, I want to make her the biggest star in the world, man.
Look at her.
She's so" She was so beautiful to him.
And she always had him laughing.
They would I'm gonna just tell you.
We'd go get ice cream, and I'm in the back, and I'm walking behind 'em all the time.
And they They're just so silly, man.
(laughs) You know, they were silly.
CRAIG: I met Aaliyah once at the studio at CRC.
At that point, I didn't see anything, uh, unusual, um except a producer working with an artist.
LEMIEUX: It wasn't until I was maybe a teenager myself that it really bothered me just how much older he was than her.
At the time I remember thinking, "That's not right.
I don't have no grown man friends.
" Right? Like, I just can't wrap my brain around, like, having a grown-up, period, as a friend.
You know, a babysitter or a friend of the family, but never being left alone in the care of a male, aside from my father.
Her parents trusted.
They trusted me.
They trusted us.
I thought they were getting closer.
I was beginning to suspect things but didn't want to.
So I asked Robert.
I said, "Robert, man, what's going on, man? You ain't messing" "Hell no, man.
I'm not messing with Aaliyah.
" It was under talks for a long time about having them come up to the show.
It was kind of like, they don't want you to talk about the age.
They don't want you to talk about any of this stuff.
But as a journalist, you kind of have to decide, are you gonna take this risk while this platform is in front of you and ask the questions that the people want to know? Okay, let's clear something up, 'cause, you know, I have been getting the rundown on the street.
Everybody seems to think that y'all are either girlfriend and boyfriend, -or cousins, or friends.
-KELLY (laughs): Look at my man.
Just let's let's just get the record straight.
We're just very close.
He's my best friend.
R.
KELLY: Yeah, cool.
In the whole wide world.
-SEGAR: Now who found who? -In the whole wide world.
TOURE: They are asked direct questions.
"Are you guys dating?" And they would not give direct answers.
They would both give these vague answers that left it all up in the air.
So they knew this wasn't right.
SEGAR: And for the record, you are how old? -That's a secret.
Shh.
-Uh-oh.
A woman doesn't disclose her age, y'all.
(laughter) -Keeping it under wraps.
-AALIYAH: That's right.
SEGAR: Seeing them dressed alike was really kind of like dangling candy in front of a baby.
Like, this is promotion, this is a media machine.
We're gonna work this to our benefit, and we're gonna toy with you, we're gonna play with you, and we're not gonna give you any direct answers, and we're gonna kind of leave you wondering, "Well, are they a couple?" We were out on the road with Aaliyah.
On a tour bus, there really aren't any confined spaces.
When you get on the bus, there are bunks.
And so, these bunks have little curtains you can pull at night if you don't want anybody to see you sleeping.
So it just so happened we were all laying in our bunks.
It was And curtains are open.
Everybody's communicating, laughing.
We used to play different pranks on each other.
And, uh I think it was intended to prank time, when the door flew open on the bus.
Robert was having sex with Aaliyah.
I feel protective of Aaliyah right now, which is why I can't get my mouth to say He destroyed a lot of people.
Destroyed a lot of people.
A lot of people who loved and adored him, and I can't stress to you enough how people are still suffering behind things that went on 20 years ago.
After that, it kind of started the breakup of everything and everybody.
A lot of people People's emotions were challenged.
Our whole family just kind of ripped up.
DEMETRIUS: Robert came to me.
We were in Miami.
Robert said, "Man, we got Aaliyah in trouble.
" And, um, "Aaliyah in trouble? What do you mean?" "Man, we got to get to Chicago.
" I said, "Well, I'm-I'm-a call Barry and tell Barry.
" "No, man, we can't tell Barry.
" Robert mentioned to me that, um, "I think she's pregnant.
" And that broke my heart right there.
I was so disappointed in him, 'cause I really believed him when he said that, you know, he wasn't doing and messing with Aaliyah.
'Cause I questioned him, and, um once he told me that, I was, like I just I was I was lost for words, man.
Um He married Aaliyah.
I was in the room when they got married.
TOURE: In 1994, I was working at MTV News as a writer, not on air, and the issue of, "Is he married to Aaliyah?" was-was wild and being talked about widely.
Finally, my boss told me, "Call the Cook County Clerk's Office and tell them to send you the marriage certificate.
" Hip-hop star R.
Kelly did indeed marry his protégée, the 15-year-old singer Aaliyah Haughton.
TOURE: MTV News was the first to put out this marriage certificate on which Aaliyah had said that she was 18, when she's actually 15, and R.
Kelly was 27, and they were married.
I, uh, went, and I, um I, um I'm not proud of that.
I forged, I had papers forged for them.
But Aaliyah was underage.
Got the marriage license, and we were in a hotel in, uh, Maywood, Illinois.
It was just a quick little ceremony.
Nothing elaborate; she didn't have on a white dress.
Robert didn't have on a tux.
Just everyday wear.
Robert said, "I do.
" (laughs) He said, "I do.
" Him and Aaliyah.
Aaliyah looked worried.
Scared.
(sighs) Worried and scared.
I wanted so much to grab Aaliyah and talk to her.
I wanted so much to talk to her.
'Cause she looked at me, she gave me a look like she wanted me to talk to her.
That's why I feel like I left her-- I-I failed them.
Both of them.
I knew that it had changed the course of everything.
was not familiar with how the annulment happened with Aaliyah.
I just know that it did.
