The singer has been quiet on social media since Jan. 1 as legal troubles have mounted against him.
R. Kelly is back on social media.
On Tuesday night, Kelly took to social for the first time since Jan. 1 to wish his daughter, Joann Kelly, a happy 21st birthday. Kelly has two other children -- Jay, 19, and Robert, 17 -- with his ex-wife, Andrea Lee.
After singing a rendition of "Happy Birthday," Kelly continued his video by expressing his love for his daughter. "Happy birthday, baby. Daddy love you. I love you, no matter what. I love you so much. Bye. Happy birthday."
The clip ended with Kelly blowing a kiss at the camera. "Family for life," he captioned the post.
The unexpected interruption to Kelly's social media silence comes in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women. Kelly has previously been accused of such actions, but renewed attention to the allegations came with the release of Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly docuseries. Kelly has repeatedly denied all accusations.
The R&B singer turned himself in on Feb. 22 after being charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal and sexual abuse in Cook County, Illinois, before being released three days later. Just over a week after his release, Kelly was detained again, this time for failing to pay $161,663 in child support. An anonymous person paid the cash to secure his release on March 9.
In an explosive interview with Gayle King, Kelly discussed his three children, with whom he said he has "zero" relationship.
"I'm really not really fighting for my career here. I'm fighting for my rights and I'm fighting to have a relationship with my kids, most of all, more than anything," he said. "I want a relationship with my kids because I have missed a lot of years of their life. They love me. I love them."
Kelly said that he'd "bet his breath" that his children want to have a relationship with him, "but they're pressured and I get it. They're pressured, so I get it. But I believe that's gonna change in due time."
He also gave his explanation for why he got behind on child support payments.
"How can I pay child support? How? If my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can't work? How can I work? How can I get paid? How can I take care of my kids? How? Use your common sense," he said through sobs and screams.
"Your ex-wife says you abused her, Robert," King said.
"Lie!" Kelly yelled, before detailing his marriage proposal to Lee and further denying the abuse allegations. In Surviving R. Kelly, Lee claimed that she went to the National Domestic Violence Awareness Hotline and, on a 17-question survey, "there was only two things on that list that Robert hadn't done to me."
"She's not telling the truth," he said. "I love her to death. I have nothing against her still. That is my kids' mother... I'm not disrespecting her by saying she's not telling the truth, I'm just being honest."
"Somebody sent me something on my phone and it said that I hogtied her. I don't know how to hogtie people! Why would I hogtie her?" he continued. "My kids is listening to this, all of this nonsense and I ain't been able to spend no time with them. This is real. This is not a lie. What kind of women would tear down a dad who's trying to have a relationship with their kids? You know how many kids need a relationship with their father?"
Watch the video below for more on Kelly.
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