All language subtitles for Surviving R. Kelly - 01x05 - All the Missing Girls.TBS.English.HI.C.edit.Addic7ed.com

My name is Jerhonda Pace,

and I was with Rob
for six months

when I was 16 years old.

KANIKA "KITTI" JONES:
My name is Kitti Jones,

and I was with R. Kelly
for two and a half years.

ALICE:
Our daughter Azriel Clary

has been with R. Kelly
about three years now.

MICHELLE:
My name is Michelle W. Kramer.

My daughter Dominique has been
in his life for--

off and on-- for nine years.

♪ ♪

(fans cheering)

-(crowd cheering)
-REPORTER: The jury
is deliberating

in R. Kelly's
child pornography case.

KIM JANSSEN: Everyone
in the courtroom thought

he was gonna be found guilty.

CRAIG WILLIAMS:
Rob was very scared

of going to jail.

KATHY CHANEY:
When they said "Not guilty,"

every reporter's face
was like...

ANDREA KELLY: Robert, you know
the turmoil you brought

into my kids' life,
and for that,

you can go to hell.

JERHONDA:
After Robert's trial,

his friend sent me a message

and invited me
to R. Kelly's party.

I didn't tell anyone
I was going to his house.

And I said, "I'm a virgin,"

and he said,
"Well, that's perfect."

Dominique and I
had met on MySpace

based on liking R. Kelly.

MICHELLE: She had a girlfriend
that called me and said,

"Nikka has been
seeing R. Kelly."

I said, "Give me
his phone number."

I said, "R. Kelly,
this is Michelle Kramer.

Stay the (bleep) away
from my daughter."

ANN POWERS: At that time,
R. Kelly wasn't at the top

of his game commercially,

but he still held a place

in the heart of people

in the media.

Certainly, fans.

And he was sort of a,
you know, a cult figure.

And for better or worse,
his transgressions,

in some ways,
solidified that status.

R. Kelly has asked
a lot of us to forget about

Aaliyah,
forget about the sex tape,

forget about the trial.

R. Kelly is innocent.

NEWS ANCHOR: R. Kelly was
arrested in Polk back in 2002

on child porn charges,
though he was later acquitted.

FORMER EMPLOYEE (distorted):
It made him, you know,

feel that he can continue to get
away with those type of acts.

My only daughter.

I thought she was fine.

She went on prom.
She got a job.

She was doing what she was
supposed to do as a teenager,

and, um, we end up moving

to the north side of Chicago.

I went to Kaplan College for,
um, medical billing and coding,

and she went
for dental assistant.

She was doing her own thing,
and then all of a sudden,

she came home and said,

"I haven't been
telling you the truth."

And I said, "What you mean?"

"I had still been seeing him.

And he asked me
to move to Atlanta."

Now at this time,

she about 21, 22.

What can I do? She's grown.

I didn't want to lose
my daughter to him.

I had to make
the hardest choice:

Go against her...

or give her my blessing.

All I could do was pray
and hope one day

that she just wake up
and just come home.

I was with R. Kelly for six
months when I was 16 years old.

I didn't see my friend
Dominique in the house,

but I knew Dominique was there
because me and her

used to always try to meet up
in the house

and it never worked out.

Rob always kept us separated.

I would be isolated.

I felt like a prisoner.

It's, like, I didn't have anyone
to, um, talk to. It was just me.

I went into a depression.

I was mentally drained

'cause he would break me down,
then build me up,

then make me feel
like (bleep) again,

and do it all over again.

So it was-- He would really
manipulate my mind.

The breaking point
for me was when

Rob slapped me and he choked me
until I blacked out.

He was about six feet tall,

and I'm only
five-one and a half,

and he lift me up and I was,
like, eye level with him,

and then I remember
just blacking out

and I-I hit the floor.

That was the straw
that broke the camel's back,

and that's why
I had to walk away.

After that incident
happened between us,

I powered my phone off
and I left,

and I never looked back.

Knowing that Dominique
is still in the house,

it's very painful to know
that she's still

experiencing all of those things

that she was experiencing
when I was there.

She just deserves better,

and I don't want her
to be there anymore.

She should have a better life.

I do know of someone
who tried to help

one girl in particular
get out of the house.

