R. Kelly Claims Ex Trashed Him to Their Kids ... Child Support Stopped in Response
EXCLUSIVE
R. Kelly[1] is rationalizing his decision to stop paying child support -- claiming his ex-wife set the ball in motion by turning their children against him.
Sources close to R. Kelly tell us the singer was absolutely lashing out at Drea Kelly when he quit writing child support checks ... a move that ultimately landed him in Cook County jail.
We're told Kelly feels like he tried to maintain a relationship with his 3 kids, but he blames Drea for ruining any chance of that. He's said he thinks she brainwashed them.
Of course, Kelly's revenge move is incredibly warped logic -- punishing your ex by cutting off the money needed to help your kids.
We broke the story ... Kelly owes Drea over $160k[2] in back child support, and he was begging the court for a reduction[3] so he could get out of jail[4]. Of course, Kelly coughed up the bare minimum -- $161,633 - on Saturday, and walked out of jail a free man again.
Sources close to the singer tell us he scraped the cash together[5] with the help of a "benefactor." He assured his fans Saturday that "we're gonna straighten all this out."
As we've reported ... Kelly was supposed to be paying Drea $20,833 per month as of January 2009 -- but he fell way off schedule last year.
R. Kelly's camp says the singer got into a huge fight when he last saw Drea back in 2017 ... and after that, we're