On Monday morning, Buzzfeed News published a report wherein three sets of parents claim that R. Kelly is holding their daughters in an “abusive cult” at his houses in Chicago and Atlanta. That evening, one of the young women in question, Jocelyn Savage, 21, did a video interview with TMZ where she insisted “I am in a happy place with my life … I’m not being brainwashed or anything like that” and has “never been held hostage.”
However, she declined to say where she was located when asked by the interviewer, or whether she is allowed to leave.
“I just mainly want to say that I am in a happy place with my life,” she said. “I’m not being brainwashed or anything like that. It just came to a point where it definitely has gotten out of hand. I just want everybody to know—my parents and everybody in the world—that I am totally fine. I’m happy where I’m at, and everything is okay with me.”
Asked about her relationship with her parents, she said, “I haven’t spoken to them in about five to six months, on and off,” she said. “They’ll text me from time to time, but I haven’t really wanted to speak to them because of what they’re doing.”
In a press conference held late Monday afternoon, Savage’s father Timothy said that his daughter is likely suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, wherein a hostage feels affectionate toward and protected by their captors. Her mother repeated that her daughter is “brainwashed” and another former Kelly associate, Asante McGee, repeated claims made in the BuzzFeed article.
Timothy Savage claimed that he will have further evidence of the family’s claims against Kelly within “the next two to five days.”
In a brief interview published Tuesday morning by TMZ, he challenged Kelly to sue him. “File the lawsuit — so everybody can see your dirty laundry,” he says.
