One of the women who appeared in Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” earlier this year alleged that R. Kelly had confessed to impregnating a 15-year-old Aaliyah Haughton and having a sexual relationship with the teen singer’s mother.
In an interview with Vlad TV, Lisa Van Allen accused Kelly, now 52, of revealing that he married Aaliyah after getting her pregnant. He also admitted to having sex with Aaliyah’s mother, Diane Haughton, while grooming the young singer, Allen said.
“He actually stayed at their home in Detroit and her mother actually was sexually attracted to him as well,” Allen recalled, alleging she was 17 when Kelly made the revelation to her.
“He said when Aaliyah went to sleep, he would go in the living room and him and her would do sexual acts on the couch while Aaliyah was sleeping in the bedroom.”
Allen also said Kelly confided in her that he and Aaliyah had a “pins in eyeballs” pact in which they wouldn’t divulge the nature of their relationship.
Aaliyah reached stardom with her hit May 1994 single “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number,” which was penned by Kelly. Later that year, stories circulated that a 27-year-old Kelly secretly married the 15-year-old in Illinois—with Vibe magazine publishing the purported marriage license.
Essence reported that Aaliyah was erroneously listed as 18 on the license; her parents are said to have had the marriage annulled in February 1995.
Aaliyah nor Kelly ever acknowledged the union. Aaliyah, 22, died in a plane crash in the Bahamas in 2001.
During the interview, Allen confirmed what many media outlets were reporting at the time: That the license was doctored so that the illegal marriage appeared legal.
“The reason they got married was because…they felt like if he was married to her and if he said he thought that she was 18 that he wouldn’t be charged if someone found out she was pregnant until they were able to get the abortion and get it (the marriage) annulled,” she said.
Allen also offered to take a lie detector test to prove that Kelly did confide in her.
“It’s not a rumor, it’s the truth.”
According to The Root, Allen, Kelly’s ex-girlfriend, appeared in the Lifetime docuseries and identified the victim in the sex tape which led to Kelly’s 2002 child molestation charges. She also revealed that she and Kelly had a sexual encounter with the victim when the victim was 14 years old.
On Wednesday, VladTV released another portion of the interview where Allen claims she stole one of R. Kelly’s illegal sex tapes in 1999 or 2000. She said she appeared in the tape she took from Kelly and gave it to someone by the name of Keith, who appears to be a performer with some professional connection to Kelly.
In 2007, Kelly allegedly found out about Allen stealing the tape and reached out to her. She claimed she arranged for Keith to meet them in Chicago to return the tape.
Allen went on to deny that she and the artist each extorted Kelly out of $100,000—emphasizing that the singer offered the money without provocation.
“Wouldn’t you take it if someone offered you the money?” she asks the interview. “It’s not blackmail if you offered it.”
[Featured image: Lisa Van Allen/YouTube video screengrab]