R. Kelly is Engaged to Alleged Victim, Joycelyn Savage; Her Family Insists She’s Still Brainwashed

As R. Kelly’s next trial begins for various sex crimes, the singer’s personal relationships remain questionable. Kelly had admittedly been in a multi-year relationship with Joycelyn Savage. Savage has publicly defended Kelly, and a recent court document reveals that the two are engaged. Her family doesn’t believe such. 

Joycelyn Savage writes a letter of support for R. Kelly ahead of his sentencing and claims they are engaged

Kelly was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison for the first of his criminal trials. His subsequent trial is scheduled to begin in Aug. 2022 in Illinois. Ahead of the sentencing date for his racketeering charges in Brooklyn, Savage penned a letter to the judge asking for leniency.  

“My name is Joycelyn Savage, and I’m Robert Kelly’s fiancé,” she began in a letter obtained by E! News. “I’m writing this letter in support of Robert in advance of his sentencing, so I can explain to the court that I’m not the victim that the government has portrayed me to be.” She shared similar sentiments in the joint interview she did alongside Kelly’s former girlfriend Azriel Clary when they spoke with Gayle King, adding: “We have a very special connection and are deeply in love. Robert is not the monster that the government has described him to be. The Robert I know is very sweet, gentle, and kind.”

Savage denies any allegations of abuse, saying she is with Kelly on her own merit. “He’s very determined and focused on his goals, and the things that have been said about him, with me and other women being held against our will is absolutely untrue,” she continued. “I’m a grown woman, and can speak for myself which is why I wanted to provide this letter to the court. [Kelly] is a great man, with a great heart and deserves to be home with his loved ones who are ready to support him.”

Her family doesn’t believe the two are engaged 

The 26-year-old’s parents aren’t buying the engagement story. In fact, they believe Kelly is still controlling their daughter from behind bars. The family attorney Gerald Griggs told TMZ that “she never made the engagement known to the family, and they’ve never even spoken about the possibility beforehand.”

He also finds the timing odd, considering Savage opted out of testifying under oath, but submitted a letter. He is questioning the validity of the letter as Kelly has been accused of falsifying documents via his victims – or coercing them to write statements under threats to their lives and family’s lives. 

The Savage family has had limited to no contact with their daughter since she entered into a relationship with Kelly. She says she chooses to stay away from her family because they have tried to exploit Kelly.

R. Kelly’s ex-girlfriend Azriel Clary says Joycelyn Savage is brainwashed 

Clary sat with King amid Kelly’s trial and apologized for her previous behavior. She also discussed her viral physical fight with Savage, and says she was shocked by what transpired. 

“I went to Chicago to get Joy to try to leave with me,” Clary told King. “She was very erratic, and she was very, very emotional and I’m like, ‘You know, I’ve spent 5 years with you. Do you know who it is that you’re taking your anger out on?’ When I saw how vicious and how she didn’t even look like herself, I was like, ‘This is how I used to look, this is so humiliating, this is really how I used to look.’ That was my wake up call, that day when I went back to Trump Towers and we got into a physical altercation.”

But Clary is still hopeful that Savage will one day free herself from Kelly. “I feel like time [will help],” Clary said. “Me and Joy we’ve had a lot of very womanly conversations and we had that privilege when he was in jail. It was a beautiful thing and she had expressed to me a lot of the things that she wasn’t happy with and I had expressed to her a lot of the things that I wasn’t happy with. I know that she already knows that it isn’t healthy. It’s really just a matter of time of when she wants to put herself first because that’s really all it boiled down for to me. I just had to put myself first.”