There was a staff member
who tried to help Dominique.

It was a situation
where Dominique expressed

how she was being mistreated.

To Robert,

Dominique is, like,
the rebellious one.

She stays in trouble to him.

She's a little tomboyish,
and Robert plays on that.

So he has molded her

into the boy he wants her to be.

So he's had her shave
all her hair off,

and she carries herself
like a boy.

He's even had her dress
in boy clothes

and paint the-the beard
and the mustache on

to look like a boy.

So he treats her
like his boy toy.

My name is Timothy Savage.

My daughter was off
in college at the time.

I haven't seen her since.

My daughter's
severely brainwashed.

She's brainwashed
to the point where, um,

she says anything
that he asks her to say.

Uh, she-she's not the same
Joycelyn that we knew.

Stockholm syndrome, that's what
my daughter has right now.

We both was blindsided.

We didn't know it,
but the storm was coming.

It was never for my daughter

to-to get in touch
with this man, not one time,

without me or my wife
being present.

Joycelyn was a--
She was kind of shy,

you know, she was a loner,
she liked to stay to herself.

But when it came on
to music or modeling,

she turned on like a flash,
like a butterfly.

At the early ages of life, she
was always wanting to do this.

One night, I got off from wor,

she came downstairs
and she was singing.

I said, "Is that Joycelyn?"

And I said, "She could sing."

This was probably
about ten years old.

JONJELYN: When we met Mr. Kelly,
we went in strictly

for a professional relationship.

I think that R. Kelly
could've helped

put my daughter
in the right position

to help her make her a star

because he had a lot
of influences

with the record labels
and, uh, he's created

big hits with a lot of people.

I think it was back in 2008,

we did hear some type of,
you know,

allegations that he had, uh,
a trial that was going on,

but, uh, the courts found him
not guilty at that time,

so we didn't think
nothing else of it.

JONJELYN:
December, fall of 2016,

she had told us that

she studied, that she, you know,
passed all her exams,

and she was looking forward
to the next semester.

TIMOTHY: We felt like
we started to disconnect

in, uh, 2016,

late fall.

I was going to, um,
register Joycelyn

for the, uh, next semester,
and I needed to talk to her.

JONJELYN: I wasn't able to get
in touch with my daughter

for three days straight,

but I was able
to track down her--

one of her roommates
that she was really close with,

and this particular roommate

said that Joycelyn hadn't been
at the dorm for a few days.

TIMOTHY: So we end up-- We said,
"Hey, something is going on.

This a red flag."
And then we got a call

from her, and she told us
that she was with R. Kelly.

We was like,
"What are you doing? You're in,

"you're in college.
We had this discussion.

"I thought you was headed
in the direction

that you want to go in."

And she told me
that she didn't know

what she wanted
to do at that point.

Weeks went by

with no answers. It was like
a dead, silence tone

when I'd call.

It has been over
almost two years now,

and we still haven't
seen our daughter.

When the Savages first came out

talking about Joycelyn,
R. Kelly had meetings

to strategize to fix
the situation.

So the first thing was to put

Joycelyn in front
of the camera on TMZ,

which is something he
ordinarily would not have done,

but because they said
that Joycelyn was being held

against her will
and all of that stuff,

he had to clean it up.

INTERVIEWER: You are not being
held against your will?

Oh, n-no. Not at all.

Never been feeling hostage
or anything like that,

in that nature, never.

FORMER EMPLOYEE:
As far as the video

that Joycelyn Savage made,

I would say that it was scripted

because Robert does not
allow those girls

to say anything that he has not
told them to say.

TIMOTHY: Yeah, you see shadows
in the background,

showing someone saying, "Cut,"
on her shirt.

INTERVIEWER: Are you free to go
from where you are?

JOYCELYN: No, uh,
I won't speak on that as well.

It made me feel horrible

that you see somebody
doing this in a shadow

going in the background.

That's a control,
like she's locked up

in a jail cell.

I really think it hit me
when I, when I saw her face

on, you know, TMZ.

I could tell that she was
not the same Joycelyn

who was raised up to be.

How can he just sit here
and ruin these little girls?

Like, you-you can't--

Like, I feel like
he has no heart.

