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R KELLY has hundreds of victims in every city across the US - but they will never come forward because he blackmailed them into silence, even forcing some to make disturbing child porn videos, his ex-girlfriend claimed.

Speaking out last year, Azriel Carey's comments have been brought back into the spotlight after the disgraced singer was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking on Monday.

 Azriel Clary was just 17 when she moved in with R Kelly
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Azriel Clary was just 17 when she moved in with R KellyCredit: Azriel Clary
 Azriel said she was madly in love with the star - and she became brainwashed and controlled by him
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Azriel said she was madly in love with the star - and she became brainwashed and controlled by himCredit: Azriel Clary
 Azriel spoke out for the first time since leaving R Kelly last January
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Azriel spoke out for the first time since leaving R Kelly last JanuaryCredit: Toby Canham for The Sun

Last January Clary alleged that the star - real name Robert Kelly - would film women molesting children or doing degrading sexual acts so they would never be able to come forward.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Azriel, 22, said: “I think that there's hundreds of victims out there.

"Robert has his live-in girlfriends, he has girlfriends in every city. He has flings in every city.

“There's usually three main cities in every state. So three times 50 - that lets you know how many women are probably out there and that's probably not even hitting it on the nail.

“For the most part, he blackmails everyone. He makes everyone do very degrading stuff, whether on film or writing it down, he makes them sign it.

“And I think a lot of women are ashamed or embarrassed to come out because of stuff like that because it'll be incriminating them - there's so much stuff. He has letters of people saying that they've stolen from him.

“He has letters from people saying that they've been molested or touched by their parents or their brothers or a family member.

“He even has people on film molesting their younger nieces or younger brothers.

“And so I know a lot of women out there are too embarrassed, humiliated, and ashamed to come out because this man had that much power to control them, to make them molest their younger niece or to molest their younger brother.

“Thankfully, I've never been in that situation. But have I seen it done to other women? Yes, I have.”

A lawyer for R Kelly previously denied that Azriel's allegations were true.

However, her claims of abuse echo the testimonies made by the victims in Kelly's trial.

The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls — and keep them obedient and quiet — amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Several accusers testified in lurid detail during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.

The disgraced star was arrested in July 2019 on federal child pornography and racketeering charges.

Before the July arrest, he was charged with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in February.

Then in May 2019, it was revealed he had been charged with 11 new counts of sex assault against a teen victim.

 Azriel said she was beaten and sexually abused by the star regularly
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Azriel said she was beaten and sexually abused by the star regularlyCredit: Toby Canham for The Sun

Kelly has always insisted he is innocent of the allegations of sexual abuse and underage sex. He furiously dismissed the claims in his first interview after being charged in February 2019.

Yesterday he was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking by a jury of seven men and five women.

He now faces decades in jail after pleading not guilty to charges accusing him of abuse spanning over two decades.

In the emotional interview, Azriel accused Kelly of brainwashing, beating, and sexually abusing her for years after meeting him following a concert he gave in Orlando, Florida in 2015.

The fresh-faced teenager was approached by one of the R&B star’s handlers and given his number at the concert when she was just 17.

As an aspiring singer, Azriel was excited to meet the star and he began flying her out to meet him in different cities at the weekends before she moved in with him in Chicago during her summer break from high school.

She became one of R Kelly’s five live-in girlfriends - but was given the title of being his “number one girl” with the star promising to one day marry her and have children with her.

But the relationship soon turned into a devastating cycle of control, abuse, and manipulation - in which the star allegedly controlled every movement Azriel and his other girlfriends made - even making them ask permission to eat or use the bathroom.

Azriel said she was forced to have group sex with him and other men and women up to five times a day.