Her parents had the last say-so.
TOURE: The Aaliyah situation, a lot of us kind of forgave but were kind of like, "That was weird, but okay.
What else you got?" Well, they're both performers, and she's old beyond her years.
And they just have that special connection.
It didn't yet appear like here's a person who is a predator.
Where was the outrage? Where was Essence? Where was Ebony? Where was the local news? Where was anyone? Like, why was this not, in that moment, full stop? Why didn't the culture say something is wrong? POWERS: You had this whole history of adult male musicians who hung out with young girls.
Musicians who "mentor" young girls.
You had the history of musicians who married young girl fans.
And I think while it was disturbing to people, it's very easy to rationalize things when you're in the industry and you see this flourishing career, not only of Kelly, but of Aaliyah.
GEORGE: If you listen to the history of American popular music, particularly rock and roll, there's a whole thing about underage girls that's a big running theme in-in so much of the songs.
"Sweet Little Sixteen.
" There's a body of work of underage girls being sexual targets, being sexually promiscuous, being celebrated.
POWERS: It's hard to think of a group or an artist who didn't pay tribute to teenage girls in a way that we might question today.
Even the Beatles, you know.
"When I Saw Her Standing There.
" "She was just 17, if you know what I mean.
" Jerry Lee Lewis famously married his 13-year-old cousin Myra, um, and they flaunted their relationship.
That actually brought down his career.
Elvis Presley was more subtle and careful with his teenage girlfriend Priscilla, who he met when he was a soldier abroad in Germany and whom he brought to live with him as a young teenager.
So when you think of girls who are going to shows, attending concerts, becoming completely hysterical, um, and then meeting their heroes, these-- this is a situation ripe for, uh, men taking advantage of young girls.
JOVANTE: Robert feels as if he's invincible.
"I can't be touched.
" And in hindsight, in society, we kind of made him feel that way.
Because he's progressively done this for as far back as I can remember, and nothing has been done about it.
POWERS: R.
Kelly created and occupied a position of outrageousness that kind of masked everything that was happening behind the scenes.
CRAIG: And then, when you get that type of fame and that type of power, and you come from nothing and you know nothing, and all you know is that everyone around you is "yes" and "okay," "sure," and you have everything at your beck and call, you kind of lose perspective of reality.
DR.
JODY ADEWALE: Oftentimes, perpetrators will be so brave to say, "I'm gonna let the world know.
"I'm gonna let everyone see what's going on, and you'd better not say anything.
" That speaks to the amount of control an individual might have over another person.
CRAIG: I went to a few parties at Rob's house.
One particular time I was there, I went down to the studio.
There was a girl standing next to Rob, and she was naked and he was feeling on her booty.
Um You have a big star.
That is part of the lifestyle.
But when you see that there are girls there that look young, it becomes very questionable to me.
And I didn't check IDs and didn't ask for IDs, but you can clearly see that these were babies in my eyes.
And that was something that I didn't want to be around.
(crowd cheering) CAREY: When I was out there on tour with him, he had a lot of guys that, you know, would pretty much, you know, if-if he say, "Go get some girls from the mall," they'll go get some girls.
You look at the people around somebody, and it's very upsetting that he really didn't have to do much to get these young girls.
Oh, we'd always go to the mall, too.
We'd go in the mall in every city.
We're just chilling.
We're gonna go to the mall today.
We're gonna try to keep it low-key.
We'll see what happens.
LIZZETTE: My name is Lizzette Martinez, from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.
I was a typical teenager.
I was at Aventura Mall with some girlfriends, and, uh, I see someone.
A really tall guy wearing sunglasses.
So I said to my friend, "Oh, I think that's R.
Kelly.
" And she's like, "Why would he be at the mall?" And I said, "No, that's him.
" And he heard me, and then he turned around, and I was kind of starstruck, you know.
Here's this person in front of me that I think is, like, the world.
And he walked up to me and gave me a hug, and I kind of, like, just I was kind of frozen.
And then he said he was recording an album.
I said, "Okay, nice to meet you.
" And he left.
But then his bodyguard came back and handed me his phone number and said, "R.
Kelly would like you to call him.
" My best friend was with me, and she said, "Liz, this is your big break.
Like, you better call, or I'm gonna call for you.
" For me, singing was always an outlet, and I planned on having a career.
So I called and he said, "Well, I'd like you to come to dinner with us.
" My girlfriend said, "Let's get your makeup and hair done now.
You know, this is it.
You're gonna make it.
" We were so naive.
LIZZETTE: His bodyguard handed me his phone number and said, "R.
Kelly would like you to call him.
" So we met him at the steakhouse.
It came up that I was, you know, an aspiring singer.
Later on, we went to the recording studio, and my heart was thumping when I walked in.
And he starts to play the piano.
He plays a song by Boyz II Men and asked me to sing along with it.
And I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I'm sitting with R.
Kelly.
I'm 17, and he's right here, singing.
I just couldn't believe it.
I don't even know what to say.
And then he just said that, you know, I sound really great.
Had a great look.
He thought I could make it and he was gonna help me.
And then he leaned over and kissed me.
And I was really, uh, taken aback by that.
I didn't know how to say no.
All of a sudden, his tongue is in my mouth.
This is my dream.
How do I handle this? I wanted the dream so bad, but I knew it was gonna be something else.
I knew it was gonna be something else.
JERHONDA: I met R.
