Who Paid R. Kelly's Owed Child Support?

Singer R. Kelly was released from jail on Saturday, March 9, 2019, after someone paid the child support he owed his ex-wife. But just who gave Kelly's former flame the money?

Page Six reports that a "mystery donor" coughed up the funds needed to free Kelly from behind bars in Cook County, Ill. And, according to the Associated Press, the spokesperson for the Cook County Sheriff's Office, Sophia Ansari, did not know the identity of the person who paid on Cook's behalf. "Anonymous payments do happen but they are rare," Ansari told People.

While the details about the person who paid the owed child support may remain shrouded in mystery, it's clear that Kelly didn't pay the money himself, as his reps had previously revealed that the disgraced artist could only afford to pay $50,000 to $60,000 of the $161,000 he owed his ex, Andrea "Drea" Kelly.

R. Kelly reportedly was only able to pay his ex-wife the money with the help of a "benefactor," as reported by TMZ. "We're gonna straighten all this out," Kelly reportedly said as he left jail.

Logic would suggest that the person who paid Kelly's back child support payments could potentially be the same person who paid $100,000 to bail him out of jail following his arrest for ten counts of aggravated sexual abuse. That person was Valencia Patrice Love, a woman who claims to be a friend and fan of Kelly's. Love, who reportedly owns multiple restaurants and a daycare center, told reporters at the time, "I'm not going to say it was my money or his money and he's not broke. He was going to post bond by Thursday anyway," notes from Fox News reporter Tia Ewing suggested Love stated. "He's my friend and I knew he needed help."

Love reportedly went on, "He told me he was innocent, if he did it he is wrong. If he did it that's wrong. He's telling me he's innocent. I wasn't there, you wasn't there, give him the chance and allow him to prove his innocence."

However, despite Love previously coming to Kelly's aid, it has not been reported that she was also the same person who paid his child support.

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Kelly and his ex-wife, Drea, share three children — 20-year-old daughter Joann and two teenage sons, Jay and Robert Jr., as noted by Heavy. Drea reportedly filed for divorce from Kelly in 2006, after requesting a restraining order against him following a "physical confrontation" with him in 2005, and their divorce was finalized in 2009. According to TMZ, Kelly was ordered to pay Drea $20,833 in child support every month. However, he reportedly stopped making timely payments in 2018.

In Kelly's now-infamous interview with CBS This Morning's Gayle King, he claimed that he didn't have the money to pay Drea the child support because "so many people have been stealing [his] money," as reported by Page Six. Noting that he only has about $350,000 in his bank account, Kelly reportedly told King that he only just went to Bank of America for the first time less than a month ago because, he said, "I was so tired of not knowing where my money was, where my publishing was." He also said that he didn't have access to his account when he was behind bars, after he'd moved his money into a new account.

Furthermore, Kelly asked King how he could be expected to continue paying child support to his ex-wife when she'd publicly bashed him and tarnished his name. "How can I pay child support? How? If my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can't work," he expressed. "How can I work? How can I get paid? How can I take care of my kids? How?"

As Page Six noted, Drea has accused Kelly of physical and emotional abuse over the course of their marriage and has alleged that Kelly once hogtied her and left her on a bed. Kelly has denied this claim, stating that he doesn't "know how to hogtie people" and questioning why he'd ever even do such a thing.

Regarding the issue of Kelly's child support payments to Drea, he is scheduled to appear in court on March 13 (via People). As for the sexual abuse charges against him, he's expected back in court on March 13.