Surviving R. Kelly

(Image via TooFab.com)

(Image via TooFab.com)

Jennifer Campos Olvera, Writer

The “ Surviving R. Kelly” documentary is a true trending topic. Many started to realize that the victims of R. Kelly’s abuse were really telling the truth and now,  almost 20-25 years later, people are taking note of it. People really didn’t believe the horrific accusations of those poor defenseless teenage girls and just thought they wanted attention and money but, really, they were out there getting abused and suffering. Judgment for women in the time R. Kelly was more popular was very discriminating to women and the teenagers accusing R. Kelly of abuse.

Kelly was accused of abusing Lizzette Martinez, Andrea Lee, Lisa Van Allen, and the niece of Stephanie Edwards of which were underage at the time. He mentally and physically abused these women. The youngest was around 14 when he started to abuse her and was truly one of the most horrific events that could’ve been discovered. Having such things happen to a 14-year-old is very traumatizing for them and gives the audience a whole different perspective on R. Kelly. Most women have been left with dark memories and scars that will live with them throughout their lives. R. Kelly was accused of being really controlling and making the women feel like they were just objects that didn’t have a say over anything. Being controlled throughout the time spent with R. Kelly is very disappointing to the audience since it’s really outrageous how much he controlled their lives and how much pain he put the women through. This documentary is rather sad and shocking at the fact that they were put through so many humiliations and mental abuse as well as physical abuse. He controlled who they talked to, who they looked at, and even who they had sexual intercourse with. They had no opinions on anything and he also acted like a control freak around his coworkers and singers. When it came to shooting a video, he always had every single detail planned out and everything always had to come out as he pictured it.

Having to go through so much abuse and really awful things due to R. Kelly was a lot for everyone around him. The women all described him as nice, caring, special and funny, almost describing him as if he was perfect in their eyes. At the beginning of all his relationships with these four different women, he always presented himself as an irresistible guy that no one could get enough of. Throughout the time spent with him, he started to change the way he would act with them and started showing his dark, manipulative side that scared everyone around him. Many lies were said, but in the end, R. Kelly denied all accusations. There is a lot of evidence that points to his culpability and this can be really helpful for the audience to see the type of man and human R. Kelly is. Yes, he was such an inspiration to many people at one point in time, but now he’s built up such a dishonorable profile that many people look down at him for the horrible things he did to these innocent women. Having so much success within his career built up his confidence and he put himself in a pedestal that he felt no one would take him off of, but ever since the audience started to notice the horrific events that he made the women suffer through, which really opened up the eyes of the audience.

The “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary was a true eye-opener for a lot of his audience and others as well to show the horrific things he did and that he denies. This topic has been really popular these months since it came out and really has been interesting to the audience. Even though these women have kept on living with these deep scars, they really showed bravery by discussing their experiences with the whole world and just showing how much they were abused and how has that experience affected them throughout their daily lives. In conclusion, this documentary was really informative on the situations that R. Kelly put women through and the physical and mental abuse caused by R. Kelly.