Witness Says R. Kelly Raped Her Days After He Married Aaliyah

On Monday, a woman testifying in R. Kelly’s Brooklyn criminal trial accused the singer of raping her when she was 17, just days after he married 15-year-old Aaliyah.

According to BuzzFeed News, the woman—identified only as Addie—said the assault occurred in September 1994, when she was taken back to Kelly’s dressing room after one of his concerts. Addie said she wasn’t a fan of his at the time, and had attended the Miami show to see Aaliyah, who was performing that night as well.

But after Kelly’s performance, the singer invited women over 18 to come backstage for an autograph, and security guards approached Addie and the friend she was with and asked if they wanted to meet him. When they arrived in his dressing room, Addie and her friend discovered they were the only two audience members there; the only other people in the room were reporters, she recalled. And those reporters were swiftly escorted out by security after Addie—responding to a request from the singer to come visit him in his hotel room—told Kelly she was 17.

Now alone, Addie said Kelly tried to get her friend and her to “play a game [to see] who could kiss better.” Addie said Kelly started kissing her best friend and then began kissing her. These advances that were unwelcome, but Kelly only become “more aggressive,” Addie said.

“That’s when he started holding my wrists and unzipping my pants, pulling them down, and started having sexual intercourse with me,” she told the courtroom, adding that Kelly didn’t use a condom. Addie said Kelly tried to assault her friend too, but didn’t succeed.

“I just basically went blank,” she said. “I was in complete shock.”

After Kelly was done, Addie and her friend fled from the dressing room and discussed whether or not to tell the police about what happened. They ultimately decided against reporting the assault because Addie feared getting victim-shamed.

Addie’s account is just the latest disturbing testimony to come out of Kelly’s trial. Monday’s court proceedings also featured the testimony of a male victim of the singer’s, who met Kelly in Chicago when he was 17.

When, on Monday, Deveraux Cannick, one of Kelly’s lawyers, asked Addie whether she still feared victim-shaming, she told Cannick: I’m an adult now. I’m no longer a little girl.”