R. Kelly rebuffed allegations of abuse made by his ex-wife and discussed his worsening financial situation in the second part of his interview with Gayle King on CBS This Morning.
Kelly’s ex, Andrea Kelly, accused the singer of domestic violence in the docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly. On CBS, Kelly refuted the accusations, calling them “lies” and saying, “It never happened.”
He continued, “I’m not disrespecting her by saying she’s not telling the truth. I’m just being honest… Somebody sent me something on my phone and it said that I hogtied her. I don’t know how to hogtie people. Why would I hogtie her? My kids is listening to this, all of this nonsense and I ain’t been able to spend no time with them. This is real. This is not a lie.”
When asked what kind of relationship he had with his children, Kelly said, “Zero … But I know my kids love me. And I’m in love with my kids. I love my kids.”
Not long after part one of King’s interview with Kelly aired yesterday, the singer was taken back to jail for failing to pay over $161,000 in child support owed to Andrea Kelly. He will reportedly stay in jail until he can pay off the sum.
During his CBS interview – which was taped prior to his most recent arrest – Kelly grew emotional and frustrated while discussing how he was unable to pay child support. “How can I pay child support? How?!,” Kelly said. “If my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can’t work? How can I work? How can I get paid? How can I take care of my kids? How?”
Along with being unable to pay child support, Kelly notably was unable to post the $100,000 bond that was issued after he was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse (a friend ultimately paid the fee). During his interview with King, Kelly admitted that he had not been paying close attention to his finances, saying that when he visited his bank about a month ago, a teller told him that several other people had access to his account.
“So many people have been stealin’ my money,” Kelly said. “People was connected to my account.” Kelly added that he asked the teller to put the remaining money – about $350,000 – into a new account, though he was told the transaction would take about a week to clear. He was indicted and arrested the next day.
An extended version of King’s interview with Kelly is set to air on CBS Friday March 8th at 8 p.m. ET/PT.