Disgraced singer/songwriter R. Kelly wasn’t just a monster to younger women. According to a chilling account in a new book by his ex-wife, he was downright diabolical to her.
Andrea “Drea” Kelly sat down with host Osei the Dark Secret during the most recent episode of “The Culture Club Uncensored” to talk about her upcoming book, “Under the Red Carpet,” and detailed some of the most horrific experiences she endured during her 13-year marriage to the Grammy winner.
Like many of his victims, Kelly met his ex-wife when she was a teenager (19) at an audition to be his dancer. Actress LisaRaye McCoy introduced them. Even though they met while she was young (albeit of age for a consensual relationship), they did not date until she turned 21. She said the two were first like “brothers and sisters,” but after a while, the dynamic changed to tormentor and victim.
One of the stories she shared was that he forcefully hogtied her one night in the couple’s bedroom, leaving her bound as he fell off to sleep.
Osei said, “The way you told the story, it seemed as if he hogtied you, you were on the side of the bed, and he went to sleep in the bed.”
According to an earlier report, Kelly “got really angry” with her. As punishment, he took the “strap from his robe,” placed his knee in her back and secured her arms to her legs before drifting off to sleep.
The former background dancer confirmed that that was true. The host then asked her how long he had her tied up.
“I don’t even know. I just remember being like, ‘Alright, think. Think. Think You are a dancer. You’re flexible. What can you do?” she recalled. “I know I can get my feet as close to my head as possible. Like, literally, it felt like a scene out of the movies, where they kidnapped somebody and throw them in the back of the van.”
After explaining the scene, she said she was wondering at the time, “Either I’m going figure out how to get out of this, or when he wakes up, I don’t know what monster. … I don’t know if I’m getting the teddy bear or the grizzly bear.”
Drea described the scene as “crazy,” noting that when she finally got loose, she had another obstacle: escaping the bedroom. Her husband had the door fixed to automatically lock, and anyone trying to leave had to press a button that made a click sound that then signaled a bell. She still took her chances and attempted to escape.
She recalled mapping out her plan, “I’m like there’s no time to grab a purse. There’s no time to grab shoes. There’s no time to do anything. I got about 10 seconds to get from that third floor down to the first floor to get to the door and out the door.”
The plan worked and she was able to get free and out the door, but not without waking him. Kelly leaped up and chased after her. Drea said she was glad that there was no social media back then because the headlines would have read, “R. Kelly and Wife Running Down the Street — She’s Screaming and Hollering, Barefoot.”
Osei asked her, “What was it like when he caught up to you? What transpires at that time?”
“Immediately, you’re thinking, ‘I’m gonna die,’” she said to the host, adding that he did not care that people were watching them, he chased her, caught her, and continued to terrorize her.
Drea said the full story is the book, one that she was actually reluctant to write, saying she was “on the fence” about it because of the judgment from R. Kelly’s “super fans.”
“I get why his super fans feel the way they do,” she confesses before saying that Black people need icons to make them feel proud.
She added, “When we get that one that made it out, it feels like we’re rooting for ourselves. We feel like we’re rooting for our uncle. We’re rooting for our dad. We’re rooting for our son. So, we feel like protect them at all costs, but then when do we start to protect the Black woman at all costs?”
The “Hollywood Exes” reality star has spoken out about his abuse before, claiming that once he attacked her in the back of a Hummer and that she still suffers signs of PTSD whenever she sees the vehicle on the street or road.
“Whenever I would see Hummers on the road, I would shake, my hands would sweat, and I would get nervous, and I couldn’t breathe,” she told The Jasmine Brand in 2018.
The convicted abuser is currently serving a 30-year sentence in a medium-security federal correctional center in Butner, North Carolina, and is slated for release on Dec. 21, 2045, close to when he turns 79.
Kelly’s conviction stems from racketeering and sex trafficking charges in federal court in New York, along with accusations of operating a criminal enterprise to exploit young women and children.
The interview (and her book) shows that being the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s wife did not save her from being one of his victims.
