R&B 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.

Way back in 2001, there was a s*x tape that was leaked and on that tape showed a 14-year-old girl.

That girl’s name was Rashona Lanfair.

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

She’s now 41 years old.

and Landfair spoke with Jerica Duncan in her first television interview about her new book which is called Who’s Watching Shorty? And what made her first want to speak out? Jerica is here now to talk about this.

Good morning.

Yeah, good morning.

.

You know, she says that becoming a mother and of course the surviving R Kelly docu series released uh in 2019 were two major reasons why she says she wrote this book.

And keep in mind, Rona Lanfair back then denied being the young girl on the tape.

And because of that, Kelly was not convicted back in 2008 when he first stood trial on child pornography charges.

Here is a clip of my interview that we shared on social media.

Take a listen.

January 3rd, 2019, Surviving R Kelly airs.

Did you see all six? It’s a six- part series.

Did you see all of it? I don’t I don’t know if I saw all of it, but I saw enough.

And you thought that was my the spirit of conviction came over me during that moment.

And when you say the spirit of conviction, what do you mean by that? Somehow I felt responsible that he was able to hurt so many more people [snorts] during the time.

I thought maybe these were just s*xual fetishes that he had with me.

Maybe this was just abuse I was going through.

But when I saw that his behavior had gotten so much worse and he was allowed to hurt so many people because I lied, that did not sit well with me as an adult, as a woman.

In March of that same year, Gail King sat down with him and the two women that he was in a relationship with at the time.

Did you happen to see that? I did.

I didn’t do this stuff.

This is not me.

I’m fighting for my life.

Y’all k*lling me with this.

I gave y’all 30 years of my career.

Robert, 30 [laughter] years of my career.

Well, first I thought it was very Broadway of him to act like that.

That was very normal for him to have that type of response.

And when I heard those girls speak, I knew exactly what who was talking through them.

I knew exactly what mission they had.

the convincing, the the firmness, everything that I had been trained and groomed to do.

I read right in between that.

And in that moment, I did not feel sorry for him at all.

I felt like you still don’t get it.

In her book, Who’s Watching? Shorty, she says that her aunt, R&B singer Sparkle, was someone who told her at one point to sit on R Kelly’s lap at around 12 years old and asked Kelly if he would be her godfather.

Now, we reached out to Sparkle who said she is relieved that Roshana is on her healing journey.

But 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.

And the attorney added that Kelly wishes Roshana success and peace at all levels.

There is so much in this book and I think um you know even when I sat down with her, we’re going to post an extended clip on YouTube later today, but it’s this idea that you were the person we were all sort of looking for come 2017 18 when all these allegations start again.

And that docu series was so pivotal.

You know, I remember being in this newsroom and saying, “Hey guys, there’s a documentary coming out on Lifetime.

” And it was like, okay.

And then the numbers spoke.

Yeah.

You know, two million or I think it was like 1.

2 million people tuned in, which was a big deal for Lifetime.

And I think you saw the engagement online.

Um, this is a time sort of post the me too era, if you will, where people felt more comfortable speaking their truth and the shame wasn’t there in the same way because as we were talking, as this clip was running, uh, there’s a certain level of acceptance historically.

I always go back to history.

I’m a study of history and you have young women who have been with older men.

Um, and sometimes it’s not a big deal, but in this case when you look at the power dynamic and you look at the number of people who said that they also were abused uh by R Kelly, uh there’s something to be said and this is her time now to share her story.

I think one of the things that struck me is when she says that she watched that docue series and then she began to wonder if she began to think about all the other young women who is alleged that R Kelly s*xually abused and how it made her wonder and worry that maybe she was a catalyst in some way for that by not coming forward back in 2001.

That’s right.

Because I mean the the video is leaked.

Um what also is very interesting Vlad and Chanel is that he apparently tells Rona, “Let’s just tell your parents that we’re in love.

” I know this sounds crazy.

She writes about it in the book.

And apparently, according to her, arranged a H๏τel meeting.

And the father who is since deceased, Rona’s father, he died in 2021.

Um he was furious and said, “You know, you’re sick.

You need help.

” And this is someone who again worked with R Kelly as a guitarist.

So you have all of these sort of and she conflicting naratives and what you said on CBS mornings is what she told you because I as I watched that little section I thought I I have a daughter and I could not imagine I would want to k*ll this person.

Um and she said I had to convince my father not to go to the authorities.

And I did that by telling him I might k*ll myself.

I did that by saying all sorts of terrible things which if your daughter or somebody you love says they’re going to take their own life if you do something now you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Should you go to the authorities report this individual or you know but that trauma is happening she says at a very young age and so that kind of behavior makes sense because it’s not a sensical thing to have to go through.

I was going to say I challenge anyone at 12, 13, 14, such a vulnerable place in anyone’s life to be wooed by this mega star and not allow that to kind of continue on in your 20s and in her case even into her 30 help.

I I I hope so.

I mean, that’s the point.

She said this story is for people who’ve been through trauma.

Uh she dedicates it to her father again.

He died in 2021 and her son who’s now 5 years old and herself.

Jerica, thank you very much for your reporting and following the story for years.