 R Kelly has faced multiple accusations of sexual abuse from women and underage girls spanning back to 1999
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R Kelly has faced multiple accusations of sexual abuse from women and underage girls spanning back to 1999Credit: AP
 Azriel defended R Kelly during an interview with Gayle King on CBS - which she now regrets
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Azriel defended R Kelly during an interview with Gayle King on CBS - which she now regretsCredit: CBS

If they didn’t abide by the singer’s twisted rules - he would beat them or get the women to beat them up, Azriel said.

“We were in Atlanta at the mansion and he rushed into the room and said he had a meeting and one of the girls didn't want to help clean up for that meeting," Azriel recalled.

“And so two of the other girlfriends begin to verbally abuse the other girlfriend and then they began to physically abuse her.

“They started punching her, slapping her, and then from there, Robert came into the room and he began to abuse her as well, verbally and physically slapping her, punching her, pushing her, just throwing her around like a ragdoll. That was my very first red flag.”

"He beat me all over, it felt like hours."

Azriel Clary

It wasn’t long before she said Kelly took his violent tendencies out on her - one time allegedly savagely beating her with a size 12 shoe for hours while she was naked - because he caught her talking to her high school friends on the phone.

Sickeningly the star then made one of the other girlfriends come in and bathe her - her body covered in cuts and bruises - as he looked on.

“I was talking to my friends from high school and he didn't like that I was still talking to them … he thought that I was keeping things from him," she said.

“I was just in communication with two of my girlfriends and he made me text them a very long lie, basically saying why I no longer wanted to be friends with them.

“And then he beat me, he abused me verbally, and then he beat me physically.

“Then he beat me with a shoe - a size 12, Nike Air Force One shoe.

“And he beat me all over, it felt like hours and I was covered in welts all the way from my neck down.

 Azriel left R Kelly in November and went to live with her parents
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Azriel left R Kelly in November and went to live with her parentsCredit: Toby Canham for The Sun
 Azriel and Joycelyn Savage, leave following Kelly's hearing in September in Chicago
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Azriel and Joycelyn Savage, leave following Kelly's hearing in September in ChicagoCredit: Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

“He had ‘Juice’, another girlfriend come in there. He already made me strip naked, but he made her run me a bathtub of warm water and he made her bathe me.

“Afterwards, he came in there and he apologized and sobbed and cried and he did everything to try and make me feel like he was so sincere.”

The women say they were forced to have sex with R Kelly - or have group sex with him and other men and women - three to five times a day.

Sometimes they would be made to take part in degrading sexual acts - and he is accused of urinating on and defecating on women.

If they didn't "perform well" or satisfy his twisted desires - they would be punished.

"Sexual abuse did happen regularly," Azriel said.

"Robert had a high sex drive so usually 3 to 5 times a day was normal for him.

"It was easier pleasing him than getting beat every other day."

Azriel Clary

"It was always just something that happened, and if you did not want to participate, if you embarrassed him in front of other women, or even just did not perform well he would tell you to leave or wait in the restroom with the water on until he was finished.

"And the majority of the time after he would tell you to turn the TVs up and he’d go in the bathroom and beat the woman that did not do what he wanted.

"No one was ever vocal because whether you were vocal or not, he would still beat you.

"And then on top of that, he would stop having sex with you. Which I’ve seen with other girls. There have been times where women have gone months to years with no sex with Robert.. and he won’t have sex with them or please them because they are not pleasing him or doing what he wants.

 R Kelly's girlfriends Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage, leaving court after the singer's arraignment on July 16, 2019
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R Kelly's girlfriends Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage, leaving court after the singer's arraignment on July 16, 2019Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

"But within those months or years although he is not personally intimate with the girl - he will still make them participate and do things to other women, and make them watch him do other things to women - to break them down.

"And those are the games he played. I don’t think any woman ever wanted to sleep with the other, it was just something we all became immune to, to please him.

"It was easier pleasing him than getting beat every other day...and everyone learned that very quickly."

Azriel also said she witnessed R Kelly sending his girlfriends out to recruit other young women for sex.

“I’ve seen him ask women to go approach other girls for him and give them his number - like at the mall and things like that," she said.

