Rapper R. Kelly's daughter claimed in a book and in a two-part documentary series that her father molested her as a child. Buku Abi, whom Kelly shares with ex-wife Andrea "Drea" Kelly, detailed her alleged abuse in an episode of the "Karma: A Daughter's Journey" series.

Although his daughter was not part of the prosecution R. Kelly was convicted of abusing several underage girls and remains behind bars.

Karma: A Daughter's Journey

Abi is one of the rapper’s three children with ex-wife Drea Kelly. The couple married in 1996 and divorced in 2009. The now 27-year-old Buku was the couple’s oldest child.

Buku Abi’s given legal name is Joann Kelly. She started using a different name to separate herself from her father's last name.

She wanted everyone to know Buku Abi was 'a different person' from the child who was abused.

Buku Abi: A Survivor's Journey

After Kelly’s arrest in 2019, she posted a public condemnation of her father. She called him a "monster" and said, "it has been years since my siblings and I have seen or have spoken to him."

She also went public about her father’s alleged abuse in Lifetime's "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries.

"He was my everything. For a long time, I didn't even want to believe that it happened. I didn't know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me," Abi, says in the latest documentary. 

She "was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom."

Abi shares disturbing details about the alleged abuse, which she says occurred when she was 8 or 9 years old. She alleges that "I just remember waking up to him touching me. And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep." 

https://usaherald.com/allegations-of-assault-legal-action-against-neil-gaiman-and-amanda-palmer/

Convictions Stand 

Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean responded to the woman’s charges.

 "Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded…. And the 'filmmakers,' whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims."

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the former R&B superstar's appeal of his 2022 federal conviction. He was convicted in one case of child pornography and luring underage girls. 

Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was acquitted of seven other charges that included obstruction of justice and conspiracy to receive child pornography.

Buku Abi’s book was published in 2023. The documentary "R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter's Journey" was released in October 2024.