This is just getting weirder.
On the heels of a July 17 investigative report by BuzzFeed News that claims R. Kelly is holding women against their will and running an abusive sex "cult" — which the musician's attorney has denied — TMZ is sharing the story of a woman who says she was lured to the R&B star's home on several occasions but left when things got too intense.
The unnamed woman told TMZ, in a report published on July 23, that she was 20 when she met 50-year-old Kelly in December 2016 after one of his concerts when a crew member gave her a wristband to go backstage.
The two were soon exchanging texts and phone calls, she told TMZ. Kelly allegedly said he'd help her further her career as an actress and model and invited her to visit him at his home in Georgia.
"Wear something sexy," he allegedly told her.
TMZ reports that she went and brought a friend along, "but it got real creepy — no phones were allowed and suddenly she was escorted to R's bedroom."
There, he asked her to take sexy photos before giving her $200 when she left with instructions "to use it to buy black lingerie, heels and red lipstick for her next visit," TMZ reports.
She then went back to see him on two other occasions, alone, "but each time he got more aggressive and controlling," writes TMZ, "even guilting her into posing nude. She says they never had sex."
That's when her mother stepped in. The woman tells TMZ that the music star sent her a one-way ticket to see him in Los Angeles and told her not to bring any friends. "She says she felt uneasy and told her mother, who promptly put the kibosh on the trip," TMZ reports.
This story follows BuzzFeed's report headlined, "R. Kelly Is Holding Women Against Their Will In A 'Cult,' Parents Told Police." The story alleges that Kelly is housing half a dozen young women in properties in Chicago and Atlanta, where he films them in intimate situations.
One of his supposed hostages, Joycelyn Savage, spoke to TMZ after her dad publicly said she was being held against her will. Although she wouldn't say where she was or if she was alone, she did say she was not being held hostage.
Three women who say they are former members of Kelly's inner circle told BuzzFeed details about what it's like to live in one of his properties and how Kelly allegedly dictates everything — from what these women eat and wear to when they sleep and bathe and even how they will pleasure him.
"Mr. Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed by the recent revelations attributed to him. Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies such accusations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name," his attorney said in a statement following the publication of BuzzFeed's report.