Kelly by going to his trial, and I didn't want to believe that he was guilty.
LIZZETTE: Sex with him always felt not natural.
ANDREA: You fall in love with the charmer, and then slowly he lets the other one creep in.
There's a difference between R.
Kelly and Robert.
R.
Kelly's this fun, laughing, loving guy.
But Robert (echoing): is the devil, is the devil, is the devil.
LEGEND: R.
Kelly has brought so much pain to so many people.
This sickness lived within him.
Spotify is saying, basically, they're gonna, like, downgrade him.
ANDREA: He's a control freak.
MISS INFO: He's the puppet master.
CRAIG: There's girls in every room.
What the hell is going on? TARANA BURKE: This is really about an adult man who is using the power of his fame and wealth and whatever to systematically degrade black girls.
JERHONDA: He became more abusive and more aggressive.
KANIKA: He just started kicking me and slapping me.
-(sobbing) -It's okay, baby.
It's okay.
D.
A.
: Mr.
Kelly has been indicted.
There's been a warrant issued for his arrest.
A lot of people saw that pee tape.
It was circulating in the streets.
She was actually 14.
ORONIKE: And he's urinating on her in her mouth.
He was not thought of as guilty, even though the evidence was there.
I should have never introduced her to him.
I should have never introduced my family to him.
MAN: There she go.
MICHELLE: I said, "R.
Kelly, "I want you to remember my name.
Okay?" "Stay the (bleep) away from my daughter.
"
KANIKA: I do see myself as a victim of R.
Kelly.
LISA: I was a victim.
JERHONDA: I don't consider myself a victim.
LISA: I am a survivor.
JERHONDA: I lived it and I survived it.
INTERVIEWER: Why do you want to tell your story now? I felt like my silence allowed it to continue.
I worked up the courage to come forward and tell my story.
A part of me always felt like maybe I did something for him to treat me that way.
I want my story to be heard so people could take this situation seriously.
But when I found out it wasn't just me I just don't want it to get any worse.
KANIKA: And it was just It just kept going and going and going.
I just wanted to know that it's not You know, you're not alone.
They're not alone.
KANIKA: It just made me furious.
I decided that enough was enough.
(sighs) INTERVIEWER: Can you describe the physical abuse? (mumbles) (crying) I think I can't really talk about being abused.
It's-it's, like it brings back memories, and it's, it's very painful to have to talk about it again.
-I'm sorry.
-INTERVIEWER: It's okay.
(crying continues) WOMAN: I met R.
Kelly when I was 14.
WOMAN 2: When I met him, I was 17 years old.
WOMAN 3: I wanted to be a singer.
WOMAN 4: I wanted to be a dancer.
WOMAN 5: We thought we were gonna be stars.
MAN: I think my daughter's going through prison right now.
We got a tip that she's here.
Oh, say Can you see In the middle of all of these allegations, R.
Kelly's just dropping music.
His songs were a huge part of the soundtrack of our lives.
I believe I can fly.
Songs like "Ignition.
" It's the remix to "Ignition" Hot and fresh out the kitchen.
"I Wish.
" I'll see you again some day I wish, I wish, I wish.
He had a voice that was incredible.
LESLIE SEGAR: Women loved the way he looked, the way he sounded.
KANIKA: People looked at him as the king of R&B.
He was the biggest artist in the recording industry at that time in terms of actual record sales.
GEM PRATTS: Robert was working with everyone.
Snoop, Céline Dion, Michael Jordan, Janet Jackson.
ANN POWERS: He worked with Michael Jackson.
He worked with Jay-Z, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga.
R.
Kelly was part of that superstar milieu.
WOMAN: He was a hero.
-Robert, how do you feel? -Was it you on the tape? MIKE JERRICK: R&B superstar R.
Kelly on trial for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl.
NEWSWOMAN: Jurors found him not guilty on all charges.
R.
Kelly has a problem.
The accusations are now part of pop culture.
TOURE: South Park touched on it.
Chappelle's Show touched on it.
After R.
Kelly got off trial, I'd do the interview.
He was very nervous.
Do you like teenage girls? When you say "teenage," how old are we talking? This is an industry where anything goes.
NELSON GEORGE: He's a font of money.
He was like a bad boy, like an antihero.
MISS INFO: You know that he's dirty, which is so delusional for us to kind of feel like, "Oh, it's all good now.
" MAN: R.
Kelly has power over these young girls.
WOMAN: I had to wait for permission to be able to use the bathroom.
-It's okay.
Okay.
-(sobbing) Your dad says he loves you so much.
CRAIG WILLIAMS: What the heck is he doing hanging around the high school? R.
Kelly believes he can fly and that he is untouchable.
-PROTESTER: Shame on you! -PROTESTERS: Shame on you! -Shame on you! -Shame on you! -Mute R.
Kelly! -Mute R.
Kelly! POWERS: His performances were increasingly pornographic.
(indistinct chatter) -You understand me? -Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Drop your (bleep), big dog.
That's right.
I am handcuffed, like a lot of you mother(bleep).
I'm handcuffed by my destiny.
It's too late.
They should've did this (bleep) 30 years ago.
-It's too late.
-Tell 'em, R.
(children chattering) My family grew up in Altgeld Gardens housing projects.
(children continue chattering) My name is Carey Kelly, and I'm R.
Kelly's baby brother.
Theresa's the oldest.
Bruce is the second oldest.
