R. Kelly's Ex-Wife Claims He Withheld Child Support Payments To Control Her

BYAron A.5.6K Views
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R. Kelly performs in concert at Barclays Center on September 25, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Drea Kelly alleges that R. Kelly's continued to manipulate her after their divorce.

R. Kelly spoke openly about his financial issues during his recent interview with Gayle King but that might not be the reason why he owes his ex-wife nearly $200K in child support. A rep for Andrea Kelly told TMZ the singer's been withholding child support payments in an attempt to control her after she spoke out against him. 

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In June 2018, Drea Kelly opened up about the mental and physical abuse she dealt with during her marriage to R. Kelly. Her reps claim that ever since the interview aired, the payment stopped entirely. They say that Kelly was sporadically making payments prior to her claims that he was abusive.

Drea's team claims that after her first child, Kelly was adamant that she becomes a stay-at-home mother and applied a strict set of rules. He also insisted that she solely work for him. Her team says that she was left without a job after their divorce. However, the abuse continued after their relationship as she claims that he didn't want to take care of his kids because he knew she needed financial support from child support.

She says that his payments were infrequent and unscattered -- sometimes months he'd pay in full, sometimes the payments were late, sometimes he wouldn't pay at all. 

Ultimately, she's claiming that the fuss he made during his CBS interview was entirely BS. 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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