R Kelly: Singer released from US jail after ‘someone’ pays $161,000 overdue child support

Embattled R&B singer R. Kelly walked out of the Cook County
Jail on Saturday for the second time in two weeks, after paying
more than $160,000 in overdue child support.

Kelly was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt under a bright red
winter coat when he walked out of the jail at 26th Street and
California Avenue with defense attorney Steve Greenberg just before
noon, about an hour after he was able to put together the hefty sum
of money.

Kelly’s latest three-night stay in jail came after a judge
ordered him locked up for skipping out on what his ex-wife said was
more than eight months of support payments for his three
children.

The singer previously spent three nights in jail two weeks ago
after he was unable to post bond after being charged in four sex
abuse cases. Kelly’s bond was posted by a Romeoville woman who
became friends with the singer after meeting him on Lake Michigan
cruise, according Kelly’s close friend Don Russell.

Kelly was jailed Wednesday on a civil contempt charge after a
hearing in domestic relations court, where he had been ordered to
pay $161,663 by a judge presiding over his divorce case.

Kelly’s publicist said then that the singer had $60,000, but the
judge insisted Kelly pay the full amount he owed to avoid jail.
Kelly and dancer Andrea Kelly divorced in 2009 and he is supposed
to make payments of $20,000 per month, as well as educational
expenses for his children, who are ages 16, 18, and 20.

In an emotional, and occasionally volatile, interview with Gayle
King of CBS earlier this week, the singer said he had $350,000 in a
bank account but had been unable to access the money after he was
taken to jail on the sex abuse charges. Kelly has said that despite
the millions of records he has sold during his decades-long career,
his income tanked since the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary series
aired in January.

An interview with Andrea Kelly is prominently featured in
“Surviving R. Kelly,” and the dancer also has produced her own
video about her marriage to the singer.

The star’s record label dropped him in January, and a
#muteRKelly online campaign has led to online streaming services
pulling his music out of playlists that could generate royalties.
Kelly moved out of his West Town recording studio ahead of an
eviction order. A judge ordered the singer to pay $175,000 in back
rent, fees and costs to his landlord, who had filed the eviction
suit in July.