A Dallas attorney filed a lawsuit Monday claiming Grammy Award-winning artist R. Kelly knowingly gave his client a sexually transmitted disease. Faith Rodgers, who was 19 at the time, accuses Kelly of “willfully, deliberately and maliciously” infecting her with herpes and sexual battery. She also claims Kelly “mentally, physically and verbally” abused her.
In an interview you’ll see only on “CBS This Morning,” Rodgers told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan that she was in a relationship with Kelly for nearly a year before leaving. During that time she said Kelly instructed her to call him “daddy” and told her his goal was to teach her how to have sex like a “mature woman.” Rodgers said he even introduced her to one of five women Kelly allegedly said he was “raising.”
R. Kelly seen Sept. 25, 2015 in New York City.
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She described one incident where Kelly visited her hotel room after he flew her to New York to attend one of his shows. According to Rodgers, she “submitted” to having sex with him.
“I didn’t really say anything. I kinda just froze up. I definitely was uncomfortable. But he has this type of, like, intimidation right off the bat. You know? So I was just waiting for it to be over,” Rodgers said.
“Did you find yourself in a position like that more than once with R. Kelly?” Duncan asked.
“Yes. I found myself like that multiple times,” Rodgers said.
After a series of sexual misconduct allegations by former girlfriends, several music streaming services, from Spotify to Apple, have removed R. Kelly’s songs from their playlists. A #MuteRKelly movement supported by the likes of Ava DuVernay, Kerry Washington and Viola Davis is also growing.
CBS News has reached out to R. Kelly’s representatives and have not heard back.
In a Washington Post article from April, a representative for Kelly said the singer “categorically denies all claims and allegations” in a complaint Rodgers previously filed with the Dallas Police Department.
Watch the in-depth interview with Faith Rodgers Tuesday, May 21, 2018, on “CBS This Morning,” which airs 7 to 9 a.m. ET/PT.
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