POWERS: When the ball started
rolling down the hill again

for R. Kelly,

there was a piece in BuzzFeed,

there was something
in The New Yorker.

The story had hit
the mainstream in a new way.

BuzzFeed has published
an explosive report

detailing accusations
against artist R. Kelly.

NEWSWOMAN:
According to the report,

he's keeping a household
of young women

in a cult-like atmosphere.

REPORTER: The accusations coming
from a nine-month-long

investigative report.

The article quickly becoming

one of the top trending items
on social media.

From the time that
the Savages came out,

shows started to get canceled.

He has lost money
from his bookings,

so the stories, they have

affected his livelihood,
and he knows that.

I want everybody
around the world to know,

ain't no tours canceled,
man, all right?

Despite what you hear,
don't believe the hype.

I haven't canceled not one show.

INTERVIEWER: You stand by
your words, you know,

R. Kelly's not holding
any women hostage

or he doesn't have
a sex cult or...?

Um, no. None of that is true.
None of that is true.

All of that
is false accusations.

You know, people talk
all the time, you know.

It's just rumors.

Yeah, I'm out here in L.A.,
you know, just vacationing,

and he's in Chicago.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, cool. You're
doing your own thing right now.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Doing my own thing.

MICHELLE:
When I saw the TMZ video,

I looked over and it was
my daughter Dominique.

She was very unrecognizable

because how her hair was
and she was all

tattooed up.

So I could see they was
in Beverly Hills,

and I just put
two and two together

that that's probably
where she's staying.

So I spoke with the producers,

because I was already coming

to L.A. to do the documentary.

And so I convinced them to...

take me to Beverly Hills

to locate my daughter.

♪ ♪

PRODUCER:
What are you doing right now?

MICHELLE:
I'm just looking out the window.

She might be walking
down the street.

You can never replace a mothe.

Never.

When they sick,
we take care of them,

We ain't never know that.

That's a mother.

Not sayin' fathers don't do it.

But this one...
I did all that.

So you can never replace that.

One of the things she told me,
she told me never to give up.

So me coming to L.A.

and not trying to even
try to find her...

I'm not giving up.

I'm not.

♪ ♪

TARANA BURKE:
After the trial,

R. Kelly has had
huge performances--

particularly, again,
in black spaces.

He's had the Soul Train Music
Award tribute to Sam Cooke.

NELSON GEORGE:
The 2010 performance,

the Epic soul extravaganza,

is definitely his attempt
to come back.

He was making, also, a plea

to black adults.

That's why I think he did
the '50s thing.

When I watched it, I said,

"This is an incredibly
calculated performance."

And the messaging of it
is really interesting

in light of where he was
in his career, and that is,

"I'm not being
a youthful pop star.

"I'm your guy.

I'm part of everything you are."

TRACII McGREGOR:
He dropped Love Letter.

And that record didn't do

very well, either.
It did better than Untitled,

but when you're looking at,
like, the breadth of his work,

it paled in comparison.

And still-- He's still, you
know, working in the industry.

I mean, R. Kelly wrote
most of the songs

for the Sparkle soundtrack.

He did a song
for Whitney Houston,

"I Look to You,"

which did fairly well for her.

R. Kelly, with his...
mmm... genius,

wrote this song for me
many years ago.

Spiritually, it... connected
with me, very much.

By the time Whitney Houston
dies, you know,

his reputation is pretty bad.

We all know about the sex tapes.

A lot of the stuff about the
abuse of women is coming out.

It's been pretty consistent.

So for him-him to even be

at Whitney's funeral
is kind of like...

I'm sure some people
were very upset about that.

He seems nervous when he gets
up there, because...

Maybe he's even aware that--
the enormity of what he's doing

and how potentially
inappropriate it is.

And how many of those people are
judging him in that audience.

♪ I look to you... ♪

(choir vocalizing)

And yet he wins the crowd,
because of

the purity of his emotion.

And you see the pastors,

who stand up during the song

to sort of accept
his testimony.

And it's very powerful.

We love you, Whitney.

Rest in peace.

BURKE:
When he has these moments,

it elevates him to a status
in our community

that-that really is protected.

♪ ♪

DR. JODY ADEWALE: Our society
tends to compartmentalize

the things we don't want
to look at

and magnifies and glorifies
the things that we do.

