Surviving R. Kelly

I would definitely characterize myself

as a survivor.

I do see myself as a victim of R. Kelly.

I was a victim.

I don't consider myself a victim.

I am a survivor.

I lived it

and I survived it.

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.

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.

It just made me...

furious.

I decided that enough was enough.

Can you describe

the physical abuse?

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. It's okay.

I met R. Kelly when I was 14.

When I met him, I was 17 years old.

I wanted to be a singer.

I wanted to be a dancer.

We thought we were gonna be stars.

I think my daughter's

going through prison right now.

We got a tip that she's here.

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.

Songs like "Ignition."

"I Wish."

He had a voice

that was incredible.

Women loved the way he looked,

the way he sounded.

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.

Robert was working with everyone.

Snoop, Céline Dion,

Michael Jordan, Janet Jackson.

He worked with Michael Jackson.

He worked with Jay-Z,

Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga.

R. Kelly was part of that superstar milieu.

He was a hero.

- Robert, how do you feel? - Was it you on the tape?

R&B superstar

R. Kelly on trial

for allegedly videotaping himself

having sex with an underage girl.

Jurors found him not guilty on all charges.

R. Kelly has a problem.

The accusations are now part of pop culture.

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.

He's a font of money.

He was like a bad boy,

like an antihero.

You know that he's dirty,

which is so delusional

for us to kind of feel like,

"Oh, it's all good now."

R. Kelly has power

over these young girls.

I had to wait for permission

to be able to use the bathroom.

- It's okay. Okay. -

Your dad says he loves you so much.

What the heck is he doing

hanging around the high school?

R. Kelly believes he can fly

and that he is untouchable.

Shame on you! Shame on you!

- Shame on you! - Shame on you!

- Mute R. Kelly! - Mute R. Kelly!

His performances were increasingly pornographic.

- You understand me? - Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Drop your ****, big dog.

That's right.

I am handcuffed, like a lot of you mother****.

I'm handcuffed by my destiny. It's too late.

They should've did this **** 30 years ago.

- It's too late. - Tell 'em, R.

My family grew up in Altgeld Gardens housing projects.

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.

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.

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.

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.

R. Kelly grew up

in the church. His mother sang in the church.

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.

Robert pretty much stayed busy.

He pretty much went to the studio.

He pretty much became more creative.