R. Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea, has spoken for the first time about their marriage, how it drove her to almost commit suicide and how she feels sorry for the young women who he is now accused of keeping as sex slaves.
In an extraordinarily emotional interview with The Sister Circle this week, Andrea, 44, wept as she recalled climbing onto the ledge of a balcony in a hotel room and almost throwing herself off the edge because she was so desperately sad in their marriage, reports Daily Mail
The pair were divorced in 2009 after 13 years of marriage. It was the R&B singer’s second marriage – he was previously married to the late singer, Aaliyah, when she was 15 and he was 27.
She has never been public about their relationship and there are barely any traces of it online, with few pictures in public circulation of the pair.
In light of allegations over the last year that Kelly is keeping women in his Georgia home as ‘sex slaves’ against their will, controlling what they eat and forcing them to engage in lewd behavior, Andrea has revealed how she got out of their marriage after climbing onto the balcony of a hotel and almost throwing her off the edge.
“That day, I just remember playing sick all day.
I went and got in the bed, and I was just like, “OK, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do” And something just said, “End it.”
That was my first answer.”
The couple were staying at the Wyndham Grand Bay hotel, “I’ll never forget it in Miami’s Coconut Grove.”
Andrea climbed onto the balcony and considered jumping off but held herself back when she thought about their children.
“I remember looking down, and it’s almost like God was able to let me see the future.
I saw my body lying in blood, and I saw the ambulance coming. I saw housekeeping come out, and they were pointing up, and they said, “She jumped from up there.”
‘Then, I remember my baby’s voice in the back going, “Mama, mama… why did mama jump? Why did mama leave us?”‘
“I said ‘OK God, you have to give me an answer today. What do you want me to do if this is not for me, and you want me to leave? What do you want me to do? God I need an answer today. Not tomorrow, not in an hour, I need it now.”
‘The first thing he told me was “grab your laptop” I’m like, “Oh God, you tripping”.
‘Then he said, “search domestic violence.” And I’m thinking to myself, “But I’m not that girl. I’m not the teeth missing, I’m not the broken boned girl.”
“And God said, “keep scrolling”. So I keep scrolling and scrolling and at the end of the domestic violence awareness website, there was a questionnaire and there were 17 questions.
‘They ask you has your abuse ever done. Of the 17, Robert had done 15 to me.’
Andrea said she had decided to finally speak out now because it has taken her this long to accept that she is a ‘victim of domestic violence’.
She hopes her words will prompt her ex-husband to change his lifestyle.
‘The basis is this stance is you have to love somebody enough to tell them, enough.
‘I don’t believe that my ex-husband in his life to be real with him, to be honest with him, who care about his healing who care about these families’ healings. I feel like it’s God’s time.
‘I was not strong enough. How can I be a voice for the voiceless when I don’t even have my own.
‘How can I be powerful for the powerless. I had to wait until God said, “OK daughter. It is time.
‘It’s like being in boot camp. Being in training. I had to go through the trenches, I had to build myself up. I had to go through counselling. I had to even get to the point that I had to accept that I am a victim of domestic violence,’ she said.
