Rap and R&B star R Kelly has claimed in a new interview that he was sexually abused as a child by a female relative.
However, speaking in the latest issue of GQ magazine, he revealed that he had forgiven the relative in question, arguing that their actions could easily have been down to abuse they themselves had suffered, describing this behaviour as a “generational curse”.
“I, well, definitely forgive them,” he said. “As I’m older, I look at it and I know that it had to be not just about me and them, but them and somebody older than them when they were younger. I looked at it as if there was a sort of like, I don’t know, a generational curse, so to speak, going down through the family.”
R Kelly has described sexual abuse as a “generational curse” in a new interview
R Kelly was found not guilty on all 14 counts in the 2008 child pornography trial, after allegations had hung over him for several years in the wake of the 2002 video that appeared to show him engaging in sexual activity with a minor.
When asked why this generational curse didn’t pass down to him, he said that he had “opted to break it”, but said that misunderstandings had happened in his life were because some of his song lyrics are taken “far too literally”.
More: R Kelly leaves live interview after controversial questions arise
As for the accusations themselves, the interviewer asked forthrightly whether he agreed that everybody thought it was him in the video, Kelly responded that his innocence was implied in the fact that his albums were still popular and sold well.
“Even the ones that buy my albums?” he replied. “I don’t think so. I just think those people didn’t believe that nonsense. That’s what I think. And they said, ‘The hell with what other people are saying – we love R Kelly, we believe R Kelly, he was found innocent, he’s moving on with his life’.”
He admitted that the experiences, which he says started at the age of eight and continued into his teenage years, made him more sexually aware and active than he should have been at that age. Nevertheless, he doesn’t bear a grudge against his abuser.
“As I’m older, I’ve only learned to forgive it. Was it wrong? Absolutely. But it’s a family member that I love so I would definitely say no to that one. To be honest, even if my mom, [if] I saw her kill somebody, I’m not gonna say, ‘Well, yeah, she definitely should go to jail’. It’s just something I wouldn’t do.”
More: Unearthed Lady Gaga, R Kelly video allegedly condones sexual assault [NSFW]
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