It\u2019s a question R&B fans have been asking for more than a decade \u2013 did R. Kelly really marry Aaliyah?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an unrestricted interview with GQ Magazine, the Grammy winner spoke candidly about the allegations and his relationship with the then 15-year-old girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly, who was 27 at the time, said he knew from the very beginning that Aaliyah, his manager\u2019s teen niece, was \u201cgonna be a star, whether I work with her or not,\u201d he told GQ during an interview in his hometown of Chicago.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly said the two were \u201cbest friends, deep friends,\u201d and admitted that he was in love with her \u201cjust like I was in love with anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when it came to addressing the questions surrounding the pair\u2019s rumored marriage, which reports claim was quickly annulled, Kelly said that, out of respect for Aaliyah’s family and because of her passing, \u201cI will never have that conversation with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He acknowledged that Aaliyah, who died at the age of 22 in a tragic plane crash, can no longer speak for herself, but said \u201cthere was a time that she was plenty here, after that rumor and all of that stuff started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHer mother, her father, anybody else could speak and say whatever they wanted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked if Kelly did anything in that situation that he feels bad about or that was wrong, Kelly answered with \u201cabsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The interview tackled several hard-hitting, sensitive topics in Kelly\u2019s life, including the years of sexual abuse he says he suffered as a child at the hands of a relative and the child pornography charges he later faced. The same topics that prompted him to walk out of a live interview with the Huffington Post last month.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly was acquitted of the child pornography charges in 2009<\/a> after being found not guilty by a jury. The verdict ended a six-year saga that began when a videotape surfaced of a man looking like Kelly having sex with a girl believed to be as young as 13. Kelly denied he was the man in the videotape, and the girl in the video never testified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly would not address in his latest interview whether he was guilty or innocent in the case, saying his lawyers advised him not to \u201chave those kind of conversations,\u201d but said that \u201cwhen a person is found not guilty, they\u2019re found not guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when it came to discussing what is arguably one of the most talked-about moments in Kelly\u2019s past, and has since been the target of a famed Dave Chappelle skit, Kelly said urination is \u201cabsolutely not\u201d something he enjoys in intimate moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that, despite being found not guilty, many associate the urinating man with him, and although it used to make him feel \u201cterrible,\u201d he no longer cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly claimed he has been treated unfairly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He didn\u2019t shy away from commenting on the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, saying \u201cthere something strange\u201d about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When you wait 70 years, 50 years, 40 years, to say something that simple, it’s strange,\u201d he told GQ. \u201cYou know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn’t true.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to his music, Kelly also made a perplexing admission about his famous hit \u201cIgnition (Remix),\u201d revealing that he actually wrote the remixed version five years before he wrote the original \u201cIgnition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked how that\u2019s possible, Kelly only replied with \u201cYou tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a question R&B fans have been asking for more than a decade \u2013 did R. Kelly really marry Aaliyah?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"syndicated_id":"","should_nationalize":false,"nbc_subtitle":"The interview tackled several hard-hitting, sensitive topics in Kelly\u2019s life, including his relationship with Aaliyah and the child pornography charges he was acquitted of in 2009","nbc_enable_byline_block":false,"gns_xml_include":"","ninja_forms_form":"","ad_layer":0,"recirc-speedbump-sources":[],"nbc_first_published_date":"January 22, 2016","nbc_prevent_modified_update":false,"nbc_linkout_title":"","nbc_linkout_url":"","nbc_linkout_excerpt_link":"","nbc_primary_category_id":0,"nbc_primary_tag_id":0,"nbc_alexa_brief":"","nbc_social_page_title":"","nbc_social_description":"","nbc_page_title":"","nbc_seo_description":"","nbc_national_headline":"","nbc_national_social_page_title":"","nbc_national_social_description":"","nbc_national_page_title":"","nbc_national_seo_description":"","entities":"","lede_video_id":"","lead_embed_url":"","featured_media_caption":"","featured_video_id":0,"nbc_canonical_market":"","nbc_canonical_url":"","nbc_hide_from_recirculation":"","nbc_hide_from_search":"","dark_mode":"","title_below":"","disable_copyright":"","copyright_override":"","nbc_syndication_category":"","nbc_syndication_category_name":"","nbc_national_collections":[],"nopreroll":false,"sst_source_id":"366218351","nbc_disable_legacy_embeds":false,"nbc_legacy_processEmbedsFirst":"","cnbc_logo":"","cnbc_linkout":"","nbc_feed_loader_prevent_updates":false,"post_video_prompt":"","send_to_mobile_web":false,"nbc_legacy_id":"","nbc_legacy_alias":"","nbc_legacy_path":"","should_automatic_app_promotion":"","should_automatic_app_ad":"","nbc_checkout_experience_enabled":false,"should_linkout_to_syndication_parent":"","cnbc_data_hash":"","sponsor_image":0,"sponsor_url":"","rsn_disable_insider":false,"nbc_tags":"","live_blog_expiration":"","live_blog_expired_flag":false,"nbc_feed_noindex":"","upp_source_url":"","nbc_updated_post_date":"","footnotes":"","feed_remote_id":"","feed_thumbnail_url":""},"categories":[439,359],"tags":[],"nbc_push_tag":[],"sensitivity":[],"collection":[184577,356,184529,184521,184578],"source":"","live_blog":[],"class_list":["post-69178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment-news","category-local"],"prepublish_checks":{"nbc\/require-category":{"status":"complete","message":"Article not checked for categories (migrated).","data":null},"nbc\/require-tag":{"status":"complete","message":"Article not checked for tags (migrated).","data":null},"nbc\/validate-lead-embed":{"status":"complete","message":"Lead Embed empty.","data":null},"nbc\/published-lead-video":{"status":"complete","message":"Article does not have lead video.","data":null},"nbc\/page-slug":{"status":"complete","message":"Post is not a page.","data":null},"nbc\/require-card-title":{"status":"complete","message":"Post is not a card.","data":null},"nbc\/check-primary-category":{"status":"info","message":"Select a primary category.","data":null}},"apple_news_notices":[],"live_blog_expiration":"","parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/r-kelly-addresses-relationship-with-aaliyah-allegations-in-child-pornography-case\/69178\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"R. 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Kelly really marry Aaliyah?<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n In an unrestricted interview with GQ Magazine, the Grammy winner spoke candidly about the allegations and his relationship with the then 15-year-old girl.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Kelly, who was 27 at the time, said he knew from the very beginning that Aaliyah, his manager\u2019s teen niece, was \u201cgonna be a star, whether I work with her or not,\u201d he told GQ during an interview in his hometown of Chicago.<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Kelly said the two were \u201cbest friends, deep friends,\u201d and admitted that he was in love with her \u201cjust like I was in love with anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n But when it came to addressing the questions surrounding the pair\u2019s rumored marriage, which reports claim was quickly annulled, Kelly said that, out of respect for Aaliyah's family and because of her passing, \u201cI will never have that conversation with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n He acknowledged that Aaliyah, who died at the age of 22 in a tragic plane crash, can no longer speak for herself, but said \u201cthere was a time that she was plenty here, after that rumor and all of that stuff started.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \u201cHer mother, her father, anybody else could speak and say whatever they wanted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n When asked if Kelly did anything in that situation that he feels bad about or that was wrong, Kelly answered with \u201cabsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n The interview tackled several hard-hitting, sensitive topics in Kelly\u2019s life, including the years of sexual abuse he says he suffered as a child at the hands of a relative and the child pornography charges he later faced. The same topics that prompted him to walk out of a live interview with the Huffington Post last month.<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n