R Kelly sex tape victim breaks silence in first video interview
An R Kelly sex tape leaked in 2001. Now, the 14-year-old girl in the video has given her first on-camera interview.
The previously anonymous woman, Reshona Landfair, now 41 years old, is releasing a book this week called Who’s Watching Shorty?: Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R Kelly’s Abuse.
Sitting down with CBS News, she revealed her relief after only being known as “Jane Doe” during Kelly’s 2022 federal trial. “It feels really rewarding,” she began. “It feels very liberating. I really wanted to live in my true skin and my true self. My true self today is Reshona Landfair.”
In her memoir, Landfair recalls her aunt telling her to ask Kelly to be her godfather while sitting on his lap. “That is the start of him entering into my life in a different way than just being an artist or hanging out at the studio,” she said. “It became more personable at that moment.”
Landfair claims Kelly started grooming her when she was 13, with her aunt deciding to call social services. “I don’t think they believed her because there were no obvious signs of what was actually taking place,” she stated.
Shortly before her 17th birthday, she says Kelly informed her that a sex tape was being sold, which prompted his 2002 arrest on child pornography charges.
After the sex tape surfaced, Landfair alleges that Kelly told her parents that he was in love with her. “I was empty,” she admitted. “I was very hollow inside. I was very confused. It was very complicated. My dad wanted to make the right decision, and he was not OK with anything that took place.”
She continued, “I was more under [Kelly]’s brainwash. He utilised me against my parents – making threats of suicide and doing different things out of desperation to convince them to not turn on him.”
Landfair revealed that “one of her biggest regrets” was lying to a grand jury, stating that the girl in the sex tape wasn’t her. Kelly ended up being acquitted.
Fast forward to the present day, and Kelly is serving a 30-year prison sentence on racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography, and other charges.