Robert, and then myself.
KATHY CHANEY: R.
Kelly did face hardships with his family.
Like many other, you know, households in the inner city.
You may not know where your next meal was coming from.
People living check to check.
CAREY: Even though we grew up living in the projects, Robert is not cut from a cloth of being street.
He was mild-mannered, afraid.
He didn't come outside.
He stayed in the house and played with his keyboard.
My name's Bruce Kelly.
In my earliest childhood memories, Robert was shy and very timid, you know.
If you'd stare at him in his face, he'd start crying.
We would have to urge him on to sing 'cause he was really shy, and he would sing with his back turned to people so he wouldn't have to look them in the face.
CAREY: Everybody have a mother.
They have a father.
But our father had-had, you know, just left and said forget us.
It was a struggle, but we never went hungry.
CHANEY: R.
Kelly grew up in the church.
His mother sang in the church.
BRUCE: My mother was the lead singer of the choir.
She would make people catch the spirits, as they call them.
She was a very big fan of Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan.
When she would do Gladys Knight, we would be her Pips.
So it just grew.
We just, we loved music just as much as she did.
Robert had problems reading and writing.
He did apply hisself.
He-he took tutoring and-and things of that nature.
He just couldn't he couldn't grasp a hold to it.
One day I came home, Robert was locked in the bathroom.
He was in there crying.
And I I'm listening.
I hear him in there just crying.
I knock on the door.
"Robert.
" He tried to straight "Yeah.
" I said, "What's wrong with you, man?" Broke down, started crying again.
"I'm just tired of these kids always teasing me 'cause I can't read.
" I'm like, "Man, look, let me tell you something.
"It gonna be the same kids that's gonna be crying because you're famous.
" He taught hisself to play by ear.
What he hear If he hear a beat in his head, he'd pick it until he until that beat come alive.
He would hum it and sing it, versus having to write it musically or, you know, write or read music.
He actually gravitated to it like It's-it's like he knew that-that was his purpose.
My name is Craig Williams.
I've known Rob about 30 years, I guess.
I met him back in the late '80s.
I was at-at the recording studio Chicago Trax.
Gavin Christopher was an artist in Chicago.
He came to the studio, and he brought this kid with him.
And the kid was Rob.
He had a little white Casio piano.
Gavin says, "You got to check this kid out.
He can really sing.
" He said, "Sing for him.
" Rob turned on his piano, and he started singing a song about roses or something like that.
He had a voice that was incredible.
It sounded like a hit song already, so I was thinking he was playing something that was already written, but this was a song that he had written himself.
At that point, I knew that this kid was something.
He really reminded me of Marvin Gaye was the first thing, and a Sam Cooke, a legend.
He was amazing.
CAREY: Robert pretty much stayed busy.
He pretty much went to the studio.
He pretty much became more creative.
He became obsessed with doing music because that was his outlet, because it took his mind away from reality which was kind of rough.
(train passing) R.
KELLY: Like anything else when you're a child, whatever you're taught, um it goes with you.
CAREY: Once we moved out the projects a lot of things changed for the worse.
I recently saw the interview, uh, that R.
Kelly did with Tavis Smiley which was striking.
SMILEY: At eight or nine years of age, you talk in the book about how exposed you were to sex.
You saw it.
There were adults who should not have been but were coming on to you even when you were a child.
What'd that do to you to be exposed to sex at that early age? (sighs) Well um, I'm not gonna throw any of my people or my family under a bus, but I feel I owe my fans, um at least enough for them to have an understanding as to what I went through.
R.
KELLY: I was molested when I was seven And, yes on to maybe 13, 14, something like that, uh, by people in my family.
Sexually, it woke up my hormones a lot earlier than it they were supposed to be awakened.
When you're a child, you don't really know.
You only see, and you learn, and you try to figure it out.
It enhances your curiosity before its time.
You're not supposed to be curious about sex, because you're not supposed to see sex right now.
I believe that-that Robert that it's possible.
I don't think that he If he's saying that, I don't think that he's lying.
Because it happened to me.
It happened to me.
You know, I really don't talk to people about a lot of things that that I have been going through.
I just I just keep it and hold it.
I was molested by a family member, and that shook my world, you know, 'cause I-I didn't understand it.
Um, I knew it wasn't right, even though I was six years old at that time.
I knew it wasn't right, but it was happening to me.
I was afraid to tell my mom, um um, because of the person, who they were.
I-I didn't I didn't know if she was gonna believe me, so I was afraid to tell her.
Robert, him being my big brother, I brought that to him and told-told him what happened to me.
And when I told him what happened to me, um he didn't, he didn't really respond to it like I felt that he should.
When-when I told him, he said, "No, that didn't, that didn't happen, that didn't happen to you.
" And I said, "Yes, it did.
" You know, Robert said, "No, it didn't.
" Then I left it alone.
I really knew not to take it to my mom then.
My brothers was the test.
If they believed me, then maybe I could've took it to an adult.
Child sexual abuse confuses power and control with sex.
And so children may want to say, like, "I want to be the one that's in that power position," right? "I never want to be a victim again.
"I want to the person that's in the power in a sexual relationship.
" And so, as they get older, they want to make sure that they're always in that power position.
And there's really no more powerful position in a sexual relationship than to be the abuser to the child.
I met Robert at Kenwood High School.
We were in the choir together.
Under Dr.
Lena McLin.
