Buku Abi, the daughter of disgraced singer-songwriting giant R. Kelly, is the subject of a poignant documentary on how her life has gone through a veritable maelstrom since the airing of “Surviving R. Kelly” in 2019.
In the upcoming TVEI doc, entitled “R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey,” Abi laments being the offspring of a sexual monster and admits she’ll never take her son to see her infamous father in prison.
Buku Abi pours her heart out about her infamous dad
“Nobody wants to be the child of the father that is out here hurting women and children,” Abi says through tears in the trailer. “He knows exactly why we can’t have the relationship that we would have liked to have with him.”
Abi, whose real name is Joanne Kelly, said her emotions were thrashed about in a vortex the moment her father was convicted of state and federal charges for abusing scores of women and underage girls.
“He was my everything,” she says of Kelly, 57, crying. “For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened.”
“I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life,” Abi adds, referring to the moment Kelly was convicted in court. “If my son asks questions, I’m going to be as truthful as possible. And I will not be taking my son to prison to meet his grandfather.”
Buku Abi’s siblings and mother also appear in the doc
Both of Abi’s siblings, Robert Jr. and Jaah Kelly, make appearances in the documentary, as well as Drea Kelly, the ex-wife who still lives in torment from their shared terror and abuse back in the day.
“Just because you’re not a good husband, doesn’t mean you can’t be a good father. And the fact that he didn’t even try,” Drea, 50, says of Kelly. “What he did to me, he did to me. But you didn’t have to do it to my damn kids.”
