R Kelly's Ex-Wife Had To Pass The 'Booty' Test At 19 Before Meeting The R&B Singer
R. Kelly's ex-wife Andrea "Drea" Kelly is opening up about how she met the R&B singer-turned-convicted sex offender.
The dancer shared on "The Culture Club Uncensored" podcast this week that she met Kelly through actress LisaRaye McCoy -- but only after passing a "booty" test.
Then 19, Drea had auditioned to be a dancer and choreographer for Kelly, who was preparing for his first tour at the time.
According to Drea, she impressed McCoy, who was helping organize the tour, with not only her dancing skills but also her figure.
"Lisa saw me [and went] crazy. [I] walked in, the first thing LisaRaye said to me, 'Turn around. Let me see yo' booty.' I was like, Wait, what?' She's like, 'Just turn around. Let me see [your] booty.' ... She was like, 'Oh, Rob gon' love you,'" Drea recalled, referring to Kelly.
Drea told podcast host Osei that she became friends with McCoy, and they were "inseparable" following that audition.
After becoming Kelly's dancer, Drea said the singer wooed her for two years, but she initially did not agree to date him.
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She explained that she had been engaged to another man when she met Kelly. She was also wary of dating someone in the music industry due to the warnings her industry insider mother had given her about musicians.
"I know about the traveling groupies, the ones like the super fans, and just your level of commitment. I went into it knowing I will always be your mistress because your music will always be your wife. So I was like, 'Yeah, I don't want that. I'm good,'" Drea explained.
Despite rejecting him, the dancer said they had a "great work relationship" and became close as they traveled together.
Their bond later turned romantic, and they tied the knot in 1996 after a year of dating.
Drea -- who shares three children with her ex-husband -- filed for divorce from Kelly in 2006 after allegedly suffering years of abuse at the hands of the Grammy-winning artist. The divorce was finalized in 2009.
Drea admitted on the podcast that she "should have never been married" at 22.
She also shared that she hasn't spoken to Kelly in over a decade.
Kelly faced decades of sexual abuse allegations, lawsuits and criminal charges before being convicted.
In 2022, Kelly was sentenced in New York to 30 years in prison for federal racketeering and sex-trafficking convictions.
The following year, he was sentenced in Chicago to 20 years in federal prison for child pornography and enticement of minors for sex.