JAMILAH LEMIEUX: One of the crown jewels in Kenwood Academy's, you know, reputation is their concert choir under the direction of Dr.
Lena McLin.
GEM: She was truly like Rob's surrogate mother.
She loved that boy, took him under her wing, and really made him and honed him into being the singer that he is today.
My grandma taught at Kenwood Academy as a music teacher.
So don't nobody think I'm hard, 'cause I'm really very nice.
She was more than just a music teacher to a lot of people.
She was a mother to a lot of people, and still is.
My grandma's taught so many students, and of the notable students, Mandy Patinkin, Da Brat, Jennifer Hudson, Chaka Khan, just to name a few.
LENA: I was impressed, and I was amazed, because he was musically uh, genius material.
INTERVIEWER: Did he ever talk about his home life? No, he didn't talk about that, but you knew about it, because it came out in the music in what-what they express, you know.
Children express what they fear, they love, that's around them, you know.
And he was very very aggressive.
(laughs) What do you mean by aggressive? Well, yeah, aggressive in some of his sexual language, too.
Which we had to discuss and say that it wouldn't be appropriate to school.
It wouldn't really be really be appropriate, period.
GEM: He dropped out senior year.
You saw his confidence kind of swell once he realized he had a gift, you know, when it came to, uh, singing.
And it went from him being shy to confident.
It was really, uh, an evolution.
He just honed in on his craft and just he made himself into a great singer.
CAREY: He got noticed basically, when he actually went to Natalie Cole's Big Break.
Robert said, "I'm gonna win the show.
I'm gonna win the show.
" You had the best talent, you know, in the, in the nation, and it whittled down to two groups.
Okay, for R.
Kelly and MGM, -they received 280 points.
-(cheering) R.
Kelly and MGM is the champion! A hundred thousand dollars! Hello! CAREY: That's when all the labels start calling, and that's when he took off.
Once he signed to Jive Records, it was a wrap.
I was traveling through Hyde Park at one time, and I stopped at a store, and Rob was driving by, and he was on his way to Kenwood High School.
And I heard a lot about Rob going to Kenwood High School to, to hang out, and I always wondered, what the heck is he doing hanging around the high school? He's left high school many years ago.
And, uh That's all I can say on that one, 'cause I don't know, but I heard that, you know, he was picking up a lot of a lot of kids from the school.
My name is Jovante Cunningham.
I have known Robert Kelly since 1991.
At that time, I was about 14.
I met him through a dear friend of mine, Tiffany.
She was also, uh, yeah, 14.
He was an upcoming artist.
She knew him prior to me meeting her.
I believe they met at Kenwood High School, and she asked, "You want to go down and meet so and so?" And I'm like, "Who is that?" And we went.
And that's how it started.
Ooh.
Wasn't something that was talked about, you know.
I don't remember actually saying, "Hey, by the way, how old are you?" We were doing the background vocals for the Born into the 90's album.
He would just ask us to come into the studio, and, "You sing this, you sing this, you sing that, y'all sing it together.
" And that's how it would go.
I wanted to be a professional singer.
You're up close and personal with, um, someone who is potentially going to be seen in the in the world, and you're young, you know? You're excited.
You think, "Wow," you know? "Who's this person?" and "What do you got going on?" and "Can I hear your music?" And that was the first time I heard "Honey Love," and I was like, "Wow!" 'Cause there is something' that I want from you A very talented young man, and his ability to create music is ingenious.
It really is.
He's truly a talent.
JACQUES CONWAY: Right across the street from Kenwood High School, I would see R.
Kelly there on a regular basis, and these were high school girls, freshmen, sophomores, I couldn't tell exactly.
But I know they were students at the, at the high school.
His nickname is not Pied Piper for nothing.
Pied Piper's whole purpose is to bring the young people to him, to follow him, to admire him, to listen to him.
And so, he's good at it.
MIKKI KENDALL: The first time I saw R.
Kelly, I was probably around 12, maybe 13.
We would hang out at the McDonald's in Hyde Park.
I was 14 years old.
And we'd always see him come in by himself but leave with, with some student.
DEMETRIUS SMITH: We'd meet girls.
Robert would, um I would a lot of times, make people know that R.
Kelly's here.
KENDALL: You would see the Ford Explorer pull up.
There were a bunch of girls in Kenwood jackets, in high school clothes.
You would see him and his group of guys come in and kind of hang out.
"Mr.
Kelly wants to meet you.
" And you'd look over, and there was like a little nod.
If you're the girl that smiles back, that's when he starts talking to you.
CHANEY: Public Announcement, R.
Kelly, Born into the 90's.
He was on the rise.
He knew that he had the singing career, and he was blowing up, and who wouldn't want to be with a superstar? He liked high school girls.
He could influence them more.
They were more impressionable.
He tries to slide in in that space where girls don't know better yet, where they can't necessarily spot a predator.
People will say, "Well, why didn't anyone notice?" The answer is that we all noticed; no one cared because we were black girls.
JOVANTE: I would hear different things, but I didn't realize what was going on at the time.
I know when we were around, as children ourselves, as teenagers, (laughs): it was, "Go out, find me some girls," to recruit, in a sense.
I mean, and at that time you didn't think of it as that.
At that time you're thinking, "Go get me some girls"? I mean, we weren't looking for underage women.
In our minds we were just looking for girls.
We were so stupid.
Just so naive.
