R. Kelly Is Engaged in Wake of Sex Trafficking Conviction

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is engaged. Two weeks before he was sentenced to 30 years in prison following his conviction last year on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, a recently revealed letter to a judge revealed that Kelly is engaged to aspiring singer Jocelyn Savage.

Dated June 13 and obtained by E! News, the letter was written by Savage ahead of Kelly’s sentencing and requested a lighter sentence for her fiancé, whom federal prosecutors recommended be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison. In the letter, filed by Kelly’s legal team, Savage confirmed, “My name is Joycelyn Savage, and I’m Robert Kelly’s fiancé.” She went on to write, “I’m writing this letter in support of Robert in advance of his sentencing, so I can explain to the court that I’m not the victim that the government has portrayed me to be.” Savage notably appeared on CBS This Morning in 2019 alongside Azriel Clary, another one of Kelly’s live-in girlfriends, to deny the accusations against Kelly, including allegations that they were being held against their will.

Although the letter did not reveal how long the couple has been dating or when exactly they became engaged, it did offer some details into their relationship. Savage described her relationship with Kelly as “amazing” and called the musician the “best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She went on to write that she and her fiancé “have a very special connection and are deeply in love.”

“Robert is not the monster that the government has described him to be. The Robert I know is very sweet, gentle, and kind,” she wrote. “He’s very determined and focused on his goals, and the things that have been said about him, with me and other women being held against our will is absolutely untrue.”

In the letter, Savage said” it breaks my heart that the government has created a narrative that I’m a victim.” She added, “I’m a grown woman, and can speak for myself which is why I wanted to provide this letter to the court.” She concluded the letter by writing that Kelly “is a great man, with a great heart and deserves to be home with his loved ones who are ready to support him.”

The letter was dated two weeks before US District Court Judge Ann Donnelly sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison on June 30. Kelly in September was convicted of racketeering, including acts of bribery and sexual exploitation of a child, and of separate charges of sex trafficking. When reading the sentencing, Donnelly said, “you left in your wake a trail of broken lives,” adding that in determining Kelly’s sentence, she considered the musician’s own traumatic childhood, stating, “it may explain, at least in part, what led to your behavior. It most surely is not an excuse.”