R. Kelly accuser Azriel Clary described how she was manipulated and threatened by the singer and coached on how to act during an emotional interview Thursday with “CBS Mornings.”
Clary, now 23, was one of the women who lived with Kelly at his home in Chicago. She testified against him in his high-profile sex-trafficking trial in New York, which came to an end this week with the one-time R&B superstar being found guilty on charges of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, a law that bars transporting people across state lines “for any immoral purpose.”
Kelly, 54, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him. He has been in custody for much of the time since he was formally charged in 2019 and faces decades in prison when he is sentenced on May 4.
The singer also faces charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
“I was lost and I felt invisible and I gave someone that control over me to basically make me do whatever it was that they wanted me to do and act however they wanted me to act,” Clary told co-host Gayle King in her first interview since the trial.
Clary described how Kelly would manipulate her and other women and would threaten to throw them “around this entire room” if he found out they tried to discuss any attempts on escaping. She said she and another woman, Joycelyn Savage, were coached by Kelly on what to say prior to a 2019 interview with King that made national headlines after Kelly got out of his seat and forcefully denied allegations of sexual abuse.
“I didn’t do this stuff,” he said during that interview. “This is not me. I’m fighting for my f—— life.”
Clary said before she and Savage sat down with King for the interview, Kelly “came in and he told us to be angry and upset. So we came in angry. And I was scared because I was like I don’t want the world to see me this way, you know. I’m loving. I’m caring. I’m compassionate and no one got to see that side of me.”
She added: “Before that interview he had us practicing every single day. If he didn’t like our answer, he would tell us exactly what to say and how to say it. So anytime you mention anything about sexual preference, we already know to say, ‘I’m not here to talk about that,’ because that’s what he told us to say every single time.”
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Clary told King that she wasn’t honest about anything she said during the 2019 interview. Savage and her representatives could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The 23-year-old also talked about testifying against Kelly, telling King that she was “happy” that he no longer had control over her.
“Everything that we were living in had become very normal and I had to break out of that. I had to realize that this is actually abnormal,” Clary said.
An email and phone call to Kelly’s attorney about Clary’s latest interview were not immediately returned on Thursday.