‘Once He Learned About Power, He Began To Exercise It’: R. Kelly’s Ex-Manager Reveals How He Exploited Young Women

Besides featuring some of the closest people to know the rapper before his conviction and sentencing, the upcoming REELZ documentary also focuses on R. Kelly’s childhood growing in a poor and utterly broken home in which he was allegedly abused by numerous female family members leading the artist to experience both dramatic and extensive physical and mental trauma ultimately leading him to drop out of high school.

Music, as made evident by the hit after hit he would eventually come to produce in the music industry, was a high point in the traumatized singer’s life that no doubt acted as a catalyst in his shooting upward to fame where he would also ultimately bring R&B music to mainstream audiences.

But despite R. Kelly’s successful music career and lavish lifestyle, the rumors began to swirl regarding his behavior and demeanor towards the numerous underage girls he was mentoring. Over time those rumors began to gain traction and, with various corroborating accounts and video evidence to back them up, became more than rumors.

“Once he learned about power, he began to exercise it,” says Demetrius Smith, R. Kelly’s former manager who is featured in the upcoming program’s introduction.

After being accused of a multitude of underage sexual offenses – even facing allegations of operating a sex cult —R. Kelly was finally arrested and placed in jail where he remained until his trial late last year.

“I will confess that the first couple of times that I heard the whispers ‘R. Kelly like them young,’ you figure, well, this is rock ‘n’ roll,” adds Jim Derogatis, who followed the case for his book, Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly and is also featured in the documentary.