R. Kelly said he married Aaliyah so the minor could get an abortion, according to one of his accusers
- R. Kelly told his girlfriends he married Aaliyah so she could get an abortion, one woman testified.
- Kelly married Aaliyah in 1994 when she was only 15, according to documents presented at trial.
- He said it was the only way to end her pregnancy without her parents' consent, according to the woman.
A former live-in girlfriend to R. Kelly testified that the singer told her and other women he was having sex with that he married R&B star Aaliyah when she was just 15 so that she could get an abortion.
Kelly is on trial for a long list of allegations, including claims he and others bribed a government official to obtain a fake ID so Kelly could take Aaliyah as his child bride. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
A woman identified in court by the pseudonym "Jane" testified on Monday that Kelly, who maintained strict control over the lives of his partners, once took her and his other "girlfriends" to a park and told them they could ask him whatever they wanted. She said that most of the questions focused on Kelly's relationship with Aaliyah, including accusations that he married her in 1994.
Kelly said he married Aaliyah because she was underage and needed the permission of her parents or "a spouse" to get an abortion, the woman testified.
"Jane," an aspiring singer who began having sex with Kelly and moved in with him when she was only 17, also testified that Kelly forced her to get an abortion in 2017.
The testimony came a day after Kelly's former tour manager told jurors about the night the sham marriage to Aaliyah was executed. Demetrius Smith was forced to take the stand Friday after he attempted to assert his Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate.
The two became close, and Smith told the jury he began to worry they were being "too playful." He said he even confronted Kelly about whether he was "messing around" with the minor, which the singer initially denied.
Then in August 1994, Smith said Kelly ordered him to book a flight home from a tour in Orlando after Aaliyah told Kelly she believed she was pregnant.
When they arrived back in Chicago, Smith paid a government official $500 to make Aaliyah a fake ID so she could marry Kelly without her parents' permission. The two were married by a minister in a hotel room that night before Kelly and his crew returned to Orlando, Smith said.
Smith testified that Kelly's other managers organized the wedding to "protect" both Kelly and Aaliyah.
When a prosecutor asked what Kelly needed protection from, Smith answered, "Shit. Jail, I guess."
Aaliyah and Kelly's marriage was annulled in 1995. She died six years later, at 22, when the plane she was traveling in crashed off the Bahamas.