R. Kelly’s lawyer has handed a $62,000 cheque to his ex-wife to bring his child support payments up to date.
The 52-year-old singer spent a short spell in Cook County Jail in March for failing to pay more than $161,000 child support to his ex-wife Andrea Lee, but he was released days later, and payment has now been made at a hearing in Chicago on Wednesday (08.05.19).
The hearing is the first in his divorce case with Andrea to be held in public in 2013 after a judge previously sealed the proceedings, but Cook County Judge Lori Rosen has now ruled in favor of Andrea’s motion to unseal the case.
Alison Motta, Andrea’s lawyer, is quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times as saying: “Ms. Kelly appreciates the fact that Mr. Kelly is not going to have any special protection above and beyond what anyone else has.
“[If] he doesn’t take his responsibilities seriously, doesn’t comply with his obligations to his children, it’s gonna get filed and people will know.”
What’s more, the ‘Ignition’ hitmaker claimed last month that a learning disability prevented him from reading court documents in his alleged criminal sexual abuse case, in which a woman alleges Kelly began a sexual relationship with her when she was 16, but on Wednesday a judge allowed the suit to proceed.
His attorneys, Raed Shalabi and Zaid Abdallah, insisted the singer hadn’t responded to the lawsuit – served when he was in the Cook County Jail – because he is illiterate.
The singer’s next court date in the case is set for June 19th.
This comes after he was faced with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse when four women accused him of sexually abusing them, three of whom claim they were underage at the time of the alleged incidents. The star previously denied all charges against him during an interview in March as reported by The Sauce.
