R. Kelly’s girlfriends say their parents are to blame

R. Kelly loomed in the background, coughing to indicate his presence, as his two young girlfriends engaged in a cringe-worthy interview with CBS’ Gayle King.

The two were trying to convince King that they were not ‘brainwashed’, while refusing to answer questions about their sex life with the singer, and accusing their parents of trying to make money off Kelly by blackmailing him.

Joycelyn Savage, 23, and Azriel Clary, 21, insisted their parents were “only interested in money”, and said that they had met Kelly when their parents had encouraged them to try sleep with him as teenagers to get blackmail material.

“When I was 17, my parents were making me try to take photos with him, sexual videos with him,” Clary insisted emotionally.

Later in the interview, she accused her parents of treating her like a “f*****g hoe” by allegedly encouraging her to start a sexual relationship with the singer.

She said that while they pushed her towards him, they did not have sex until after she turned 18.

“When I first met Robert, my parents first told me to lie about my age. He thought that I was 18,” she said, adding that her father was “manipulative” and “the one you have to watch out for”.

“My mom and dad started to send threats to me and to [R. Kelly] to say they would put all my naked pictures out there if he doesn’t put $20,000 to this bank account by Monday and another $10,000 to this one … you’re trying to solicit me like I’m some f*****g h*e. I’m not, I am your child,” she said.

The pair then became aggravated when King asked about the nature of their relationship with the singer, who is 30 years older than both of them.

“We’re with him. That’s our relationship with him. We live with him. You just said it,” Azriel fumed, adding, “There are people all over the world who have multiple girlfriends. It’s no different.”

Central to her parents’ case against the singer is their belief that they are constantly being monitored and cannot speak for themselves without being coached. This was given fresh life by the fact that after the interview aired on CBS on Thursday morning, King revealed that Kelly had been lurking behind them during their interview, despite his team telling her crew that he would not be in the room.

(Compiled by Warren Robertson)

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