The first time I witnessed a sexual act in the studio was during the recording of "Slow Dance," the remix.
He had one of my teenage friends in the booth with him bent over.
And we were all right there.
I will not say with whom, but none of us were of age.
None of us.
Um We went through a lot.
We experienced a lot.
We saw a lot.
Um It was a period of time when um we were just trying to make it.
We had we had big dreams, and we thought we were gonna be somebody.
"And don't give me that bull(bleep) about it.
You should not meet 'em.
" And that was my language to him consistently.
He has no business around them.
They were too young for him.
I told him, "Go on, live your life the way you want to live, but don't bring down somebody else's life.
" LEMIEUX: So, 1993, we get 12 Play, which is, in my opinion, what really establishes R.
Kelly as one of the most influential, if not the most influential R&B artist of his generation.
"Bump n' Grind" is his first big song.
With a little bump and grind With a little bump and grind It's kind of slow, like a ballad, but then it's like, there's nothing wrong with being physical and sexual.
And so, it's sort of that classic R&B message of, like, sexuality's okay, like, it's okay to be physical.
LEMIEUX: In the beginning, with 12 Play, we get to this point where it's less about having beautiful lyrics, or a beautiful melody and a great voice, and almost about this kind of shock and awe, and this raunch and this raw sexuality.
You know, "Sex Me.
" TOURE: I mean, a lot of these songs are great, you know.
It's just that, when you start to think about the sort of person behind them, you start to go, like (Touré sucks in through teeth) (grunts) CRAIG: I remember Rob from nothing and sleeping in his car to stardom just that fast.
I can only imagine that he got caught up and lost himself in the fame and the fortune.
And then Rob met Aaliyah through his manager, which Aaliyah was Barry Hankerson's niece.
R.
KELLY: Right now I'm producing a very talented young lady, Aaliyah.
Uh, she's real sweet.
She just be chillin'.
-Hey, Aaliyah? -AALIYAH: Yo.
-That first verse is funky, right? -Mm-hmm.
What I want you to do is I want you to try to get into it -just a little bit more for me.
-Okay.
Just get into it a little more, make it a little more street.
-All right? -All right.
-You sound good, though, baby.
-All right.
Uh very shy kid, very tomboyish.
Glasses, braces.
No-no swag.
She's truly an angelic individual.
She was truly a beautiful young lady.
Aaliyah just needed a look.
That's all.
She just needed a little a little something to spice it up.
She was still very young.
She was 12 years old.
We taught her her street thing, we gave her her vibe.
She went from wearing fitted clothes to the baggy jeans with the half shirts, with the baseball caps.
We taught her how to be an artist in the sense of having a stage presence.
We would sneak Aaliyah out of the hotel (laughs) and take her all over the place.
It was fun.
We used to take her to my dad's house, and we'd dance and sing in the living room.
Aaliyah became very close with Tia and myself.
We were all very close.
She and myself had a very close-knit relationship and friendship.
Those were the good old days.
But those are the things that also make you cry.
TOURE: Aaliyah's first album is made by R.
Kelly, and it's called Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.
And that main the title song, is about a young girl who's trying to get an older guy to go all the way with her.
I mean it's, it's-it's frightening and it's disgusting.
Boy, be brave Don't be afraid 'Cause tonight we're gonna go all the way Age ain't nothin' but a number Throwin' down ain't nothin' but a thing.
There's this young girl who's obviously not even, you know, barely in puberty, right? But there's a there's a kind of sexuality to her that is part of why it worked, and R.
Kelly used that.
And calling it age is just but a, you know, but a number-- he's playing on all of that right away, and that's a "Age ain't nothing but a number" is a thing in the black community I've heard since I was a little boy, when a, when a hot young girl walks by, and a guy in a barbershop says that.
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" is definitely a perfect song for hiding in plain sight.
DEMETRIUS: Robert brought a beauty out of her voice to where she became the star that she was.
He said he wanted her to have the best of everything.
He said, "Man, I want to make her the biggest star in the world, man.
Look at her.
She's so" She was so beautiful to him.
And she always had him laughing.
They would I'm gonna just tell you.
We'd go get ice cream, and I'm in the back, and I'm walking behind 'em all the time.
And they They're just so silly, man.
(laughs) You know, they were silly.
CRAIG: I met Aaliyah once at the studio at CRC.
At that point, I didn't see anything, uh, unusual, um except a producer working with an artist.
LEMIEUX: It wasn't until I was maybe a teenager myself that it really bothered me just how much older he was than her.
At the time I remember thinking, "That's not right.
I don't have no grown man friends.
" Right? Like, I just can't wrap my brain around, like, having a grown-up, period, as a friend.
You know, a babysitter or a friend of the family, but never being left alone in the care of a male, aside from my father.
Her parents trusted.
They trusted me.
They trusted us.
I thought they were getting closer.
I was beginning to suspect things but didn't want to.
So I asked Robert.
I said, "Robert, man, what's going on, man? You ain't messing" "Hell no, man.
I'm not messing with Aaliyah.
" It was under talks for a long time about having them come up to the show.
It was kind of like, they don't want you to talk about the age.
They don't want you to talk about any of this stuff.
But as a journalist, you kind of have to decide, are you gonna take this risk while this platform is in front of you and ask the questions that the people want to know? Okay, let's clear something up, 'cause, you know, I have been getting the rundown on the street.
