R. Kelly's Daughter Buku Abi Says His Alleged Sexual Abuse Led Her to Attempt Suicide

Warning: This story contains details about alleged sexual abuse, suicide and self-harm.

R. Kelly’s daughter is sharing more details about her younger years.

Buku Abi, who was born Joann Kelly to the R&B singer and Andrea Kelly, recently alleged that the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer sexually abused her when she was 8 or 9 years old and that the traumatic experience had painful repercussions.

“For a long time I was in a really hard space mentally and so I ended up in a mental hospital, a psych ward, whatever you want to call it,” Abi said in the two-part TVEI Network documentary R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, per People. “I hit a point in my life where multiple times, I had tried to take my own life.”

The 26-year-old also said that her admittance to the care facility happened after she told her mother she was “not OK” one morning on the way to school.

“That day she called the hospital, and she ended up checking me in, and I didn’t leave,” Abi continued. “I was there for about two and a half weeks. I was on really hard suicide watch. And then for two, three months after that, I was in outpatient basically, so I had to go there every day.”

Abi—herself a musician—also shared a difficult conversation she claimed to have shared with her mother Andrea while shopping at Target.

“[My mom] saw that my wrists were all cut up,” Abi explained. “She just immediately dropped everything and was asking, ‘What’s going on? Are you OK?’ She was really worried, and in that moment, I broke down, and I had to tell her like, ‘I don’t think I’m OK. I don’t think that I can do this. I don’t think that I’m going to make it through to live out the rest of my life.'”

E! News has reached out to Kelly’s reps for comment but has not heard back.

These new claims are just the latest revelations to emerge about the ‘90s star’s alleged abuse. In the harrowing docuseries, released Oct. 11, Abi also detailed being molested by Mr. Kelly.

"I just remember waking up to him touching me," she said, per People. "And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep."

The singer refutes his daughter’s claims, with his attorney Jennifer Bonjean sharing in a statement to People, "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."

Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges in 2021 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The following year, he was found guilty of child pornography and enticing minors for sex, which resulted in an additional 20-year sentence. The 57-year-old is concurrently serving 19 years of both of his sentences and will be eligible for release in 2045.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

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