Singer R Kelly has been accused by his daughter Buku Abi, also known as Joann Kelly, of sexually abusing her as a child. Buku Abi made the claims in a new documentary for the TVEI Streaming Network, The Hollywood Reporter said. The singer is currently imprisoned for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges involving sexual abuse of minors.

According to the publication, a tearful Buku opened up about her abuse in the documentary, stating how R Kelly was her “everything” and for a long time, she “didn’t even want to believe that it happened.”

She said, “I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me. I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom,” Buku added in the two-part documentary R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, which also features emotional interviews with her siblings, Jaah and Robert Kelly Jr as well as her mother, Drea Kelly, who filed for divorce with the singer in 2009.

In an interview with People, Buku Abi said the moment of abuse completely altered her life, dimming the “sparkle” she had within. “I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry. After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore. My brother [Robert] and sister [Jaah], we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now, I struggle with it a lot.”

R Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, of the New York City-based Bonjean Law Group, sent a statement to People and denied the allegations, stating, “His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded…. And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.”

In 2021, the R&B popstar was convicted in a sex trafficking trial amid numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children.

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