The Chicago Sun Times reported Friday that 35-year-old R&B singer R. Kelly–a married father of two who recently performed at the Olympic opening ceremony–is battling allegations that he videotaped sex acts with a 14-year-old girl.
Kelly’s attorney has denied the singer’s involvement, claiming the videotape is “a fake” and “suspicious.”
But this isn’t the first time Kelly’s teenage love affairs have made headlines. In August 1994, the singer married then 15-year-old Aaliyah just before her first album Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, which Kelly produced, debuted. But for Aaliyah‘s parents, age was more than a number, and the marriage was annulled a few months later.
Then in 1996, Tiffany Hawkins–one of Kelly’s back-up singers–sued Kelly, claiming he made her have sex with him when she was 15 in order to keep her job.
Kelly settled the Hawkins suit in 1998 for a reported $250,000.
In 2001, Tracy Sampson–an intern at Epic Records–claimed in a civil suit that she lost her virginity to a coercive and deceitful Kelly when she was 17.
Chicago police are still investigating the current allegations. No charges have been pressed.
