Jerhonda Johnson says she was a starstruck 15-year-old when she first met R. Kelly. Johnson didn’t meet him at a concert, or at her high school, where Kelly was allegedly known to troll. Johnson met Kelly while on daily watch outside his child-pornography trial in 2008.
In a new report for BuzzFeed News, Jim DeRogatis interviewed Pace about claims that she received “cash settlements from the star in return for signing nondisclosure agreements.”
Now known as Jerhonda Pace, the 24-year-old is a mother of three children and is speaking out and violating her nondisclosure agreement in order to help other women and girls who might be in the same situation she says she was in as a teen.
“I didn’t have anybody to speak up on my behalf when I was going through what I was going through with him. He’s brainwashed them really bad, and it kind of reminds me of Charles Manson,” Pace said of the singer.
In 2008, Pace said, she lied to court officials about her age in order to gain access to the trial, because at the time, she was under 18. Pace said she would cut class just to get a glimpse of Kelly. A year later, Pace, who was then 16, alleges that she received a message on Facebook from an associate of Kelly’s and she was invited to his Chicago mansion.
At the age of 16, Pace alleges, she engaged in oral sex with Kelly, and claims the singer ensured that she wouldn’t speak about their sexual activity by having her write and sign letters stating that she stole from him and that her parents were blackmailing him, which she now says were lies.
Pace told BuzzFeed that Kelly was strict with rules in his home. She says she was only allowed to wear baggy clothes and couldn’t use a phone. She also had to ask when to shower, eat and use the bathroom. If the rules were broken, Pace alleges, Kelly would physically and mentally abuse her.
On June 9, 2009, Pace alleges, Kelly gave her alcohol, and the two of them had intercourse. A month later, she says she told Kelly her true age, which she says he was fine with. The sex continued for months, says Pace, who alleges that Kelly filmed the encounters without her permission.
In 2010, Pace’s “relationship” with Kelly ended after she says he caught her texting a friend and attacked her, BuzzFeed reports. Pace then contacted Susan E. Loggans, an attorney who was known for getting cash settlements for other women who had accused Kelly of similar acts of sexual abuse and battery.
Pace passed the lie detector tests given to her by Loggans, who eventually secured a large settlement within weeks of her taking on the case, BuzzFeed reports. In return for the settlement, Pace signed a nondisclosure agreement, which stated that she would not discuss the case or pursue any further accusations against Kelly. But all of that changed after Pace learned of other women who allegedly are still being abused by Kelly in his “cult,” according to the report.
Kelly yet again denies these accusations, just as he did previous ones from earlier this summer, which were also brought to light by writer DeRogatis.
“The allegations against Mr. Kelly are false, and are being made by individuals known to be dishonest. It is clear these continuing stories are the result of the effort of those with personal agendas who are working in concert to interfere with and damage his career. Mr. Kelly again denies any and all wrongdoing and is taking appropriate legal action to protect himself from ongoing defamation,” Trevian Kutti, a Kelly spokesperson, said in a press release.
Pace says she is now considering filing criminal charges against Kelly.