Ex-wife of R. Kelly, Andrea “DREA” Kelly, joins us in studio to open up about the 13 years of her life she spent with R&B singer R. Kelly.
If you’re unfamiliar with what’s going down with R. Kelly, Lifetime’s docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly,” has become the thing to talk about, and it also looks like it might be leading to new criminal charges against him.
Atlanta prosecutors have opened a new investigation directly related to the allegations made on the docuseries, and they want information from anyone who lived in the mansion where he carried out his alleged sex crimes, as well as anyone who might know what went on there. Apparently, they’ve already reached out to the survivors and family members who cooperated with Lifetime for the docuseries.
Other reports say that prosecutors in Chicago have also asked potential victims to come forward.
DREA is speaking up now because she’s a survivor, and she wants to speak up to give validity to the other survivors’ stories that we’re hearing. In her mind, somebody had to stand up to say that these women aren’t lying, because it also happened to her.
DREA opens up about how she met R. Kelly (she worked for him), addressed whether or not she knew about the rumors of what was going on with him and his proclivities before they got together, and how she wondered at points in her life if he had a doppelgänger, because she didn’t understand how one person could possibly do so much. And that’s when she realized: there must be people helping.
When asked why she thinks this story is just picking up steam now, DREA lays the cold, hard truth bare: women of color are lowest on the totem pole in our society. There’s no denying the truth ringing in her eloquent words, and that this needs to change NOW. DREA also points out that people – and other celebs – are jumping on this story now just because it’s trendy. It should have happened way, way sooner.
DREA also opens up about how people want to believe the persona over the person, and so they turn a blind eye,(which could be part of the reason why R. Kelly’s songs are seeing a boost), how she would feel about the father of her children going to prison (and how it would affect her children), the final breaking point that made her leave (and the fear she harbored in her heart for her daughter), and how – at the end of the day – she’s not judge, jury, or God.
