R. Kelly opened up about his finances on Thursday morning, revealing that he went to the bank by himself for the first time three weeks ago before he was arrested and could not make bail on child rape charges.
Kelly, 52, was put in handcuffs on February 23rd. His bail was set at $1million which he had to pay ten percent of, $100,000. He couldn’t and spent two days in jail before a female daycare owner bailed him out.
The singer is back behind bars again now after failing to pay $160,000 in backdated child support.
In the second part of an interview with Gayle King on CBS that was filmed earlier this week and aired on Thursday, after is second arrest, the singer said that he had $350,000 in his Bank of America account when he checked but that it was being moved into a new one when he was arrested.
He lamented not having the money that he is thought to have, saying it is ‘one rumor he wishes was true’.
Kelly’s net worth in the past has been estimated to be around $200million.
During his first visit to the bank on February 21, the day before he was indicted, he said he learned that he only had $350,000 left.
‘So many people have been stealin’ my money.
In the second part of his explosive CBS interview that aired on Thursday after he was arrested for a second time, R. Kelly spoke about his finances and revealed that he had visited the bank for the first time weeks ago
‘People was connected to my account. I went into – I went by myself for the first time to a Bank of America. Didn’t know what I was doing. Didn’t know what the hell was going on,’ he said.
King, who has been praised for her calm and focused interview with the embattled star, told him it was his responsibility to keep track of his finances.
Kelly went on to explain that he told the bank teller to set up a new account for him that only he would have access to.
‘I had $350,000 in the bank. I told her, take that and start a new account. That’s the way it is. She says, it’s going to take six to seven business days to clear.
‘Does that make sense?’ he said.
Kelly said that the money still hadn’t cleared when he was arrested and that is why he could not pay his bail straight away.
He remains behind bars in Chicago, however, for not paying $160,000 in backdated child support – less than half of what he claims to have in the Bank of America account.
Kelly wept again when asked about why he had not paid his ex-wife, Andrea, the money for years and said that he ‘loved’ her and their children.
He maintains that they have a strong relationship – despite the fact that his oldest daughter revealed in January that they had not spoken in years.
Kelly, frustrated, loosened his tie and undid his top button at one point during the interview
The singer’s face was soaked with tears at points as he protested that he could not work or pay child support but said he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank
Like in his first part of the interview, there were moments when he launched into an emotional monologue and turned away from interviewer Gayle King while she sat staring at him
The singer has three children with his ex-wife Andrea. She is shown in the recent lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly where she described how he abused her
In one of the many contradictions in his complex story, he said that while he has enough money in the bank, he could not possibly pay Andrea child support while facing the allegations he is charged with which he said means he can’t work.
‘How can I pay child support? How?! If my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can’t work? How can I work? How can I get paid?
‘How can I take care of my kids? How?!’ he said, loosening his tie in frustration.
Kelly’s oldest child, Joann, 20, said in January that he was a ‘monster’ who she’d had no relationship with for years
He also said that while he ‘loves’ Andrea, she lied by claiming in the docu-series Surviving R. Kelly that he had been abusing her for years.
‘She is not telling the truth. I love her to death, I have nothing against her still, that is my kids’ mother.
‘I am not disrespecting her by saying that she is not telling the truth, I’m just being honest,’ he said.
Seconds later, he erupted into tears and spoke directly to the camera, saying: ‘My kids are living this. This is real. This is not a lie! What kind of woman would tear down a dad who’s trying to have a relationship with their kids?!’
He said he had ‘zero’ relationship with his children but knows that they ‘love him’.
‘I know they love me and I am in love with my kids. I love my kids,’ he said.
He also reminisced nostalgically about proposing to his ex-wife with a ‘helicopter’ and wept about the claims that he had abused her with a hog-tie, saying: ‘My kids are listening to this!’
In January, after the docuseries was aired, R. Kelly’s oldest daughter penned an emotional Instagram post where she put distance between them.
‘The same monster you all confronting me about is my father. I am well aware of who and what he is. I grew up in that house.
Kelly’s three children are shown when they were kids. Joann, left, is the oldest. He also has a transgender son, 19-year-old Jay (right) and a 17-year-old son, Robert Jr. (front)
‘I just want you all to understand that devastated is an understatement for all that I feel currently,’ she said in part.
Kelly’s interview with King is his first in years.
It reveals his ‘disturbing’ mental state and desperation along with his take on his relationships with girlfriends Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage.
Their parents say he has brainwashed them into not talking to their families.
He made the astonishing claim in the first part of his CBS interview that the girls’ families ‘sold’ them to him.
King asked him: ‘What kind of love is it that keeps these young women away from their families?’
He gave the shocking answer: ‘I’m going answer your question — what kind of father, what kind of mother would sell their daughter to a man?’
The singer’s two young girlfriends, Azriel Clary, 21, (left) and Joycelyn Savage, 23, (right) angrily denied that they were brainwashed during a separate interview with King and claimed their parents, who have claimed publicly that Kelly is in control of them, are motivated by money
Stunned, King asked: ‘Who did that?’
‘How come it was okay for me to see them until they wasn’t getting no money from me?’ Kelly says.
Kelly is back behind bars in Chicago for failing to pay his child support
‘Why would you take your daughter — if I were going to take my daughter and she’s 19 years old to a 49-year-old icon whatever, celebrity, R. Kelly concert, whoever it is, I’m not going to put her on the stage and leave her.
‘I’m going to take her to the concert.’
‘Their father is more into my music and knew about my music than they do,’ he said.
Kelly’s legal troubles are split between two cases.
The first is a criminal case in which he is accused of raping four women, three of whom were minors when they say he attacked them, between 1998 and 2010.
He has pleaded not guilty on all counts and will return to court soon.
The second case is the child support case which is ex-wife, Andrea, has is pursuing.
That is what landed him in jail for a second time after he posted bail on the criminal rape charges.
His new legal woes come after years of speculation and accusations about his sexual relationships with young girls.
It came to a head earlier this year with the release of the Lifetime docu-series, Surviving R. Kelly, where seven women made allegations against him.