For example, if an individual
is providing something

to the society--

as music, cinema, politics--

we're more likely

to compartmentalize
their negative behavior

and minimize it,

as a way of accepting
what they are contributing.

BURKE: We don't want
to let go of R. Kelly

because it means let going of
all of that catalogue of music

and the memories
that go along with it.

Whether you sang "I Believe
I Can Fly" at your graduation

or you "Stepped in the Name
of Love" at your wedding,

people don't want
to let that go.

His music is black music.

It crosses over,
but he targets the black people.

And as a people, we forgive.

And-and keep forgiving you.

That's the church in us.

But now it's like,

we have gone from stories

that could be dismissed...

They just want to bring him
down, to kill his image.

POWERS:
...to stories about women

who were being kept
from their parents.

♪ ♪

PRODUCER: Kind of looks like
the (bleep) over there.

-Where?
-Right...

Um...

PRODUCER:
All right. Let's go.

MICHELLE: In my heart,
I know she's there.

And... I know she's there.

My plan is just to go
into the hotel

and just, basically--
it's Mother's Day weekend--

and say, "Can you have her come
down? There's a package here."

They said no,
there wasn't no Gardner there.

But I didn't get to L.A.
not to find my daughter.

-(men chatting indistinctly)
-MICHELLE: Could I ask you...

could I ask you a question?

So I saw this black guy
outside,

like maybe a doorman or
something,

and I described Dominique
to him.

And he said, "Try the one
across the street."

And I did not know
it was a whole nother hotel

of the same name
across the street.

♪ ♪

Oh! I got company.

All right, how are you guys?

KANIKA:
Back in 2011,

I was a radio DJ in Dallas.

Um... and I had met R. Kelly
at an after-party

while he was on
the Love Letter Tour.

I proceeded to introduce mysef

and let him know that
I was from the radio station.

He proceeded to ask me
how old I was.

Told him I was in my 30s,

and he was shocked.

He just kind of
sized me up a little bit,

from head to toe, like,
what I looked like.

And we were just kind of

shaking hands really slow

and that's when he slipped me
the phone number.

♪ ♪

Long distance was a hard thing
for both of us, so...

I quit my job

and moved to Chicago.

I didn't just pack up and leave

just because I loved him,
it was a two-way thing.

Rob absolutely told me that
he loved me, all the time.

I was visiting Dallas
and a friend of mine said,

"Um, you know,
have you ever watched

the sex tape?"

And I was furious with her

and I felt disrespected,
because...

at this point,
this is my boyfriend.

Not only that, I just felt like
if you have respect for me

you wouldn't be bringing up
something that

people are gonna always
make fun of him over.

I'm-I'm offended as well.

But my curiosity

just kind of got the best of e

and I googled it.

And, um...

...when I saw the images,

um...

(sobs)

The images were...

...the same girl
that he had introduced me to,

um...

a couple weeks before.

I knew ex-- I knew immediately
it was the same woman.

Um...

I just didn't know how to feel.

I-I guess I felt like
I was tricked into something.

All at the same time.

It was just...

a bunch of emotions
coming over me, like,

am I really with someone
that did this?

KANIKA:
I called him.

And... I was very upset.

He could hear me crying
and I said,

"My friend sent me the tape,"
or something like that.

I didn't want him to know
that I went looking for it,

so I carefully worded it

so he didn't think that

I went looking for a tape.

The tape that
he went to trial for.

He just began, like,

saying things to me

that I'd never heard before.

Like, "Bitch,
don't ever accuse me

of some (bleep) like that
ever again."

And "Who are you listening to?

"Get your ass back.

I'm (bleep) you up."
Things like that.

And I was just...

scared.

♪ ♪

He beat me in the car
when I got back.

That was the first time
he was very physical with me.

Not only do I need to save face
for myself,

I need to protect him, too,

because now I loved him,
I love him.

And now he knows
that I know this secret.

And I need him to understand
that I'm not gonna tell anybody.

♪ ♪

I felt trapped.

On the inside, I was like,

"Who am I dealing with?"

Like, who is this person
that I'm lying down with?

Is he doing this secretly?

You know?

And I'm of age.
Am I just a beard?

