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R. Kelly accused of sexually assaulting teenager days after illegally marrying Aaliyah
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Photo: AFP via Getty Images
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R. Kelly accused of sexually assaulting teenager days after illegally marrying Aaliyah
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A woman testified on Monday (Aug. 30) that the singer sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old.

A woman testified that R. Kelly sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old in 1994, just two days after he illegally married Aaliyah in Illinois. The accusation was heard in court on Monday (Aug. 30) during the third week of Kelly’s federal trial in Brooklyn.

The woman, who is identified as Addie and is now 43 years old, said she and her 19-year-old friend were invited backstage to meet Kelly after the 1994 Budweiser Superfest in Miami. Aaliyah was a scheduled headliner for the event, though she ended up not performing.

“When the concert ended, a couple of minutes after, there were some gentlemen who approached me and my best friend asking if we’d like to get an autograph,” Addie told prosecutors. “They asked if me and my best friend wanted to go and get autographs from Kelly.”

Addie said Kelly announced after the show that women who were at least 18 years old “could come backstage.”

“I automatically assumed [that] because I was underage I couldn’t go back there,” she said. However, the men never asked the two teenagers their ages or for any kind of identification, she said. Addie and her friend were brought to Kelly’s dressing room where the R&B singer was giving interviews.

“Once we got into the room, he stopped doing interviews and we approached him and that’s when we engaged in conversation,” she said.

Addie explained that she was an aspiring singer at the time and said Kelly invited her to his hotel room “for an audition.”

“I told him I wasn’t sure I was even allowed to be in the [dressing] room because I was 17 years old,” she said. “He didn’t respond about my age.”

Kelly then allegedly suggested he and the teens play a game “asking who could kiss better.”

“He started kissing on my best friend,” Addie recalled. “He started kissing on me… and then I felt a little overwhelmed [and] pulled back.”

Addie said Kelly then became “a little more aggressive” and led her to the back of the dressing room, where they had unprotected sex.

“I was in complete shock,” she said. “I was just very introverted and shy and didn’t know what to say at all. I just basically went blank.”

Kelly allegedly tried to force Addie’s friend “to participate, but she refused.” The two teens then unlocked the dressing room door and ran out.

Monday was the first time Addie has spoken out about the alleged assault. She said her friend urged her to press charges at the time, but she was worried she would be “victim-shamed” or “blacklisted” from the music industry, which she aimed to have a career in.

Addie is the fourth person to testify against Kelly, following a man identified as Louis who also accused the singer of sexually assaulting him as a minor on Monday. Kelly is facing multiple federal charges, included racketeering and sex trafficking.