R Kelly’s ex-wife is continuing to open up about the abuse that occurred during their marriage, calling the R&B singer “a monster” in a recent interview.
Andrea Kelly is sharing more of the brutal details from her years with the “Ignition” singer in an interview with Inside Edition. She recalls their Chicago home became a prison for her during their marriage from 1996 to 2009.
“I often say I spent 10 years being married, but I don’t know what it’s like to be a wife,” she said in tear. “What was supposed to be my big beautiful mansion ultimately became my prison.”
Kelly has refrained from speaking out publicly about the abuse in their relationship for years despite mounting accusations of sexual coercion, misconduct, and abuse against her ex-husband. But she says that the several women who have come forward in recent months have inspired her to speak her own truth.
In the interview, she dove into specifics about her abuse, including the fact that she could not leave their home without his permission and that she had to call him “daddy.” Two other women who recently came forward, Kitty Jones and Asante McGhee, also claimed that they had to call R. Kelly “daddy.”
Kelly also recalled an incident where her ex-husband hog-tied her to the bed: “I was tied up and left on the side of the bed, and he went to sleep.”
She first opened up about her abuse earlier this month in an interview with daytime talk show Sister Circle. In that interview, she detailed for viewers the moment when she finally walked away from her ex-husband after calling a domestic abuse hotline.
“That day, I just remember playing sick all day,” explained Kelly, while trying to fight back tears. “I went and got in the bed, and I was just like, ‘Okay, what are you going to do?’ And something just said, ‘end it.’ That was my first answer.”
And she admits that she stayed silent for almost 10 years because she had to heal herself mentally first: “I was not strong enough,” Kelly revealed. “How can I be a voice for the voiceless when I don’t even have my own? So, I had to wait until God said, ‘Okay, daughter. It’s time.’”
R. Kelly has denied all of the accusations against him, calling the recent #MuteRKelly and Time’s Up boycott campaigns against him an “attempted public lynching.”
Watch Andrea Kelly’s Inside Edition interview below