I didn't know.

I just...

I just knew that

when we were the car
and he was lashing out at me

and-and slapping me repeatedly,

and I just kept telling him
I was sorry

and that I... I wasn't
accusing him of anything

and that I didn't believe it.

At this point,
there's no turning back.

And I just-- I wanted
to make it work by all means.

But...

he would beat me

when he was upset with me.

There's a period that--

He calls it "training you."

He used those words with me
plenty of times.

I didn't understand

that training me was, like,
okay, let me...

let me put this out here
and see if she...

is comfortable with that.

You definitely had to ask
to go to the restroom.

Stand up when he walks
in the room.

You had to ask for your food.

I was not allowed, by Rob,
to watch TV back then.

Dance Moms was a show
that he would look at,

ironically, with little girls
dancing or whatever.

But I never saw
any reality shows on VH1

or anything that was negative

or might have anything
that would,

I guess, pertain to him

or put any negative thoughts.

ADEWALE:
The perpetrator might

isolate an individual.

It's easier
for a perpetrator to abuse--

sexually, physically,
financially, emotionally

abuse the individual

when that individual is
separated from their family,

when that individual
doesn't have resources.

He or she can, um,

essentially do whatever he or
she wants to that individual.

The... the victim often believes

"I have nothing else."

Yeah, they had a lot of rules

that they had us abide by.

PRODUCER: What does it mean
to be in trouble with Rob,

for one of the girls?

FORMER EMPLOYEE:
Being in trouble with Rob

would mean
being confined to a room

for several days.

Being confined on the tour bus

for several days.

Having their devices taken.

Cell phones taken away.

And even being spanked.

Being on punishment could be...

either you're not getting food

or you took a beating

and he's not talking to you.

It was just a...

a-a-a molding and shaping me

into this person

and then, once I realize

this is what it's become,

it's too late and I'm in it.

FORMER EMPLOYEE (crying):
I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Because when you talk about it,

you realize how sick and twisted
it really was.

And when I first met
those girls...

(sniffles, exhales)

When I first met those girls,

I judged them, not him.

My first response
to myself was,

"These bitches are crazy,"

because I saw them jump up
and kiss him,

one behind the other,

and I knew what was going on
behind closed doors

as far as them not being able
to eat when they wanted to,

not being able to move around.

Until I started to not
just look at the situation,

but I started to also listen
to what he would say

to make them act that way.

KANIKA:
The summer of 2012,

he was putting together
The Single Ladies Tour.

I was just kind of
at my wit's end to leave,

and, um, he kind of reeled me
back in by asking me to go

-be the cage girl.
-(audience cheering)

It made me feel special
that, "Okay, this is us

working on the relationship,"

some of the promises that
he made, um, before, you know,

me even moving or-or making up
my mind to move.

So, we practiced that.

And the lights
were gonna go dim,

and then the spotlight
would be on me

with him on his knees
singing to me,

and then he opens my legs
and goes down on me

while I'm in the seats.

(fans screaming)

JOYNER:
He did this 30 years ago.

He was on stage
at the Essence Festival.

Same act, with the bed,
grabbing his crotch,

all of that-- simulating sex.

He hasn't changed.

We would run up
to the stage together,

and then one of the guys
would hand me

a fake contract, and then
I would be looking at it like,

"Oh, my God, I'm about
to sign this to let him

do what he wants with me."

And I just remember him sayin,

"This is what I'm gonna
have you do when we get home.

"Make up a contract

so I can protect myself."

FORMER EMPLOYEE:
He does make

the girls write statements
with false accusations

against themselves.

Either saying that they've stole
something from him,

or that their parents have
stole something from him,

or even that the parents
tried to bribe him,

or something of that sort.

I would call
the false statements

some type of insurance.

And I would even say,
in addition to the statements,

the fact that he videos
everything that they do

when they are being sexual
with him,

I see the videos
as being something

that he can hold against them
or hold over their heads.

KANIKA: The tour ended
middle of December

of 2012.

He introduced me

sometime in February,
and my life

just got turned
upside down after that.

Sexually, it was always
one or two girls.

At the most, it was three.

I just had to block it
all out, you know?

