14 DAY TRIAL // Just when things were starting to look up for R Kelly professionally, the crooner finds himself in very troubled waters after failing to pay agreed-upon child support to ex-wife Andrea Kelly, it has emerged. Should he not show up in court for the next hearing, he will be sent to prison.
Page Six has spoken to various sources close to the star, and they confirm that he’s gone “underground,” perhaps assuming (erroneously so) that his financial and legal problems would go away in the meantime.
There is absolutely no chance of that happening and his attorney is terrified that his famous client will end up behind bars, Page Six writes. This is the second time in as many years that the singer fails to make the payments, with his ex claiming he is behind $20,833 (€15,155) this time.
Last year, he owed her five times the amount but eventually paid his debt before the matter went any farther in court. He might have run out of luck just now.
“Kelly’s trouble doesn’t end there: One of his attorneys has told Kelly’s camp that if the singer doesn’t appear at a March 27 hearing in his child- custody battle in Chicago, a judge could give him 30 days to six months behind bars because Kelly didn’t show up at a November hearing,” Page Six writes.
“The judge was clear in November that he wasn’t happy R. Kelly didn’t show up. His lawyer [James Quigley] is worried the judge could lock Kelly up if he doesn’t show this time, but he can’t reach his client,” an unnamed source explains.
R Kelly also owes money to his attorney firm but that’s not his most pressing problem right now, but the fact that he’s gone underground and no one can find him, not even the attorney who’s looking to save him from prison time.
Another insider says debts have been accumulating during the production of his most recent album, so perhaps R Kelly is hiding from other creditors than just his ex and his attorney.
“There’s a line of people Kelly owes money to who worked really hard on his last album. Who knows what Kelly and Devyne are doing, but burying your head in the sand isn’t the answer,” a tipster with a healthy dose of common sense underlines.