R Kelly married Aaliyah at 15, forced her to partake in group sex sessions

R Kelly, who has faced a couple of lawsuits for different reasons in recent years, is believed to have married Aaliyah when she was only 15 years old.

Image: R Kelly and Aaliyah

Speaking in defence of his client during a conversation on Good Morning America, Steven Greenberg confirmed that Kelly tied knots with Aaliyah at the age of 15, adding that the Hotel singer had “no idea” of her real age at that time.

Kelly has threatened lawsuit against the women accusing him of sexual abuse.

Greenberg said on Friday that accusations of sexual exploitation and child abuse—among others filed against his client, as detailed in a 6-part Lifetime documentary titled Surviving R Kelly—were contestable lies.

In response to the question on whether he knew R Kelly got married to Aaliyah Haughton at the age of 15, he said: ‘Yes—that’s true.’

Kelly’s attorney then cited Elvis Presley’s marriage to Priscilla. ‘This is comparable to Elvis’ marriage…Although she was 21 at the time of their marriage, it should be noted that the couple hit it off when she was only 14.’

‘My client didn’t know about Aaliyah’s real age when they got married…I understand she lied to the authorities in order to wed him [Kelly]…She didn’t claim to be 15 and he had no idea.’

Kelly was 12 years older that Aaliyah at that time.

Now 52, Kelly’s life with women has been widely criticized in the media, with several celebrities prompted to publicly denounce him. John Legend, who is playing a role in the documentary Surviving R Kelly says he’s on it for the right cause. And Lady Gaga has said she regrets working with the famous R&B singer in the past, particularly on her hit track Do What U Want (With My Body).

“To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn’t feel risky at all,” John wrote on Twitter.

“I believe these women and don’t give a f*** about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision.”

Despite the accusations and lawsuits on sexual misconduct, R Kelly has never been tried in over two decades but this documentary provides a reasonable ground for proper legal actions. He has repeatedly denied establishing an abusive underground cult that encourages slavery and sexual abuse.

In response to Greenberg’s statement and increasing claims from women who confessed their sordid experiences with Kelly, Aaliyah’s boyfriend Damon Dash shared untold stories about the late singer’s life—particularly her disturbing romance with the accused person.

‘I tried watching part of the Surviving R Kelly episode yesterday, as much I could tolerate but I’m not gonna lie, as a human I was tight—so tight about some things,’ Damon said in an interview with Kenyatta “the Hip Hop Motivator.”

He continued, ‘First, Aaliyah represents a girl who tried to share her pains and agony but couldn’t…She would only say, “that Dude was a bad man”. Nothing else.

‘I pictured the traumatizing experience she could have had with him but couldn’t prod for more…In fact, I didn’t want to know what he did to her to the extent that I might feel the need—to deal with it…Not just because that’s what a man does but for the fact that I couldn’t bear seeing her revisit the horrific scenes…I wouldn’t want to do so without a professional.

‘All I know is that whatever he [Kelly] did to her was terrible.’

Dash explained that these allegations—on behalf of Aaliyah and other women—are the reasons he disassociated himself from Jay-Z and Kelly’s collaboration on Best of Both Worlds.

“You know, I watched John Legend be fearless about his opinion of it, regardless of, politically, how it may seem but I’ve been tight about this s**t for years,” the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder said.

“If you remember [JAY and Kelly’s 2002 album] The Best of Both Worlds, you don’t see my name on that… I never wanted no parts of that.

“So, my homie [JAY] was doing that s**t. I was like ‘Bro, you know this guy violated women—including my girl. He [Kelly] violated a friend of yours, too,’” Dash added.

“So, you know, when he moved forward I was like… ‘Yo, I don’t want no parts of that. Put my part to Aaliyah’s breast cancer thing.’”

“Karma happens. But the thing that I didn’t understand was, like, ‘I know I’m not f**king with that’ and because of the moral challenge and him choosing one way, I knew, morally, we weren’t the same…”

Far back in 1996, a singer named Tiffany Kawkins claimed Kelly forced her to partake in the sickening sex sessions with minors—adding that she was also underaged as a 15-year-old at that time. She filed lawsuit for a whopping £78 million.

The court document stated that, Kelly engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with Tiffany, including but not limited to engaging in group sexual intercourse with the claimant and other minors. He denied the allegations an filed a counter-suit against her on the same day.

Tiffany allegedly attempted suicide after he [Kelly] ditched her at the age of 18. Kelly had accused her of “spreading false claims” and “making claims that he’s the father of her child” for the purpose of extorting money from him.

Aaliyah was only 22 when she died in the tragic 2001 plane crash. She was working on a collaboration with Kelly, Age Ain’s Nothing but a Number, when they fell in love. He was 27 and she was only 15 when they wedded.

Investigations into the short-lived marriage showed that personal details on their certificate was falsified to portray her as an 18-year-old. Eventually, the union was annulled.