K. Michelle is now sharing heartbreaking details about her relationship with R. Kelly and it’s eventual demise.
In a new episode of TV One’s Uncensored, which sees celebrities sharing intimate details about their lives, the singer opens up about the emotional abuse and manipulation she faced at the hands of the infamous R&B singer.
In this exclusive clip obtained by ESSENCE, K. Michelle admits that she learned a lot about being a musical artist from Kelly, but it came at a price.
“Being in that house offered its own set of dysfunctional issues for me,” the singer says in this clip. “I remember feeling trapped. If I leave this house, I’m never going to sing.”
K. Michelle adds that initially she was grateful to R. Kelly because his endorsement helped her land a record deal as he told execs that she was the female version of him. However, his support meant that she was trapped in his home with no access to her family.
“I’m having to stay there. I don’t see my family. I don’t see anybody but R. Kelly,” she alleged of the experience.
The singer was eventually able to leave R. Kelly’s house, but not after the singer told her “ain’t nobody gonna want you, but Prince of Michael Jackson.”
“Well, I told him, ‘You walk around with a book and you can’t read.’ So, anything is possible,” K. Michelle quipped, referencing the fact that R. Kelly is illiterate, which the singer has admitted in previous songs such as “I Admit.”
After leaving, K. Michelle said Kelly cut off all contact with her, refusing to work with her or speak to her.
“He really wouldn’t talk to me. I lost my friend and my mentor,” she said. “A lot of my career and a lot of the things that I went through [at] the core of it was a man.”
K. Michelle’s episode of Uncensored airs Sunday, October 14 at 10 p.m. ET/9 C.
