During the court appearance, Kelly was reportedly informed that he also owes a further $32,000 in interest on the child support. In addition, Andrea has also requested extra child support to cover Buku Abi’s secondary education expenses.
Kelly’s publicist Darrell Johnsontold TMZthat future child support payments for June, July and August have been placed in an escrow account, and that the singer “now looks forward to clearing his name in and being cleared of all charges in the near future.”
Matt Marton/AP/REX/Shutterstock
R. Kelly at court on May 8, 2019.Matt Marton/AP/REX/Shutterstock
This is reportedly the first public child-support hearing since 2013.According to theChicago Sun-Times, Andrea’s lawyer, Alison Motta, told the assembled reporters that they pushed to make the case public in hopes that it would pressure Kelly to pay up.
“All I can say is this is a victory for my children,” Drea Kelly told reporters after Wednesday’s court hearing. “I will fight for my children till the end.”
Neither Motta nor Damico returned PEOPLE’s requests for additional comment.
This is not the first time that Kelly has fallen behind in his payments. On March 6, the embattled R&B artist was arrested on suspicion offailure to pay $161,663 in back child support at a court hearing. He wasreleased from custody three days lateron March 9, after the payment was made anonymously on his behalf. In a copy of Kelly’s bond slip given to PEOPLE at the time, the provider information is left blank.
“I don’t think he ever should have gone into custody for it,” Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg told PEOPLE at the time. “He’s not some deadbeat dad. He fell a little bit behind. That occurred in a matter of months.”
R. Kelly.Cook County Sheriff’s Office
At a follow-up hearing in the aftermath of his release, Kelly asked the judge to lower the monthly child support rate, claiming that he could not afford it. At present, the rate remains the same.
Kelly, who has repeatedly denied all claims against him, briefly addressed reporters outside of the jail in March, saying, “I promise you, we’re going to straighten all this stuff out,” according toCNN.
In January, ahead of the premiere of the bombshell docuseriesSurviving R. Kelly —which alleged that Kelly had sexually abused women and young girls —Andrea told PEOPLEthat the singer no longerhad any contact with their three children— and had stopped supporting them financially.
RELATED VIDEO: R. Kelly Claims Abuse Allegations Are ‘Lies’ in Emotionally Charged Interview, Blames ‘Social Media’
“He stopped paying child support when I came forward with my story, so he’s still economically abusing me. So, it’s like, ‘Oh, okay, you want to tell your story? Fine. I’m cutting off child support,'” she said.
R. Kelly arrives to court on Wednesday.Matt Marton/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Andrea went on to share that what her ex didn’t seem to understand was “when I suffer, your children suffer.”
Also on Wednesday, a Cook County Judge Moira Johnson ruled that an unrelated sexual abuse lawsuit against Kelly will proceed. A default judgment against Kelly had initially been entered after he failed to respond to the suit — but now his lawyers claim that he didn’t respond because he’s illiterate and wastherefore unable to read the documentswhen he was served with them.
source: people.com
