R. Kelly has plead not guilty to charges of bribery for offering money to a government official in Illinois in exchange for a fake I.D. The I.D is said to have been for Aaliyah, who tragically died in 2001. Kelly married Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27. Court documents listed her as 'Jane Doe,' a common pseudonym in order to protect anonymity, but US media claim that it was Aaliyah Dana Haughton.
While the couple married when Aaliyah was 15, a leaked certificate stated she was 18 years old, the youngest age you can legally get married in the US, excluding the states of Nebraska and Mississippi. The fake ID Kelly is accused of bribing an official for was allegedly later used as identification to obtain a marriage license, explaining why Aaliyah is listed as being 18-years-old on the certificate.
The court documents reportedly revealed that the bribe was paid on 30 August 1994, conveniently one day before he married Aaliyah. Vibe magazine reported, 'the marriage would be null and void if the ages are not legit' predicting what happened months later when it was uncovered the singer was underage.
The two reportedly met when Aaliyah was 12, through their shared manager and uncle to Aaliyah, Barry Hankerson. The pair worked on Aaliyah's first album together, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, written and produced by R. Kelly. Their marriage was kept secret until Aaliyah's family found out, and demanded an annulment. The two parted in 1995, which coincided with Aaliyah's father taking over as her manager, from her uncle, who presumingly was aware of the marriage.
Aaliyah denied ever being marriage to R. Kelly in an interview with Inside Edition in 1997, however the marriage was confirmed when the certificate was leaked by Vibe Magazine. Since this discovery, Steven Greenberg, R. Kelly's lawyer, said that Kelly had 'no idea' Aaliyah was 15 when they married. He confidently added, that the new bribery charge 'does not appear to materially alter the landscape.'
Kelly is also facing charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labour and sexual exploitation of a child in alleged incidents across four US states. Five other Jane Does are referenced throughout the court documents, including three minors.
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