R. Kelly’s Former “Girlfriend” Dominique Gardner Breaks Her Silence About Time With Singer:  “That’s Not Living, That’s Not Normal”

R.Kelly’s former girlfriend Dominique Gardner is breaking her silence for the first time since leaving the singer.

Kelly, 52, has been accused of sexually abusing women and girls for more than two decades. Several of those girls, who are now women, claim to have been forced and manipulated into being a part of the singer-songwriter’s cult. Some say they were starved, beaten and instructed only to speak when given the opportunity, among other gruesome accounts of their time living in Kelly’s home.

Now, in an interview with the New Yorker, one of Kelly’s alleged victims, Dominque Gardner – who was seen escaping Kelly’s cult in the recent documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” – is opening up about her conflicting feelings in regards to her relationship with Kelly.

“He is a giver, because when everything between me and him was good—oh, my God, it was, like, perfect,” Gardner shared. “But, as soon as he gets mad, he turns into a person like, oh, what up, the new Rob.” While Gardner admitted to Kelly’s abusive behavior, she said he doesn’t deserve to be in jail. She suggested Kelly be put on “house arrest in a music studio” and a live-in 24-hour “therapist.” Gardner’s body is marked with tattoos of Kelly’s face; the now 27-year-old described Kelly as controlling and abusive.

“I am not just about to spread lies about him,” she said while describing their nine years together. “I wouldn’t even say [he played] ‘mind games.’ It was just the fact that he tried to break me. I couldn’t be broken. He wanted that control over me, and I wouldn’t give him that power. So, he figured, like, if I don’t give her food, she’ll come around. Nope. I’d rather die than come around and give you my soul.” 

Gardner also confirmed rumors about his live-in girlfriends. After moving into his Atlanta home, she met his five permanent “girlfriends” who she said would have to ask Kelly’s permission to do several normal things like use the bathroom, getting something to drink or eating. “That’s not living, that’s not normal,” she said.

Gardner said she knew it was time to leave Kelly when he refused to let her go to her brother’s graduation. “I’d still be there, but, when he told me ‘No’… I’m, like, ‘What is wrong with you?’ You don’t let people see their families, I guess, because we might realize how much freedom and happiness we have out there with our families.” Gardner said Kelly’s other “girlfriends” Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary can leave whenever they want.

Gardner met Kelly when she was 17 – the legal age of consent in Illinois – and eventually became the “rebel” of the group. She recalled Kelly punishing her by hitting her with an extension cord and pulling her hair out after she threw a carrot at him. “Every time I looked in his eyes, I knew he was sorry. Like, when he hit us, hit me, he was, like, he apologized,” she recalled. “Like, he said, ‘I done did some things, and I apologize for it.’ But enough was enough. Yes, you did say, ‘I’m sorry.’ But, then again, you do it again when s**t don’t go your way.”