A day after filing a lawsuit alleging that R. Kelly knowingly gave her herpes, 20-year-old Faith Rodgers sat down with CBS This Morning for her first interview to lay out damning accusations against the R&B singer.
Rodgers said she had a nearly one-year relationship with the 51-year-old singer, whom she met in San Antonio after a party. Speaking to correspondent Jericka Duncan, Rodgers outlined a variety of disturbing details of events that she alleges took place when she was 19, including that Kelly had her call him “Daddy,” would lock her up in a van for hours at a time, set a goal of teaching her how to have sex like a “mature woman,” and introduced her to other women he allegedly said he was “raising.”
“He described these women as his family,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers also claimed that she experienced multiple episodes of forced sex, including one early in their relationship when he demanded that she take off her clothes in a hotel room.
“He has this type of, like, intimidation right off the bat. You know?” she said, adding that he also recorded their sexual activity on his iPad without her permission. “I was just waiting for it to be over.”
Rodgers emphasized that Kelly did not act his age when she was around him. “You feel like, ‘I’m chillin’ with someone I went to high school with,’” she said.
She noted that Kelly asked her how old she was, and that when she answered, he said, “You can tell Daddy if you’re 16, you know. You look 14.” Rodgers added that she believes Kelly deliberately pursues teenage girls and lures them into sex acts.
Last month, at the advisement of law enforcement, Rodgers recorded a phone conversation with Kelly. “What about my situation?” she asked him.
“I don’t know about no situation,” the singer replied. “I don’t never talk to nobody about nothing on the phone. I don’t do that — I don’t care what the situation is.”
Rodgers is accusing Kelly of sexual battery, alleging that he was mentally, physically, and verbally abusive, and was priming her to join a cultlike group.
According to CBS News, Kelly has not yet responded to Rodgers’s allegations.
Following a series of similar sexual misconduct allegations by former girlfriends, several music streaming services, from Spotify to Apple, have chosen to remove Kelly’s songs.
A #MuteRKelly movement, supported by stars such as Ava DuVernay, Kerry Washington, and Viola Davis, is also gaining steam.