Hours after his bizarre CBS interview aired Wednesday morning, R. Kelly was ordered to return to Illinois’ Cook County Jail after the singer failed to pay off $160,000 in child support.
Separate from Kelly’s criminal sex abuse charges – which he pleaded not guilty to and remains out on bail after several nights at Cook County Jail – the singer had a March 6th hearing set stemming from the delinquent child support he owed his ex-wife Andrea Kelly, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Kelly had until 10 a.m. EST Wednesday to pay the $161,663 he owed; when he didn’t, the judge at his child support hearing sentenced the singer back to Cook County Jail.
“According to the contempt order signed by the judge last month, Kelly owes $194,000, and had to pay $161,000 by today or else he’d be jailed,” Sun-Times reporter Andy Grimm tweeted. “Divorce lawyers tell me that it’s not unusual for a judge to keep someone in jail for weeks or months while determining ability to pay.”
Kelly’s publicist says Kelly was ready to pay 50-60K today and set up a payment plan. He expected to leave court free.
— Sam Charles (@samjcharles) March 6, 2019
Kelly would need to pay the delinquent child support in order for release; when the singer was unable to bail out of Cook County Jail in February, his lawyer Steve Greenberg admitted that Kelly’s finances were “a mess” in the aftermath of Surviving R. Kelly. A rep for Kelly did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Reports from the courthouse stated that Valencia Love, the woman who bailed Kelly out of Cook County Jail following the sex abuse charges, and her lawyer were in attendance for Wednesday’s hearing, though it’s unclear whether she would again help finance Kelly’s release.