Days after paying over $62,000 in back child support as a measure to avoid jail time, R. Kelly’s reported financial woes unfortunately continue to put a strain on those it impacts directly: his children.
As reported by TMZ, his daughter, Buku Abi, was forced to drop out of college after her father stopped paying for her tuition.
Buku, whose real name is Joann Lee, was enrolled at an art school in California and while attempting to sign up for courses for the upcoming semester, she learned that her father had accrued a large sum of unpaid pees.
According to sources close to the matter, Kelly was supposed to pay Buku’s tuition until she turns 23 as part of an agreement made with his ex-wife, Andrea Kelly. Instead, Buku was allegedly cut off from his financial support last year when the singer reportedly stopped paying for her housing and books “without warning.” As a result of the unpaid tuition and fees, Buku claims she had no choice but to drop out of the college.
However, Kelly’s team denies the accusations. According to the singer’s crisis manager, Darrell Johnson, Kelly was under the impression that his daughter had already made the decision to drop out of college, which explains why he stopped paying for it.
Per Johnson, Kelly is only obligated to pay after receiving billing statements from the school. Since he allegedly hadn’t received any billing statements or proof of related expenses, Kelly assumed his daughter was no longer enrolled in the school, citing a lack of provided evidence.
As reported, Buku is hoping the matter can be resolved as soon as possible so she can return to college. She previously spoke out against her father after Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries aired, referring to him as “a monster.”
Buku, whose mother Andrea has been diligently fighting her ex-husband in court over past-due child support, has reportedly been estranged from Kelly for years now.
R. Kelly is currently facing 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse involving minors.