R. Kelly Married 15-Year-Old Aaliyah by Getting Her a Fake ID, Source Says: Report
R. Kelly faces a new criminal charge.
According to a report The New York Times published on Thursday (Dec. 5), the veteran R&B singer has been accused of bribing an official in Illinois in order to obtain a fake ID for a woman listed as Jane Doe #1 on Aug. 30, 1994. A source close to the situation claims that Kelly and Jane Doe #1, whom the source says is Aaliyah, used that fraudulent ID card to apply for a marriage license that documented Aaliyah's age as being 18.
R. Kelly and Aaliyah were married on Aug. 31, 1994. At the time, Kelly was 27 and Aaliyah was 15. Kelly's lawyer Steven Greenberg used a January Good Morning America interview to say the singer wasn't aware of her age at the time of their marriage. The marriage was annulled six months later thanks to an effort by Aaliyah's parents.
At the time she married Kelly, Aaliyah was an up-and-coming R&B superstar and Kelly had just produced her Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number album for the singer, who later died in a plane crash on Aug. 25, 2001.
The latest allegation against Kelly doesn't state whether or not the payment was actually made. However, it does add a layer to the current indictment against R. Kelly filed in Brooklyn, New York. In that indictment, Kelly is accused of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited his fans to have sex with him. Some of the fans were allegedly underage girls.
New York federal prosecutors allege that Kelly has recruited and exploited underage girls in order to engage in illegal sexual activity with them over the years.
Since Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly docuseries debuted in January, Kelly has been hit with various sexual misconduct charges in New York, his hometown of Chicago and other places. The singer has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in July.
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