One of R. Kelly’s accusers described Thursday how she was sexually assaulted by the singer after being locked in his studio for days—and then threatened by his associates who warned her not to “fuck with Mr. Kelly.”
The woman, identified on the stand as Sonja, told jurors that in 2003 she traveled to Chicago to interview Kelly when she was a 21-year-old intern at a Salt Lake City radio station. When she arrived, Sonja said Kelly’s associates made her sign an NDA before locking her in a room at the studio for “three or four days” without food or water. When she finally got something to eat, she immediately became “extremely full and tired,” she said.
Just after she woke up, Sonja said she saw Kelly in the corner of the room “doing up his pants”—and noticed her underwear resting on an armchair.
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“I was sexually assaulted. There was something in me that wasn’t invited,” Sonja testified during Kelly’s racketeering and sex crimes trial in Brooklyn federal court.
After the alleged assault, one of Kelly’s associates made her sign a second NDA—and warned her not to tell anyone about what occurred in the studio because “you don’t want to mess with Mr. Kelly,” she said.
“You don’t fuck with Mr. Kelly,” the associate allegedly told Sonja.
Sonja, now 39, said she took that threat to heart—and has never spoken publicly about the assault until Thursday. She’s among eight accusers who have spoken out in court against Kelly as part of the federal case—all detailing how Kelly and his associates enforced strict rules as the singer eventually sexually abused them.
“I had to ask to be let out. I had to ask to go to the restroom,” Sonja said about her time in the studio room.
Kelly, 54, faces charges including racketeering based on kidnapping, sexual exploitation of children, and forced labor; he is also charged with violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of people across state lines for sex. The singer has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have said Kelly abused at least six women and girls—including Sonja. Four of the women were minors when he first had sexual contact with them. At least two allege they contracted herpes after Kelly knowingly exposed them to the disease.
Of the eight women—and one man—who have testified thus far, five of them were minors when they first had sexual contact with the “I Believe I Can Fly” artist.
Kelly’s defense team has argued that these accusers are disgruntled women—and men—with an “agenda.” In opening arguments, Nicole Becker argued that Sonja willingly came to Chicago “in hopes of getting to know” Kelly and interview him for her radio internship.
During her testimony, Sonja admitted that she first approached Kelly at a Salt Lake City mall in 2003—hoping that an interview with the celebrity “would kickstart my career.” After a brief meeting, where Sonja said that one of Kelly’s associates slipped her a handwritten piece of paper with Kelly’s number on it, she said she called the singer “that day” to set up a time to meet again.
“I was relentless, I wanted him to give me that interview,” Sonja, who was a new mother at the time, said.
She said that while Kelly eventually agreed to be interviewed, he refused to do it over the phone or go to the radio studio in Utah. Her only option, she said, was to go to Chicago to interview Kelly—on the singer’s dime.
When she got to Kelly’s studio in Chicago, Sonja said that one of his associates began to ask her “a bunch of crazy questions,” including whether she would need a condom.
“I told him ‘No, I’m not here for that,’” she said.
At that point, she said she was escorted to a room where two men asked her for identification and to sign an NDA. Afterward, one of the men told her that “Kelly should be in shortly”—and then locked her inside.
“I was scared. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed,” she said, adding that she remained in the room for most of the next couple of days. She was only allowed to leave twice, once for a shower and another time to use the bathroom.
After at least two days, Sonja said that she was finally allowed to eat Chinese takeout and drink some that had been given to her in a cup. While she said she was “starving,” Sonja was only able to eat a few bites before she got “extremely full and tired.”
“I don’t remember how I got from the chair at the table to the couch,” she said. When she woke up later, she was “extremely confused” and saw “Kelly doing up his pants in the corner,” with her underwear resting on “the arm of the couch.”
“There was wet stuff between my legs..on my thighs,” she said. “It made me feel like somebody or something had happened to me. I felt like someone had been inside of me. I believed I was touched...sexually.”
Minutes after the alleged assault, Sonja said she was forced to sign a second NDA before she was allowed to leave.
During cross-examination, Sonja said she never called the police during her stay in the room—even though she was given access to a phone and was in contact with her friends and family. Defense attorney Deveraux Cannick also grilled Sonja for not speaking out about the alleged assault afterward.
“I didn’t think anyone would believe me,” Sonja insisted, adding that Kelly had information about her friends and family and she was worried he might harm them.
Several other women have testified about the abuse they endured by Kelly, including one woman told jurors on Thursday that the singer hit and spanked her as punishment for disobeying his rules.
The woman, who was identified in court as “Anna” said she moved in with Kelly a few months after meeting him backstage at one of his concerts in 2016. Anna, who was 19 or 20 at the time, said that during her two-year relationship with Kelly, the singer made her have sex with other men and women—even if she did not want to—and engage in role playing.
“Sometimes I was a Disney character...or a young girl,” Anna said.
If Anna did not adhere to Kelly’s strict rules or sexual desires, she said that Kelly would punish her, including spanking her or making her participate in degrading videos.
One time, she allegedly had to film herself “being sexual and seductive with bodily fluids”—which left her humiliated.
Another accuser who said the singer forced her to have sex in a Miami dressing room after one of his shows in September 1994. The assault came just two days after his secret marriage to “Princess of R&B” Aaliyah—who was just 15 and believed she was pregnant at the time. Prosecutors allege that in order to marry Aaliyah, Kelly bribed an Illinois state official for fake identification.
Kelly also allegedly had sexual contact with at least two John Does when they were minors, including “Louis,” who told jurors he met the singer at a Chicago McDonalds drive-through in 2006. He said that during his over 10-year relationship with Kelly, which began when he was 17, the singer sexually assaulted him multiple times after promising to help with his music career.
The second John Doe, whom Kelly met when he was 16 or 17, was also allegedly forced to have filmed sex with the singer and several of his girlfriends.