“It could be anywhere really, you could be out eating, at a park, in the middle of driving - if he sees someone that he likes, he’ll definitely send a girl that he feels confident in doing those types of things for him."

Azriel also revealed how a typical day with the star would start at around 4pm - and every aspect of their lives was controlled - from what they wore to what they were allowed to eat.

 R Kelly was the subject of Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly - released in 2019
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R Kelly was the subject of Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly - released in 2019Credit: AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File

Bizarrely the star would do the same things every day at the same time - dragging the women along with him in his Mercedes Benz Sprinter, which had curtained windows so people could not see in or out.

“Definitely you could not do anything without him knowing," she said.

"You have to ask him if you could go to the restroom, you would have to knock anytime you entered it or left a room.

“He controlled you to what you wore. Anything that was tight, hugging, revealing, was not allowed.

"You had to wear very loose clothing. The fact that I looked so young, I had to wear hats every time I left to go out.

“Every night everyone had to ‘take places’ which meant go to your rooms. I would sleep with Robert every night.

“We wake up usually around 4pm and he usually has a meeting. We'll usually go out around six o’clock and usually from there we go get food, to Portillo's or anywhere in Chicago, then from there, he’ll go to the cigar bar and we'll go back to the Trump - where he had an apartment or his studio and we'll just stay there.

“Or if he's in a meeting, then we'll stay in his Sprinter while he has that meeting. And usually, that can be anywhere from two hours to five hours that we're sitting in the Sprinter.

R Kelly's response to Azriel's claims

A statement to The Sun from R Kelly's lawyer Steve Greenberg in 2020 said:

"We are surprised to learn that Ms. Clary is now making these allegations.

"Restricted by the protective orders the prosecution requested, we are not able to litigate these matters in the press.

"However, the information provided is directly contrary to facts that have been brought forward by Ms. Clary in the past.

"The facts she is now reciting are directly contrary to her numerous other accounts, as well as - in certain instances - what we expect to be the documentary proof from sources not involved in any of the pending cases.

"In sum, Ms. Clary had a long-term consensual relationship with Mr. Kelly. It continued after he was arrested when she was free to do as she wished.

"It is clear that she now seeks to benefit from their relationship. The allegations are not true.

"Still, Mr. Kelly bears only goodwill towards Ms. Clary."

 Joycelyn and Azriel stood by R Kelly even after he was jailed
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Joycelyn and Azriel stood by R Kelly even after he was jailedCredit: Getty

“Once, he usually goes straight into basketball around 11, 12 at night and plays basketball all the way until about three in the morning, three to four in the morning.

“After that, we eat again. We'll go somewhere late at night, usually White Castle or McDonald’s, and get some food. And then from there, we go back to the studio and he would just record music all the way up until like seven, eight in the morning. Then we watch a movie and go to sleep and do it all over again. It was like that for five years.”

Even when Kelly was jailed in July 2019 he still controlled every aspect of Azriel’s life - making her come and wave to him in jail at the same time every day.

By the time he was jailed, the only remaining women in his entourage were Azriel and Joycelyn Savage, who Azriel said remained loyal to R Kelly.
Handlers would make sure the women still followed his rules.

“MCC is on the left side of the street and there's a train that runs straight in front of the MCC in Chicago,” she said.

"So every day he would make us go up there and stand up there and wave to him at four o’clock through the window of the jail.

 Joycelyn is still remaining loyal to R Kelly, according to Azriel
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Joycelyn is still remaining loyal to R Kelly, according to AzrielCredit: AP

"Every day, whether it's snowing, raining, storming, he didn't care, just go up there and wave to him every day at four o'clock.

“I was the only one that he wanted to visit him in jail. So for those first four or five months, I was the only one visiting him, which was very hard on Joycelyn and it was still a way of manipulation, by keeping her angry at me because I'm the only one that can see him.