Because the sexual part of it
is just so humiliating

and degrading,
and it makes you feel, um,

like, if you say no, like, what
the consequences are gonna be.

He was preparing for the
Black Panties album, mainly.

And my last straw

was being starved.

I think I was going on
day three.

I hadn't eaten the whole day,

and I just remember
glancing over at him

and just making, like,
a subtle movement, and he said,

"Don't stare at me
while I effing eat."

And I said,
"I'm not staring at you."

Like, I had
no fear of him anymore.

It was just starting
to build up,

and I just started
thinking of ways to, like,

either end my life or end his.

It's difficult for people
who aren't in these contexts

to understand. "Well,
why wouldn't she just leave?

Why wouldn't she just
go eat something?"

But again,
it's been a process over time

where this relationship is
the most important relationship

in her life.

She won't do anything
to risk that relationship

and attention that she'll get
from that person.

So it can be quite powerful.

KANIKA:
The next day,

um, even though

all this had built up
for me to leave,

and I felt strong when it came
to me getting to the airport...

(sniffles)

...I didn't want to go.

Um...

I was afraid of what I was gonna
have to face when I got home.

Because I was so scared

of what people were
gonna say and think,

and how they were gonna
judge me and, like,

"What happened?
Why are you back?"

DR. KHADIJA MONK:
The number of times

a domestic violence, um,
survivor leaves

is between seven and ten times

before they permanently leave.

And that is because

of the power and control
that the abuser has.

KANIKA:
So when I got to the airport,

it was so scary.

I remember trying
to call him, and text,

and I kept telling myself,

"If he picks the phone up,
I'm going back,"

because I wasn't ready
like I thought I was.

He never picked it up.

MICHELLE:
I didn't get to be a mother

all this long
not to be a detective.

Yes, please.

MICHELLE:
The hotel manager, he was like,

"Um, I'm-a take you
to her room."

I was like, "Oh, my God."

So, I was getting nervous.

I-I can't e--
I don't have no words,

'cause it's just overwhelming.

(knocking on door)

(knocking on door)

(Michelle laughs softly)

Baby. Oh...

Okay. Yeah, we good. Thank you.

Thank you.

No, you made this
the best Mother's Day ever.

You don't understand.

You don't
understand.

(panting)

(crying):
Oh, my God.

I found her.

I found my baby. God is real.

(sobbing)

Thank you, God.

Any man that don't
let their mother

see their child,
the child see their mother,

and she's still living,
you ain't got no heart.

I saw my daughter.

I hugged my daughter,
I kissed my daughter.

And she said that your daughter
was in the room.

NORCOTT:
Things that can support girls

and women getting away
from abusive situations:

one is time,
one is reminding the girl

that she has her own identity,

that she's cared for,
that she's loved.

You've seen parents put out
media blasts in different ways,

reminding the girls
that they're loved,

and the hope is that something
will get through, right?

Or that there may be
a period where a girl

will be questioning her current
situation, may reach out,

may do a Google search
and find a YouTube video

of a-a message from her parent.

MICHELLE:
Hold on, hold on.

Okay.

Okay. Oh, she want
to talk to me.

I got to go. Bye.

My daughter want
to talk to me. Bye.

Hello?

Hey. Don't cry, don't cry.

Don't, don't, don't cry, okay?

(sniffles)

PRODUCER: Feel like
she was happy to see you?

She couldn't show
no emotion, probably.

But on the phone,
I wish I could've

put it on speaker.

(crying):
Don't cry.

Please just come home.

She cried like...

like a little girl
just hurting for her mommy.

And I said, "Baby, I-- uh,
can I come back, please?"

And she said,
"Yes, Mama, come back at 6:00."

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

Our daughter met R. Kelly
at a concert in Orlando

that, uh, we all went to,

celebrating for
my husband's birthday.

He actually pulled her
out the crowd onstage.

Azriel was 17.

We had no idea that
she was going through

some personal things,
I guess, in her life.

You know, um, that, um...
(voice breaking)

♪ Oh, say can you see... ♪

ALICE:
She's a remarkable singer,

and she had been singing since
she was about five or six,

but singing kind of,
like, professionally

since she was about eight.

She's been in so many
different contests,

shows, won so many awards.

That was her thing.

She wanted to be

a famous singer.

