R. Kelly’s Daughter Claims Singer Sexually Abused Her as a Child

R. Kelly’s daughter has opened up in a new documentary, alleging that her father sexually abused her when she was 8 or 9 years old.

Buku Abi, born Joann Kelly, made the claims in a two-part docu-series R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey.

“I just remember waking up to him touching me,” she said in the documentary, according to People. “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”

She said she first reported the abuse to her mother in 2009, when she was 10. Though Abi filed a complaint against Kelly as Jane Doe, she wasn’t able to press charges.

“They couldn’t prosecute him because I waited too long. So at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing,” she said.

The documentary is the first time Abi has publicly made allegations against her father. She has previously shown support for Kelly’s survivors.

“I am well aware of who and what he is. I grew up in that house,” she said in 2019.

Kelley is currently serving two concurrent sentences related to child sexual abuse. His attorney denied the allegations in a statement to People.