Warning: This story contains details about alleged sexual abuse.
R. Kelly‘s estranged daughter is speaking out about a traumatic experience.
Joann Kelly, who also goes by the name Buku Abi, alleges in a new documentary that that the R&B singer, who is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for crimes against underage girls between 12 and 17, sexually abused her when she was around 8 or 9 years old.
“I just remember waking up to him touching me,” she tearfully said on the two-part TVEI Network documentary Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, per People. “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”
The singer denies abusing his daughter. “Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations,” his attorney Jennifer Bonjean said in a statement to People. “His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded.”
E! News has reached out to R. Kelly’s rep for comment and has not heard back.
