'I Was Hurt As A Young Girl': R. Kelly Sex Abuse Accuser Speaks Out
BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA/CBS Chicago) – A woman who is accusing R. Kelly of sexual abuse discussed her allegations against the R&B singer in Beverly Hills on Monday.
Lizzette Martinez said she was a teenager when she first met Kelly.
"At the age of 17, I was walking in the mall with friends like so many teenagers often do when I was approached by a predator, and that predator is Robert Sylvester Kelly," she said in front of a crowd of reporters.
Martinez is 41-years-old now. In the Lifetime documentary "Surviving R. Kelly", she talks about being an aspiring singer who was star struck when she met the Grammy Award-winning artist.
"I'm a mom and I have a daughter, and I felt like I had to be transparent," she said.
Martinez said her meeting with Kelly was in 1995, and she was in a relationship that she couldn't break away from until 1999. However, she did not provide further details of the relationship.
She claims there were other girls in similar relationships with Kelly during that time period.
Martinez said she won't press charges or sue the singer, but she would be willing to testify during his Chicago trial.
R. Kelly posted $100,000 bond Monday afternoon and was released from jail in Cook County, Illinois, around 5:25 p.m. CT. CBS Chicago reports Kelly pleaded not guilty Monday to 10 counts of sexual abuse, hours after an attorney representing several alleged victims claimed he has uncovered another video showing the singer sexually assaulting a minor.
The singer now faces what will likely be years of defending himself against multiple allegations of sex crimes, most of them allegedly with minors.
After Kelly's court appearance, Michael Avenatti, an attorney representing one of the victims, said he has uncovered a new 55-minute video of Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
"This reign of abuse and assault by Mr. Kelly is about to come to an abrupt and permanent end," Avenatti said.
Avenatti said the new video appears to have been made in 1999 or 2000.
"It leaves no question as to Mr. Kelly's guilt. On the tape, Mr. Kelly repeatedly refers to the victim as having a 14-year-old body part; a vagina, although that is not the word that he uses on the tape," Avenatti said.
Read more on CBSChicago.com.