As R. Kelly awaits sentencing for his criminal case, similar cases across various states in the country are scheduled to begin. Kelly is accused of sex trafficking and abuse of young girls and adults. One of his former girlfriends, Azriel Clary, says she escaped a five-year abusive relationship with Kelly. Now, she’s opening up about Kelly’s manipulative behavior she says he uses to lure his victims. 

Azriel Clary met R. Kelly when she was 17-years-old and the singer promised he’d help her with her singing career

Clary recently sat for an interview with Hollywood Unlocked’s Jason Lee. She met Kelly at a concert he put on in Florida and invited her backstage to audition for him. Kelly told her that she’d mentor her and assist with getting her music career off the ground. 

“I did [think that he’d help me with my singing career] because I had met a lot of other great artists even before him, and so I thought that when I met him and he asked me to audition, it would just be no different,” she explained. “Honestly, I was like, ‘This is somebody that’s going to hear me sing, and they’re going to like it, or they’re not.’”

In the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, Clary’s parents explained that her time with Kelly was supervised by someone in their family, or a member of Kelly’s team who was an executive of the record label. But they quickly learned that it was all a lie and Kelly’s team were handlers who aided in his quest for underage women. 

The young woman says R. Kelly began manipulating her and controlling her every move

Clary began working with Kelly, and eventually became romantic with him. She says many people blame victims of abuse, especially in Kelly’s case due to his celebrity. But she says it’s easy for anyone, especially a growing teenager, to be manipulated by a perceived predator as Kelly. 

“I was super naive, super gullible, happy go lucky, just in my own little world and living life” she says of her personality. “A lot of people don’t know how fast things escalated…personally, I feel like it was never about the music, ever…it was a lot of adults who helped him.”

Initially, she had freedom. But she says once she turned 18, Kelly began putting restrictions on her daily life. “I wouldn’t say I was in love with him; it was a lot of manipulation to keep me there, a lot of gaslighting, love bombing,” she added.

Clary said Kelly initially wanted to be present whenever she spoke with her parents on the phone. When she turned 18, he forbade her from speaking to her family. She says once she didn’t have access to her family, she felt alone. Then, Kelly began controlling what she wore, did, and more. She says she began to feel lost and did whatever she could to keep him from being in his crosshairs. 

She testified against R. Kelly in his criminal racketeering case

Clary was one of the dozens of witnesses to testify against Kelly in his 2021 racketeering case. The Daily Beast reports Clary told prosecutors that Kelly “peer-pressured” her into giving him oral sex during their first encounter alone in a Florida hotel when she was just 17-years-old. She says she later learned that she’d contracted vaginal herpes. 

Upon telling Kelly, she says he became “agitated” and blamed her for the STI. But Clary testified that Kelly was the first and only man she’d been intimate with.

“This man purposely gave me something he knew he had had, that he could have controlled,” Clary stated on the stand. According to Kelly’s former physician, Dr. Kris G. McGrath, he began prescribing the singer medication for herpes in 2007. Kelly was reportedly diagnosed with herpes in 2000. 

Clary also alleges Kelly forced her to get an abortion in 2017. “He had expressed that he had still wanted me to keep my body tight, and he wanted to have a family after he got rid of the rest of the girls,” she said. She also recounted violent beatings at the hands of Kelly. Clary explained that she had to abide by a list of rules, such as asking for permission to eat, use the bathroom, use the phone, etc. 

Kelly was found guilty of nine counts in the racketeering case. He awaits sentencing and faces 10 years to life in prison. 

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