Azriel said one of the most heartbreaking aspects of her five-year ordeal was being banned from talking about her family.

Aside from a few rare phone calls, she had no contact with her parents for the whole five years she was with R Kelly.

Dad Angelo fought tirelessly to rescue her - even infiltrating R Kelly’s inner circle and traveling across the US just to see a glimpse of his daughter or try to find out what was going on.

“You weren't allowed to mention family without him being around. You weren't allowed to show pictures of your family," she said.

 Joycelyn was arrested accused of allegedly beating up Azriel in a shocking brawl caught on camera at Trump Tower, Chicago
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Joycelyn was arrested accused of allegedly beating up Azriel in a shocking brawl caught on camera at Trump Tower, ChicagoCredit: SplashNews.com
 Joycelyn (center) outside court in Chicago after pleading not guilty to the charges
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Joycelyn (center) outside court in Chicago after pleading not guilty to the chargesCredit: AP

“You couldn't show a picture of your niece or your little sister or your cousin or anything without him being around.

“There's funerals that I've missed out on - that I've had to act like I didn't care about - for him.

“There's been nieces born and nephews being born in my family and birthdays and holidays and reunions and anniversaries that I've really just had to act like I didn't care about. It was tough."

Azriel even did an interview with Gayle King in March 2019 in which she defended the star - but which she now admits she regrets.

“I definitely do believe that I was very naive and very brainwashed and manipulated by him,” she said.

“And as much as I hate to say it I'm woman enough and I'm grown enough to admit that yes, I was brainwashed and yes, I was manipulated.

“And yes, this man did have me wrapped around his finger. If he would have told me to jump, I would have said, ‘how high?’

“It was all in because I just genuinely just loved him and I love hard.”

 The fight was shown on social media
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The fight was shown on social mediaCredit: Instagram

Azriel finally left R Kelly’s clutches in November 2019 and returned to live with her parents after watching the Surviving R Kelly documentary and realizing the extent of the abuse she and the other women had suffered.

In 2020 she told the Sun that she was still struggling to adjust to life on her own - and was involved in a physical altercation with R Kelly’s remaining girlfriend Joycelyn.

Social media footage showed the pair punching, scratching, and screaming at each other, while Azriel accused Joycelyn of having sex with her when she was a minor.

Azriel said she only went to see Joycelyn in order to “save her” and to try to persuade her to see the truth about R Kelly.

“Life is definitely hard,” Azriel said. "It's a lot to adjust to. It's a lot that I missed out on.

"I just feel really ashamed forgiving someone that much power over me.

“For the most part, I'm taking the steps to, you know, regain that freedom back and just get comfortable living in my own skin.

“You know, there are times where I'll still knock before I enter a room or feel like I have to wear sweats or covered up, even in the own comfort of being around my family and stuff.

“There are times where I'm not affectionate with my family because I just haven't talked about them - you know, you're not allowed to talk about them or bring them up without his permission.

"I just wish I could erase every memory."

Azriel Clary

“So there's been so many years I've gone without even bringing them up or thinking about them, that I've really just lost touch with them.

“And that's definitely the most heartbreaking thing. Like not being able to see your brother or your dad for three or four years and still not wanting to hug them.”

And when asked about her feelings towards R Kelly, Azriel simply said she felt“sad for him”.

“I just feel sad for him. I really do. Because I loved him. I gave him all of me, and because I gave him all of me, he did not have to take advantage of me the way that he did.

"And that's what really was the most heartbreaking because what he did was so wrong.

"And the fact that once I watched the documentary, seeing him do it to so many other women, it kind of makes you feel like, ‘Okay, I'm not special. You've been doing this since the 1990s’

“It's really heartbreaking because I genuinely did love him and I genuinely did want a future with him. And now when I hear his name I just wish I could erase every memory, whether good or bad.”

R Kelly found guilty in sex-trafficking trial and faces decades in jail after ‘recruiting and abusing underage girls’


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