UPDATED Mar. 6, 6:35 p.m. ET: Joycelyn Savage contacted her family after R. Kelly's CBS This Morning interview, according to the family's attorney, Gerald Griggs. “We are glad to finally hear from Joycelyn today,” Griggs told Rolling Stone. “After speaking with her little sister, Joycelyn paused from the seemingly prepared script and was able to share her love for her family. We hope that today was the first step to re-establishing a loving relationship with her family.”
In a video posted to Twitter, Joycelyn can be heard on the phone telling her family that she's okay. "I’ve told you guys a million million times I’m okay where I am, and I’m happy," she says in the video.
A short while after the video was posted, TMZ reported that R. Kelly's team is in the process of organizing a reunion between Joycelyn and her family. Gerald Griggs, an attorney for the Savage family, relayed the news to the publication. The family reportedly plans on bringing a psychologist to the meeting.
See the original story below.
Joycelyn Savage’s family has responded to R. Kelly’s CBS interview after it aired on Wednesday morning.
During a press conference held outside the L.A. office of attorney Gerald A. Griggs, they responded to a few statements made by Kelly during the interview. Griggs countered the claim that Joycelyn’s father had offered Joycelyn to Kelly during a concert, and that Mr. Savage and Kelly had met before. “Mr. Kelly stated on Gayle King's show that Mr. Timothy Savage provided his daughter on stage at a concert that Mr. Kelly was performing at,” Griggs said. “That is absolutely not true.”
Griggs continued to refute claims made by Kelly during the CBS interview, and addressed allegations that the Savages were accepting money from Kelly. “[Kelly] also indicated that these parents came forward after the money stopped, I can stay here unequivocally that at no point have the Savages requested any money from Mr. Robert Sylvester Kelly,” he said.
Joycelyn’s middle sister then spoke, saying that Joycelyn “would’ve called home by now” if she wasn’t being abused. “I know for a fact my sister is not okay. I know for a fact R. Kelly is mentally destroying her, and I just want her home.”
Both Joycelyn’s father and mother responded to the interview as well. Mr. Savage said, “It was emotionally disturbing for all of us. I sit there and I want to not just pray for my daughter, but pray for Mr. Kelly to get some type of healing.”
The mother added, “What I saw on TV this morning about the way he acted when he got upset, I [can only] imagine what he does behind closed doors when he is not in [front of the] camera.” She continued, “Allegedly, he has a bad temper, he’s very controlling, and when the girls don’t do something or say something that he likes, he really throws a rage and becomes physically violent.”
R. Kelly appeared in his first interview since being charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. During the CBS interview, the singer denied the allegations against him, dismissing the claims as “rumors.”