She had a bubbly personality,

very fun, like, full of life
young lady.

ANGELO: When R. Kelly
picked my daughter

to go up onstage,

they danced,
and it was a bunch

of young ladies he picked out.

Everybody knew R. Kelly's
background with females.

You know, you kind of
suppressed the thought.

He's never been found guilty
on any of the charges, so...

I mean, if you look at it, you
know, from a legal standpoint,

you think, okay, maybe it wasn't
any truth or validity to it.

Because people make accusations
on people all the time.

It doesn't mean
it's actually true.

I felt as though, you know,
yeah, I know his background,

but my daughter
gonna be different.

I'm right here with her,
her mom's right here with her.

So, I was-- You know,
me being a-a father,

a protective father,

I'm-I'm-I'm okay with it
'cause I don't think

none of this could happen
to me.

Then the way they had to exit
was through the back.

So, during that time, we was
waiting and waiting and waiting,

and kind of getting
a little nervous.

Went to the corner
where the VIP was,

and then that's where
she exited at,

from the back side of the stage.

They told us that he asked her
to hear her sing.

He liked it, so he gave her
a number to contact him.

ALICE:
Azriel was in the 11th grade.

We didn't find out right away,

but she was secretly, I guess,
calling him and texting him,

and had been talking to him
on the phone.

One day, the time that she's
supposed to be at home,

I call, and she wasn't home yet.

Finally, we get a phone call.

She finally called me and said,
"Oh, I'm at a hotel in Kissimmee

meeting with R. Kelly."

How and why, like,
did this happen?

Like, I was really shocked.

ALICE:
One day, we get a phone call.

She finally called me and said,
"Oh, I'm at a hotel in Kissimmee

meeting with R. Kelly."

And the first thing
I thought was,

I have to leave work,
like, right now, immediately.

I called my husband, and
he was at work, and he said,

"I'm on my way, too."
He left work.

That's a grown man,

and I've heard
of the allegations

in the past about him.

So it kind of,
kind of freaked me out

because I'm thinking she's never
done anything without us.

Why would R. Kelly, as a man,

want to meet our daughter
by herself?

Why would she even go
without one of us, you know?

We told her from the beginning,
when she got it,

we don't want you around him
never by yourself.

You always got to be
with one of us.

As I get to the hotel,
I see her car.

And then I see his tour bus,
so I know she was at the hotel.

So I was kind of relieved that,
no, okay, she is here.

ALICE:
But we go inside the hotel,

asking for R. Kelly room.

They were saying there was
no such guest there.

And we're like, "Okay,
we know there's a guest there

"'cause his tour bus is outside,
my daughter car is out there,

"and, you know, we need
our daughter to come down.

She's a minor."

So, they got the head
of security to come and...

'Cause we were actually
going through the building

and knocking on doors.

They told us
we couldn't do that.

So, basically,
he came back and said,

"Yes, we do have him here.

"Um, we're trying to find out
what room, locate your daughter.

"And could you be patient
and just let us,

you know, find out
what was going on?"

Because, apparently,
he had, like,

two floors, or something,
of rooms.

ANGELO: And she was with
R. Kelly in the room, alone.

She was auditioning,
is the word that was used.

She was auditioning for him.

And so we said no, no, no, no.

That-- No.
She needs to come down,

or he needs to come down,
or whatever.

Well, eventually,
Azriel came down.

He never came down.

She went into the whole spiel:
hey, we messin' it up.

-"It was a real interview."
-She was upset.

"And why would you come down?

"Y'all gonna mess up my shot.

"You know,
this-this is my chance.

"This is
what we all working for.

You know, this is my career.
Y'all supposed to back me."

And I'm like, you know what,
maybe it was innocent.

You know, and maybe
it was an interview,

but she should've called us.

I believe that R. Kelly thinks
that he's invincible.

He was acquitted.

What makes any of us think
that he will

ever be touched?

So, I think that he believes
that he has a pass for life,

because no one's been able
to touch him at all.

ALICE:
We're riding home.

Azriel's basically saying how

R. Kelly is, like,
a musical genius,

and he could possibly help her
move into the next level.

And she went home
and researched and...

She went home and researched him
and all his music.

