Woman Comes Forward With Underage Sex Allegations Against R.Kelly Amid ‘Cult’ Controversy

One month after Buzzfeed released an explosive report that revealed R&B superstar R.Kelly had been holding women against their will in an abusive “cult,” another woman has come forward with allegations against Kelly, claiming the two had a sexual relationship while she was underage.

Back in 2008, at the age of 15, Jerhonda Pace (Johnson at the time) met the singer during his trial on 14 counts of making child pornography. At the time, she considered herself a Kelly “superfan,” defending him in front of the media, telling reporters that he can’t be called a pedophile anymore since he’d been acquitted. However, her thought process would change years later, after her experience with the self-proclaimed pied piper of R&B.

One year after their initial meeting, Pace recalled getting an invitation to a party the singer was throwing at his mansion in suburban Olympia Fields, Illinois. By this time, Pace had just turned 16 and she refused to turn down an opportunity to kick it with her favorite artist.

While there, the two talked. Kelly told her that he remembered her from the trial, but she recalls that she did not tell Kelly that she was underage. One month later, she was invited over again. This time, the singer asked her to strip and engage in oral sex. However, in an effort to cover his tracks, he asked her to write out letters and sign them saying she had taken money from him and her parents were trying to blackmail him. Days later, she returned and lost her virginity to the singer.

After that, they were intimate repeatedly, many times Kelly would film the encounter without her permission. By July, Pace finally disclosed her age, to which Kelly revealed things were fine but if anyone asked she should say she was 19. The two would go on to spend weekends together, where Pace would have to follow the “rules” of the house. If she broke any of them, she said she was mentally and physically abused.

In January 2010, Kelly put hands on her and that is when she stopped seeing him. She then reached out to an attorney, who had worked with women who had similar issues with the singer, and not too long after she had a huge settlement. She had also taken polygraph tests and filed documents, where she regurgitated the story she told Buzzfeed, but she had kept quiet until now, because she wants to help those who are still with the singer.

“If I can speak out and I can help them get out of that situation, that’s what I will do,” the now-24-year-old, married, mother of three told Buzzfeed. “I didn’t have anybody to speak up on my behalf when I was going through what I was going through with him. He’s brainwashed them really bad, and it kind of reminds me of Charles Manson.”

“I just really hope I can help these women out,” she added. “Kelly needs to be stopped.”