Everybody seems to think that y'all are either girlfriend and boyfriend, -or cousins, or friends.
-KELLY (laughs): Look at my man.
Just let's let's just get the record straight.
We're just very close.
He's my best friend.
R.
KELLY: Yeah, cool.
In the whole wide world.
-SEGAR: Now who found who? -In the whole wide world.
TOURE: They are asked direct questions.
"Are you guys dating?" And they would not give direct answers.
They would both give these vague answers that left it all up in the air.
So they knew this wasn't right.
SEGAR: And for the record, you are how old? -That's a secret.
Shh.
-Uh-oh.
A woman doesn't disclose her age, y'all.
(laughter) -Keeping it under wraps.
-AALIYAH: That's right.
SEGAR: Seeing them dressed alike was really kind of like dangling candy in front of a baby.
Like, this is promotion, this is a media machine.
We're gonna work this to our benefit, and we're gonna toy with you, we're gonna play with you, and we're not gonna give you any direct answers, and we're gonna kind of leave you wondering, "Well, are they a couple?" We were out on the road with Aaliyah.
On a tour bus, there really aren't any confined spaces.
When you get on the bus, there are bunks.
And so, these bunks have little curtains you can pull at night if you don't want anybody to see you sleeping.
So it just so happened we were all laying in our bunks.
It was And curtains are open.
Everybody's communicating, laughing.
We used to play different pranks on each other.
And, uh I think it was intended to prank time, when the door flew open on the bus.
Robert was having sex with Aaliyah.
I feel protective of Aaliyah right now, which is why I can't get my mouth to say He destroyed a lot of people.
Destroyed a lot of people.
A lot of people who loved and adored him, and I can't stress to you enough how people are still suffering behind things that went on 20 years ago.
After that, it kind of started the breakup of everything and everybody.
A lot of people People's emotions were challenged.
Our whole family just kind of ripped up.
DEMETRIUS: Robert came to me.
We were in Miami.
Robert said, "Man, we got Aaliyah in trouble.
" And, um, "Aaliyah in trouble? What do you mean?" "Man, we got to get to Chicago.
" I said, "Well, I'm-I'm-a call Barry and tell Barry.
" "No, man, we can't tell Barry.
" Robert mentioned to me that, um, "I think she's pregnant.
" And that broke my heart right there.
I was so disappointed in him, 'cause I really believed him when he said that, you know, he wasn't doing and messing with Aaliyah.
'Cause I questioned him, and, um once he told me that, I was, like I just I was I was lost for words, man.
Um He married Aaliyah.
I was in the room when they got married.
TOURE: In 1994, I was working at MTV News as a writer, not on air, and the issue of, "Is he married to Aaliyah?" was-was wild and being talked about widely.
Finally, my boss told me, "Call the Cook County Clerk's Office and tell them to send you the marriage certificate.
" Hip-hop star R.
Kelly did indeed marry his protégée, the 15-year-old singer Aaliyah Haughton.
TOURE: MTV News was the first to put out this marriage certificate on which Aaliyah had said that she was 18, when she's actually 15, and R.
Kelly was 27, and they were married.
I, uh, went, and I, um I, um I'm not proud of that.
I forged, I had papers forged for them.
But Aaliyah was underage.
Got the marriage license, and we were in a hotel in, uh, Maywood, Illinois.
It was just a quick little ceremony.
Nothing elaborate; she didn't have on a white dress.
Robert didn't have on a tux.
Just everyday wear.
Robert said, "I do.
" (laughs) He said, "I do.
" Him and Aaliyah.
Aaliyah looked worried.
Scared.
(sighs) Worried and scared.
I wanted so much to grab Aaliyah and talk to her.
I wanted so much to talk to her.
'Cause she looked at me, she gave me a look like she wanted me to talk to her.
That's why I feel like I left her-- I-I failed them.
Both of them.
I knew that it had changed the course of everything.
was not familiar with how the annulment happened with Aaliyah.
I just know that it did.
Her parents had the last say-so.
TOURE: The Aaliyah situation, a lot of us kind of forgave but were kind of like, "That was weird, but okay.
What else you got?" Well, they're both performers, and she's old beyond her years.
And they just have that special connection.
It didn't yet appear like here's a person who is a predator.
Where was the outrage? Where was Essence? Where was Ebony? Where was the local news? Where was anyone? Like, why was this not, in that moment, full stop? Why didn't the culture say something is wrong? POWERS: You had this whole history of adult male musicians who hung out with young girls.
Musicians who "mentor" young girls.
You had the history of musicians who married young girl fans.
And I think while it was disturbing to people, it's very easy to rationalize things when you're in the industry and you see this flourishing career, not only of Kelly, but of Aaliyah.
GEORGE: If you listen to the history of American popular music, particularly rock and roll, there's a whole thing about underage girls that's a big running theme in-in so much of the songs.
"Sweet Little Sixteen.
" There's a body of work of underage girls being sexual targets, being sexually promiscuous, being celebrated.
POWERS: It's hard to think of a group or an artist who didn't pay tribute to teenage girls in a way that we might question today.
Even the Beatles, you know.
"When I Saw Her Standing There.
" "She was just 17, if you know what I mean.
" Jerry Lee Lewis famously married his 13-year-old cousin Myra, um, and they flaunted their relationship.
That actually brought down his career.
