The minister who officiated the wedding between R. Kelly and Aaliyah testified at the disgraced singer’s racketeering trial on Wednesday.
Nathan Edmond revealed that he never met either singer prior to officiating their wedding inside a hotel room. Despite R. Kelly being one of the biggest acts in music at the time, Edmond maintains that he “didn’t think it was anybody special.” Instead, he led the wedding as a favor to Keith Williams, a mutual friend of his and Kelly.
“I didn’t understand it at all,” Edmond said in court. “The door opened to the bedroom, and out stepped Aaliyah and Mr. Kelly.” He says that 15-year-old Aaliyah and 27-year-old Kelly wore matching jogging suits during the ceremony that took less than ten minutes. Edmond revealed that Aaliyah was nearly unrecognizable due to her hair covering “half of her face.”
The 73-year-old claims he never spoke publicly about the wedding because he told Kelly he would not mention it after declining to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Edmond alleges that the “Step In The Name Of Love” singer offered him between $25 and $50 to officiate the wedding, which he declined.
