R. Kelly’s former wife, Andrea Kelly, visited The View Thursday and opened up about the physical abuse she said she suffered during her 13-year marriage to the chart-topping singer.
Andrea, who filed for divorce from the 51-year-old entertainer in 2006, said she came forward because she wants to “bring validity” to other victims of domestic abuse.
“You cannot not speak when someone’s life and what they’ve been through is parallel to yours,” the mom-of-three shared. “I wanted to bring validity to these women’s stories… So much of it falls on deaf ears and no one believes them… ”
Read More: R. Kelly Addresses Sex Cult Allegations in 19-Minute Song ‘I Admit’
Andrea, 44, said she felt compelled to speak up after seeing one of R. Kelly’s accusers being interviewed on television.
“Some of the things she had described in detail, I had been through, I mean, verbatim,” Andrea explained. “I was like, ‘if no one else is going to speak up for her, if no one else is going to believe her, at least she knows I do.”
The dancer-choreographer didn’t hold back during the emotional interview, recounting one incident when R. Kelly allegedly attacked her in the back of a Hummer.
Andrea said her then-husband pulled her left arm back, held her and pressed his forearm into her neck, limiting her ability to breathe.
“I said, ‘Robert, you’re going to kill me. I can’t breathe,'” the Chicago native recounted. “I just thought, ‘Oh, my God. I’m going to die in the back of this Hummer.'”
Read More: R. Kelly Accuser Claims He Routinely Locked Her Up
Andrea also recalled an incident in which the Trapped in the Closet singer allegedly “hogtied” her on their bed during a fight.
The former Hollywood Exes star said years of alleged abuse led her to attempt suicide, telling the co-hosts:
“I went out on the balcony and I climbed up… One foot was on the railing and the other was on the wall… I looked down and God allowed me to see myself laying in blood. That was my darkest moment… The fact that I was willing to leave [my children] let me know the best thing you have to do for you and your children to live is leave.”
Although R. Kelly’s management team declined to comment on the domestic abuse allegations, the rapper has addressed previous claims about his conduct in the past.
In July 2018, the singer-songwriter released a 19-minute track titled I Admit to address the allegations that he ran a sex cult.
Read More: Lifetime Developing Movie, Documentary Series on R. Kelly Allegations
BuzzFeed News first published the claims in 2017, alleging that R. Kelly was holding women in homes in Chicago and Atlanta against their will.
“I admit I am not perfect,” the singer crooned in the bizarre ode. “I never said I was perfect / Say I’m abusing these women / What the f–k, that’s some absurd shit. They brainwashed, really? / Kidnapped, really? / Can’t eat, really? / Real talk, that sounds silly.”
Watch Andrea’s full interview below.
