Singer R Kelly's girlfriend alleges she was starved, forced into abortion

American singer, songwriter Robert Sylvester Kelly, popularly known as R. Kelly has come under the scanner yet again as he faces fresh allegations of abuse by one of his longtime girlfriends. Joycelyn Savage, 23, in a series of posts this past weekend alleged constant surveillance of her daily habits by the singer and his staff. 

The abuse

Savage in her post claims that she first met Kelly at a concert in 2015 when she was just 19-year-old. Savage and her friend were flown to Kelly's California studio where he tried to get her signed to a label and promised to help her pursue her dreams of becoming a singer. Savage moved in with Kelly after a few months and said he pampered her with gifts, clothing and travel before things took a dark turn. 

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In her post, Savage alleged that Kelly started displaying controlling behaviour and asked her to address him as "Daddy" or "Master". Sharing one instant when she didn't address him as any of those, he choked her until she blacked out.  

In another surprising disclosure, the post allege that she became pregnant twice but the pregnancies ended up in at-home abortions to prevent the news from breaking out. 

The post also claims she has been compelled to deny allegations of abuse in her public statements to media. In one of the instances when her father said that she was being held captive by the singer, she refuted the allegations in her statement to the media saying that she was "totally fine".  She claims that intimidation and starvation were the reasons for her answers. "His assistant would starve me for days at a time until I learned it right word for word," she wrote. 

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Kelly's attorney Steven Greenberg's in his statement to Variety magazine has accused Savage of hiding the facts for her own profit. In reply, Savage's lawyer Gerald Griggs said that Greenberg has further validated the account by disavowing Savage's post. 

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The 52-year-old singer is currently facing trial on sex-crime charges and he's in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago. Kelly was arrested in July and faces a total of 18 federal counts, including child pornography, kidnapping and forced labour. 

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