One of R. Kelly’s accusers said on Tuesday she was forced to lie and coached by the fallen R&B star during a 2019 interview during which she defended him against allegations of sexual abuse.
The woman, who testified in Brooklyn federal court that she had a years-long relationship with the singer starting when she was 17, said she and another alleged victim were prodded to do the now-infamous CBS interview with Gayle King.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe 5, said Kelly remained in the room to make sure they stayed on script.
“Kelly was in the hotel room,” said the woman, now 23. “He did a cough that he usually does so everyone knows he is there. Letting us know that he was in the room with us.”
During the interview, Doe vehemently defended Kelly, saying she and the other woman were in a consensual relationship with the singer and accusing her parents of lying about the arrangement.
On Tuesday, she said Kelly had the two women do the March 8, 2019, interview with King to counter the claims in the Netflix series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which detailed years of abuse of young women by the singer.
“He would asks us to write down questions and answers when we were alone to go over with him,” Doe testified.
During the 2019 interview, Doe was at times combative with King, claiming she was in love and “in a relationship” with Kelly, sugarcoating what she now recalls as an abusive, controlling relationship that lasted for years.
“We’re with him,” she told King at the time. “And we’re in a relationship with him. We both have our individual relationships with him and we all are family, all together.
“We have our moments where we sit and watch movies all together,” she said. “We go to amusement parks all together.”
King asked if the relationship was sexual.
“Sexually?” Doe answered. “Well, first of all I’m not here to talk about my personal life. And I would never share with no one what I do in or outside of the bedroom. And as a woman I’m sure you would not either.”
“No I wouldn’t,” King replied.
“OK then. Next question,” Doe shot back.
King also asked her about her parents’ concerns.
“They say that you were brianwashed,” King said. “I talked to your dad last night and he said, ‘My daughter is brainwashed’ and he’s very concerned. He said he was here two days ago and you wouldn’t even look him in the eye.”
“OK,” Doe said. “I wouldn’t look him in the eye because he’s a liar. He’s a manipulative liar.”
She claimed her parents even encouraged her to do “sexual videos” with Kelly, and denied that she had sex with the singer when she was 17 — as she testified in horrific detail during testimony on Monday.
She said the Grammy winner gave her herpes and shamed her that she was “broken” — and also forced her to have an abortion in 2017.
Doe also testified that she saw Kelly molest and abuse other young girls, saying she would be subjected to beatings and cruel punishment if she disobeyed him.
She said at one point she was locked in a room for three or four days and was brutally beaten when she admitted she had told a friend about the sordid relationship.
Kelly faces nine counts of racketeering and violations of the federal Mann Act, a 1910 law that makes it a crime to transport “any woman or girl” across state lines for any “immoral purpose.”
Doe is the second accuser to testify at the trial, which began last week.
Kelly, who has been locked up since 2019, has denied the allegations.