Saw all the people
he worked with

and all that.

ALICE: All the songwriters,
like, all the songs he wrote

for, you know,
people he wrote for.

And so she was just, like,
amped, she was excited.

She thought this was her brea.

We were like, "You need
to get R. Kelly on the phone."

And so then we had
a conversation with him

that, first, we were not happy
with what just had took place.

And that should not
have transpired

without one of her parents
being present.

ANGELO:
And I asked him, you know,

"Is this how you conduct
business?"

He was like, "No."
He was leaving.

You know, he thought
it was okay.

Azriel had assured that,
you know,

it wouldn't be a problem
if she came over

and did the interview now,

and we were supposed
to meet 'em over there.

ALICE:
We told her, like, basically,

for you to do anything else
with him,

she cannot be with him
by herself.

Honestly, I didn't think
it was a good fit.

I didn't want to have
any part of it,

but Azriel actually pressed us.

She made her little threats
about if we didn't, you know,

let her do this,
what she would do.

And now, looking back at it,

he was very manipulative, so...

It was-- it was a plot.
It was his--

That's the strategy he did.

MICHELLE: I'm about
to go meet my daughter.

She said go at 6:00,

but I'm going to go now
because I just need to know.

I'm just anxious, and I just
can't wait till no 6:00.

PRODUCER:
How you feeling right now?

Nervous all over again,

like five or six hours ago
when we first went to the door.

But, um, God didn't lead me
here and then take it away.

I came too close.

MICHELLE:
Yes, can I have

Dominique Gardner's room,
please?

Hello?

-Hey.
-Hey.

I came back to the hotel,
and they said

you called the police on me.

I knew it wasn't you.

So, what you want to do?

'Cause, I mean, they said
the police came and everything.

And they said somebody
keep calling.

He could be lying.
I don't know.

But she didn't see me.

She hung up.

(bleep)

I don't want to get ugly,

but I ain't leaving
this damn hotel.

I done came too damn close.

I'm this far.
Are you kidding me?

I went to the bathroom, I waited
about ten or 15 minutes.

She came in with a book bag,
a wifebeater,

some shorts, and some
flip-flops with some socks on

and a backpack,
and that's all she had.

And we ran out of there like
the master was coming for us.

-It's okay.
-DOMINIQUE (crying): Okay.

MICHELLE: Gabe said
he loves you so much. Okay.

DRIVER: You can ride in here,
but turn the camera off.

MICHELLE: No, I don't--
she don't want that.

No, tell 'em to take--
Keep that camera over there.

DRIVER:
All right, get your bag.

MICHELLE:
Okay. Okay, baby.

(both crying)

DOMINIQUE:
Okay.

MICHELLE:
You brave, okay. Look at me.

Look at me. You brave.
You so brave.

You're so beautiful.

This is God,
you know that, right?

You know that, right?
Look at me, look at me.

You know that was God.
You was-- You didn't even think

I was coming for you, did you?
Did you?

(Dominique crying)

MICHELLE: You're so happy.
I'm happy for you.

Look, this the best...

I know. I love you, too.

I know, baby, I know.

But you did good, baby.

The best feeling.

Like having a newborn baby,

and the doctor giving you
your baby...

that you carried
for nine months.

♪ ♪

There's three drugs out there:

crack, heroin, and R. Kelly.

And she was trying
to fight that drug.

♪ ♪

She have seen some stuff.

She done did some stuff.

And I believe that he have
said some things to even

maybe try to come harm
to her family,

or all the girls' family.

She don't understand
how many people love her.

But his sick ass
always make them think

that nobody loves you but him.

And, um, I told her

wasn't nothing gonna ever
happen to her.

And I meant that.

R. Kelly, I'm gonna call
the police and tell them

you kidnapped my sister.

-Azriel!
-(door creaks)

This room right here
was, like, the most

degrading thing ever.

This is just...

You're not addressing
these allegations.

WOMAN:
Mute R. Kelly!

And so we decided to protest.

-Black girls'...
-PROTESTERS: Black girls'...

WOMAN:
...lives matter!

This interview is over.

JOHN LEGEND:
Time's up for R. Kelly.

Time's up for that.

PROTESTERS: Mute R. Kelly!

Mute R. Kelly!