R. Kelly opened up during a wide-ranging interview with GQ about everything from the sexual abuse he faced as a child to the allegations against Bill Cosby to being found not guilty on child pornography charges.
The singer spoke candidly with Chris Heath for the February 2016 issue of the magazine.
“As far as I can remember, about [age] 7 or 8 to maybe 14, 15. Something like that," he recounted about when the abuse began at the hands of a relative. “Back then, too young to judge. As I’m older, I’ve only learned to forgive it. Was it wrong? Absolutely. But it’s a family member that I love so I would definitely say no to that one. To be honest, even if my mom, I saw her kill somebody, I’m not gonna say, ‘Well, yeah, she definitely should go to jail.’ It’s just something I wouldn’t do.”
Kelly grew up watching "The Cosby Show" and he said only God can tell him that the sexual assault accusations against the actor are true.
Well, my opinion on that is, I don’t know what happened. I’m a fan of Bill Cosby’s from the Bill Cosby show, of course -- who’s not? -- and for me to give my opinion on something that I have no idea if it’s true or not, all I can say is that it was a long time ago. And when I look on TV and I see the 70-, 80-, 90-year-old ladies talking about what happened when they were 17, 18, 19, there’s something strange about it … If God showed me that they were telling the truth, I would say that’s wrong. I don’t care if it was a zillion years ago. But God would have to do that, because God is the only one can show me that. No man can tell me that. No woman can tell me that. And when you wait 70 years, 50 years, 40 years, to say something that simple, it’s strange. You know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn’t true.
Kelly was indicted on charges of child pornography back in 2002 after a video surfaced showing him having sex with a female minor. He was arrested in 2003 on those charges and found not guilty in 2008. Numerous sexual abuse allegations with other minors have still surrounded him through the years.
“When a person is found not guilty, they’re found not guilty. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a murder case, it doesn’t matter what case it is, when they’re found not guilty, they’re not guilty," he said. "And I think that a lot of haters out there wanted to see me go down.”
The allegations aren't something Kelly is fond of discussing. During a recent visit to HuffPost Live, the 49-year-old became defensive and ultimately walked off set in the middle of his interview after he was asked how his sexual abuse allegations had impacted sales of his new album.
Head over to GQ.com to read the full interview.
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