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Joycelyn Savage, long-time fiancée of convicted singer R. Kelly, has publicly rejected claims that she is a “victim” or under his influence even as her family maintains she’s been manipulated. Earlier this week, Savage released a video stating definitively that she is not being held against her will, isn’t a “sex slave,” and isn’t brainwashed. She asserted that her estrangement from her family began in 2019 due to a fractured relationship, not any kind of coercion .
In the video, the 29-year-old fiancée reaffirmed that she and R. Kelly have been together for a decade and engaged for the past three years. She also disclosed their plans to marry and start a family, and urged the public to pray for Kelly, who was recently hospitalized after reportedly receiving an excessive dosage of medication in prison.
Her family, however, has taken a very different stance. Through an attorney, they’ve described Savage as a manipulated “victim” who has severed contact since 2019. They claim she’s been misled and controlled by Kelly. In 2017 and again in 2019, her parents held press conferences alleging Kelly had cultivated a manipulative “cult,” dictating every aspect of her life, including where she could live, whom she could see, what she wore, and even when she could shower or use the bathroom.
In a 2019 CBS This Morning segment, Savage and another woman living with Kelly defended their relationship, calling familial criticisms lies and suggesting their parents were seeking money. More recently, one of those women testified during Kelly’s trial that her previous denials were false. She says she was brainwashed and that her relationship with Kelly was abusive. This raises questions about Savage’s current situation: is she choosing to stand by him, or is she doing so because she’s too controlled to leave?
Savage’s insistence that she’s independent clashes starkly with her family’s concern. She says she’s “in a happy place” and free to make her own choices. Meanwhile, her family continues to express alarm, asserting that she’s under Kelly’s influence from behind bars. Adding to the drama, Kelly’s recent hospitalization, possibly due to a medication overdose administered while in isolation, has reignited debate about his welfare and the environment Savage claims to choose.
