9:29
- ABC News
- November 20, 2018
R. Kelly's ex-wife defends not changing her name
Drea Kelly is now an advocate for victims of domestic abuse.
9:29
I stand with the women of #timesup#muterkelly. https://t.co/B0yaRj7zdZ
— John Legend (@johnlegend) April 30, 2018
The platform Apple Music removed him from its featured playlists.
Last summer, after months of silence, R. Kelly released \"I Admit,\" a 19-minute song that dove into many allegations and controversial headlines.
\"I admit I’m a freak who used to go to the strip club weekly and messed with all the ladies, that’s both older and younger ladies. But tell me how they call it pedophile, because that is crazy. ... I am so falsely accused. ... I'm so falsely accused. Tell me how can you judge when you've never walked in my shoes,\" he sings.
Drea Kelly called the song “the dumbest things he’s ever done.”
\"You didn't admit anything. That was the classic, narcissistic response,\" she said.
She is now a full-time mother to her three children, Joann, Jay and Robert. The children, who range in age from 16 to 21, live close by, just outside of Los Angeles. They are well aware of the headlines about their father. They said his past led them to be bullied in school.
\"I know that it doesn't have anything to do with me. I know that those people have a lot of healing to do. So I just kinda let it be with them. And like I said, I just go back to my family and let that be what it is, 'cause it has nothing to do with me,\" Joann Kelly said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/andrea-kelly-the-view-02-abc-mt-181004_hpEmbed_23x13_384.jpg\")
All three said that they did not have contact with R. Kelly and that it had been a long time since they'd communicated with him.
With dance and music in their blood, however, the Kelly children have musical aspirations of their own. They are currently working on an album together.
\"We make our own music. I've produced music and they write, and they use the beats that I make,\" Jai Kelly said.
As for Drea Kelly, she said she'd tell her 19-year-old self \"don't change a thing\" if she could because her life brought her three children.
\"They're my world,\" she said.
She now has become an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, speaking out at colleges and universities. On the day that \"Nightline\" met withDrea Kelly, she was in her hometown of Chicago, visiting a women's shelter called Margaret's Village to share her story with other women.She said the shelter had at one time been a school that she'd attended. The moment filled her with emotion.
\"I feel like God finally answered me today. Because I was wondering like should I be doing this and should I come forward and should I keep going,\" she said.
After her talk with the group, she shared with ABC News what she had learned about herself.
\"I'm little but I'm lethal,\" Drea Kelly said. \"That's what I've learned about Drea Kelly. ... You know, it's not that I found out that I'm strong, 'cause I don't think I'm strong. In my humanness, I don't think I'm strong. What I have learned is that I'm a vessel. And when you're a vessel, you have amazing strength and courage that you would go into the lion's den when you're a vessel, because I know now that I'm being used for something greater than me.\"
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