Elvis Presley was more subtle and careful with his teenage girlfriend Priscilla, who he met when he was a soldier abroad in Germany and whom he brought to live with him as a young teenager.
So when you think of girls who are going to shows, attending concerts, becoming completely hysterical, um, and then meeting their heroes, these-- this is a situation ripe for, uh, men taking advantage of young girls.
JOVANTE: Robert feels as if he's invincible.
"I can't be touched.
" And in hindsight, in society, we kind of made him feel that way.
Because he's progressively done this for as far back as I can remember, and nothing has been done about it.
POWERS: R.
Kelly created and occupied a position of outrageousness that kind of masked everything that was happening behind the scenes.
CRAIG: And then, when you get that type of fame and that type of power, and you come from nothing and you know nothing, and all you know is that everyone around you is "yes" and "okay," "sure," and you have everything at your beck and call, you kind of lose perspective of reality.
DR.
JODY ADEWALE: Oftentimes, perpetrators will be so brave to say, "I'm gonna let the world know.
"I'm gonna let everyone see what's going on, and you'd better not say anything.
" That speaks to the amount of control an individual might have over another person.
CRAIG: I went to a few parties at Rob's house.
One particular time I was there, I went down to the studio.
There was a girl standing next to Rob, and she was naked and he was feeling on her booty.
Um You have a big star.
That is part of the lifestyle.
But when you see that there are girls there that look young, it becomes very questionable to me.
And I didn't check IDs and didn't ask for IDs, but you can clearly see that these were babies in my eyes.
And that was something that I didn't want to be around.
(crowd cheering) CAREY: When I was out there on tour with him, he had a lot of guys that, you know, would pretty much, you know, if-if he say, "Go get some girls from the mall," they'll go get some girls.
You look at the people around somebody, and it's very upsetting that he really didn't have to do much to get these young girls.
Oh, we'd always go to the mall, too.
We'd go in the mall in every city.
We're just chilling.
We're gonna go to the mall today.
We're gonna try to keep it low-key.
We'll see what happens.
LIZZETTE: My name is Lizzette Martinez, from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.
I was a typical teenager.
I was at Aventura Mall with some girlfriends, and, uh, I see someone.
A really tall guy wearing sunglasses.
So I said to my friend, "Oh, I think that's R.
Kelly.
" And she's like, "Why would he be at the mall?" And I said, "No, that's him.
" And he heard me, and then he turned around, and I was kind of starstruck, you know.
Here's this person in front of me that I think is, like, the world.
And he walked up to me and gave me a hug, and I kind of, like, just I was kind of frozen.
And then he said he was recording an album.
I said, "Okay, nice to meet you.
" And he left.
But then his bodyguard came back and handed me his phone number and said, "R.
Kelly would like you to call him.
" My best friend was with me, and she said, "Liz, this is your big break.
Like, you better call, or I'm gonna call for you.
" For me, singing was always an outlet, and I planned on having a career.
So I called and he said, "Well, I'd like you to come to dinner with us.
" My girlfriend said, "Let's get your makeup and hair done now.
You know, this is it.
You're gonna make it.
" We were so naive.
LIZZETTE: His bodyguard handed me his phone number and said, "R.
Kelly would like you to call him.
" So we met him at the steakhouse.
It came up that I was, you know, an aspiring singer.
Later on, we went to the recording studio, and my heart was thumping when I walked in.
And he starts to play the piano.
He plays a song by Boyz II Men and asked me to sing along with it.
And I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I'm sitting with R.
Kelly.
I'm 17, and he's right here, singing.
I just couldn't believe it.
I don't even know what to say.
And then he just said that, you know, I sound really great.
Had a great look.
He thought I could make it and he was gonna help me.
And then he leaned over and kissed me.
And I was really, uh, taken aback by that.
I didn't know how to say no.
All of a sudden, his tongue is in my mouth.
This is my dream.
How do I handle this? I wanted the dream so bad, but I knew it was gonna be something else.
I knew it was gonna be something else.
JERHONDA: I met R.
Kelly by going to his trial, and I didn't want to believe that he was guilty.
LIZZETTE: Sex with him always felt not natural.
ANDREA: You fall in love with the charmer, and then slowly he lets the other one creep in.
There's a difference between R.
Kelly and Robert.
R.
Kelly's this fun, laughing, loving guy.
But Robert (echoing): is the devil, is the devil, is the devil.
LEGEND: R.
Kelly has brought so much pain to so many people.
This sickness lived within him.
Spotify is saying, basically, they're gonna, like, downgrade him.
ANDREA: He's a control freak.
MISS INFO: He's the puppet master.
CRAIG: There's girls in every room.
What the hell is going on? TARANA BURKE: This is really about an adult man who is using the power of his fame and wealth and whatever to systematically degrade black girls.
JERHONDA: He became more abusive and more aggressive.
KANIKA: He just started kicking me and slapping me.
-(sobbing) -It's okay, baby.
It's okay.
D.
A.
: Mr.
Kelly has been indicted.
There's been a warrant issued for his arrest.
A lot of people saw that pee tape.
It was circulating in the streets.
She was actually 14.
ORONIKE: And he's urinating on her in her mouth.
He was not thought of as guilty, even though the evidence was there.
I should have never introduced her to him.
I should have never introduced my family to him.
MAN: There she go.
MICHELLE: I said, "R.
Kelly, "I want you to remember my name.
Okay?" "Stay the (bleep) away from my daughter.
"