R. Kelly has become somewhat of a controversial figure over the course of the past few years. Because of his wild success as a musician and his controversial behavior, he has spent a lot of time being scrutinized under the public eye. However, despite the fact that he has spent so much time in the spotlight, there are still some things that many people do not know about him. With that in mind, here we present our list of 15 things you probably didn’t know about R. Kelly. Check out part one below, and stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
Number Fifteen: He Was Sexually Molested. R. Kelly revealed in his 2012 autobiography, titled Soulacoaster, that he was sexually molested beginning at the age of eight. He does not identify the woman who molested him, but he also mentions that his male neighbor also sexually propositioned him when he was a child.
Number Fourteen: He Married Aaliyah. R. Kelly and Aaliyah got married in 1994. Amazingly, Aaliyah was just 15 years old when the two got married. At first, they denied that they had gotten married, but a marriage license surfaced that proved it was official.
Number Thirteen: He Was Sued for $10 Million. Tiffany Hawkins sued R. Kelly in 1996 for $10 million, and she claimed that Kelly forced her to have sex with him when she was just 15 years old. She also alleged that she was forced to participate in group sex. The lawsuit was eventually settled in 1998.
Number Twelve: His Manager Saw a Problem. When R. Kelly’s manager, Barry Hankerson, resigned in 2000, he wrote Kelly’s attorney to say that Kelly should seek out psychiatric help because of his inappropriate attraction to young girls.
Number Eleven: He May Have Peed on a Girl. A sex tape of R. Kelly surfaced in 2000 that depicted him both fornicating with and urinating on an underage girl. He was found guilty of all charges surrounding the tape.
Number Ten: He Has Some Strange Getups. R. Kelly has done some strange things, but one of the strangest was in his music video for “Hotel.” In the video, he can be seen wearing a pink Zorro mask, and why he is wearing the mask is never really explained.
Number Nine: He Was Kicked Off of His Own Tour. In 2004, Kelly was going on tour with Jay Z, but the tensions between the two artists had grown considerably high. Because of the tension, R. Kelly was eventually kicked off of the tour, and Jay Z addresses the incident on his verse of the remix of “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”