There’s an Aaliyah Biography Set for Release in 20201 That Includes Details About Her Relationship With R. Kelly
The relationship between R. Kelly and Aaliyah will go down as one of the industry’s most notorious scandals. Kelly married Aaliyah when she was underage and the discovery led to Aaliyah’s family severing business ties with him. A new biography about Aaliyah will include details about her and Kelly’s relationship.
R. Kelly married Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27
Kelly met Aaliyah when she was 12-years-old. At the time, the two shared the same manager, Barry Hankerson, who is also Aaliyah’s uncle. Hankerson tapped Kelly to produce Aaliyah’s debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number.
At some point, the relationship between Kelly and Aaliyah transitioned into something romantic, and due to Kelly’s age, predatory. Friends and family reveal in the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly that Kelly was enamored with Aaliyah from the start.
She was reportedly seen walking Kelly’s dog, the two wore matching outfits publicly, and a former background singer for Kelly alleges that she caught the two being intimate on a tour bus.
According to Kelly’s former road manager, Kelly came to him in a panic when he discovered that Aaliyah was pregnant. To make the situation appear less criminal, Kelly devised a plan to marry Aaliyah. The road manager helped to secure a fake ID for Aaliyah, with her age listed at 18.
Within two months of their Illinois courthouse ceremony, MTV reported on the marriage. Aaliyah’s family had the marriage annulled under fraud due to the fake age on Aaliyah’s part and severed all ties with Kelly. Kelly reportedly paid Aaliyah’s family $100,000 for them to remain mum on the relationship.
To this day, Aaliyah’s family denies that she and Kelly were ever married. Aaliyah also denied the marriage. Henderson continued managing both Kelly and Aaliyah. He did not part ways with Kelly until Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trials.
Aaliyah’s biography will include details about her marriage to R. Kelly
The Jasmine Brand reports that a book published under Simon & Schuster/Atria Books about Aaliyah will be released on Aug. 17, 20201. The release comes just a week before the 20th anniversary of Aaliyah’s death.
The book, Baby Girl: Better Known As Aaliyah, is written by journalist and author, Kathy Iandoli. According to an official press release about the book, the biography will “deep dive into her tumultuously abusive entanglement with R. Kelly and an intense investigation on the crash that ended her life.”
Iandoli reveals her motivation for writing the book, explaining, “I wrote this book as an Aaliyah fan. This is for all of us who for the last twenty years can spot her influence everywhere, while wishing she was still here. I left no stone unturned, and I hope I’ve added to her legacy properly.”
It’s unclear if Aaliyah’s family is in support of the book. They previously denounced anything that mentions Aaliyah’s association with Kelly, including Surviving R. Kelly and the Lifetime biopic produced by Wendy Williams.
Her family promises to one day tell what they say is the true story, and insists that any projects without their involvement tarnishes Aaliyah’s legacy.
