Last month, Chicago music journalist veteran Jim DeRogatis reported a story for Buzzfeed detailing how the R&B singer was operating something akin to a “sex cult” out of both of his homes in Atlanta and Chicago.
Yesterday, Rogatis double-down on his initial report with a brand new interview with Jerhonda Pace, a woman who claims to have had a sexual relationship with R Kelly when she was just 16 years old.
Pace accepted a monetary payout several years back to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to maintain her silence, but following that explosive, intial report, she felt compelled to step forward and share her story. The first met in 2009 at a party at his home and after an exchange of numbers began a sexual relationship. According to the Buzzfeed report,
“Over the next seven months, Pace says she had sex with Kelly repeatedly, a claim she would later repeat during her settlement process. Without asking her permission, Kelly filmed most of the encounters on his iPhone or a video camera on a tripod, Pace says and a settlement draft reiterates. ‘I had to call him ‘daddy,’ and he would call me ‘baby.’ He wanted me to have two pigtails, and I had to go out and find little schoolgirl outfits.'”
Much like the conditions detailed in the report last month, Pace was forced by Kelly to endure some significantly demeaning and vastly controlling behaviors.
Pace says that she started spending weekends with Kelly at his Olympia Fields home. While she was in the mansion, she says, she had to follow Kelly’s ‘rules,’ which included dressing in baggy clothes, turning over her phone, and asking permission to shower, eat, go to the bathroom, and leave the property. If she broke the rules, she says, she was mentally and physically abused.
Representatives for Kelly eventually issued a statement denying Pace’s story.
“The allegations against Mr. Kelly are false, and are being made by individuals known to be dishonest. It is clear these continuing stories are the result of the effort of those with personal agendas who are working in concert to interfere with and damage his career. Mr. Kelly again denies any and all wrong doing and is taking appropriate legal action to protect himself from ongoing defamation.”
Despite the ramification for breaking her nondisclosure agreement, Pace says the decision is well worth it. “If I can speak out and I can help them get out of that situation, that’s what I will do,” she said said. “I didn’t have anybody to speak up on my behalf when I was going through what I was going through with him. He’s brainwashed them really bad, and it kind of reminds me of Charles Manson.”
