Notorious singer R Kelly was convicted of racketeering and s*x crimes in two separate federal trials in 2021 and 2022.

But his legal trouble started many years before that.

In 2001, there was a s*x tape that was leaked showing a 14-year-old girl.

That girl was Rona Lanfair.

She was known as Jane Doe during one of Kelly’s trials.

Now 41, Lanfair spoke with Jerica Duncan in her first television interview about her new book called Who’s Watching Shorty? and the resilience to just How does it feel to not be Jane Doe anymore? It feels very rewarding.

Um, it feels very liberating.

I really wanted to live um in my true skin and my true self.

And your true self today is what? My true self today is Rona Landfair.

Rona Landfair had dreams of becoming a star in the ‘9s.

She was a child rapper who came from a musical family in Chicago.

Her aunt, R&B singer Sparkle, worked with hit maker R Kelly and wanted him to meet [music] her talented niece.

You say your aunt told you the next time we’re at the studio, you should ask Robert to be your godfather.

Aunt Sparkle explained that I should sit on his lap and rub his head while I asked him to be my godfather.

That is the start of um him entering into my life in a different way than just being an artist or hanging out at the studio.

It became more personable at that moment.

Kelly agreed to be her godfather, but soon after when she was around 13, Lanfair says he began grooming her and touching her inappropriately.

At one point, her aunt Sparkle suspected something wasn’t right and called social services.

Why don’t you think anyone believed your aunt Sparkle when she first raised a red flag about a possible inappropriate relationship? I don’t think they believed her because there were no obvious signs of what was actually taking place.

You say it was a couple of weeks before your 17th birthday.

You say, “Robert told me the copies of one of the s*x tapes of 14-year-old me were beginning to be sold on the streets of Chicago and across the country.

I was empty.

I was very hollow inside.

I was very confused.

” According to Landfair, after the 2001 leaked tape, Kelly told her parents that he was in love with their daughter.

It was very complicated.

Um, my dad wanted to make the right decision and he was not okay with anything that took place.

I was more under Robert’s brainwash.

He utilized me against my parents, making threats of suicide and doing different things out of desperation to convince them to not turn on him.

In 2008, roughly 6 years after being charged with child pornography, Kelly was acquitted.

Lanfair would later say she lied to a grand jury when she testified that the young girl on the s*x tape was not her.

Why not tell the truth when there was finally a trial after 6 years? That’s one of my biggest regrets, not telling the truth.

But the 2019 Lifetime docue series, Surviving R Kelly, changed everything.

The spirit of conviction came over me during that moment because of that docue series.

Yes.

Somehow I felt responsible that he was able to hurt so many more people [snorts] during the time.

I thought maybe these were just Sєxual fetishes that he had with me.

Maybe this was just abuse I was going through.

But when I saw that he was allowed to hurt so many people because I lied, that [snorts] did not sit well with me as an adult, as a woman.

In 2022, R Kelly stood trial in Chicago for s*x crimes.

Lanfair testified Kelly was found guilty.

In her memoir, Lanfair writes directly to survivors and reminds herself that she deserves grace.

Embrace this next chapter in your journey with anticipation that God will plant new dreams in the fertile soil of your heart.

Love you times infinity.

Rona, how proud are you of yourself? I’m very proud of myself.

Mhm.

I’ve come a long way.

A [snorts] lot of cold nights, but I’m here.

And what she said there at the end is, “But I am here today.

” And that is really at the core of her book.

She’s now a mother of a 5-year-old son.

Uh we did reach out to her aunt, Sparkle, who said she is relieved that Rona is in her healing journey.

Sparkle also said this.

Any suggestion that I groomed, facilitated, or enabled harm to my niece is untrue and deeply painful.

As for R Kelly, who is currently serving sentences for two federal convictions, an attorney representing him told us they could not comment on specific allegations in the book without reading it.

The attorney added that Kelly wishes were shown success and peace at all levels.

um very very complicated story but someone that we’ve been trying to talk to for so long and uh she has said you know now is the time where she’s ready to tell her story and when you drill down on it really isn’t so complicated when you hear what Rona has to say I hope she really is giving herself some grace imagine the pressure she must have felt back then and thinking I’m the only one and R Kelly is who he was right at the time he’s late 50s still in prison how much longer does he have well he has the two convictions 13 the other 20 in Chicago.

But I have to say a lot of this goes down to a lot of power, fear, and shame as to how so many people stayed silent for so long.

Yeah.

I’m glad she’s speaking up and giving herself grace.

No doubt.

Thank you.

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