Porsha Williams revealed for the first time her experience with R.Kelly and why she chose to share her story with the authorities.
“I realized it was my opportunity to help anyone who’s been hurt by him,” she told PEOPLE. “There had been so many other instances where I had been abused by men that my mentality [at that time] was of an abused person and that it was okay for me to be treated like that.”
According to People, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star, then, 25, contemplated a career in music when she met a friend of the R&B singer in 2007. While she was flown to Chicago to meet and potentially work with Kelly, Williams said she expected to be driven to a recording studio when she arrived but was taken to the singer’s home instead.
After a brief introduction with Kelly — who was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in September — someone led the reality star to the singer’s room and left her there for hours. When Kelly returned to his room, he asked Williams to take off her clothes.
“I’ve already put myself in this position,” she writes in her new memoir, The Pursuit of Porsha. “This is what you’re supposed to do. You have to. There is no turning back.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Thomas A. Farinella, declined to comment.
According to Williams’ memoir, she saw Kelly two more times after their encounter and recalled meeting several women staying at the singer’s home at the time. However, Williams decided not to see Kelly again after one morning she heard a young woman being abused in the next room.
Williams kept her experience with Kelly a secret for years — even from those closest to her.
“It’s not something you want to tell your mom because my mom is a very strong woman, and she did her very best in raising me,” said Williams. “And I think for any woman or man who’s been in an abusive situation, you don’t want to tell your parents because you don’t want them to think that they had let you down in any way. I don’t want her to think that she has done anything wrong. And so I took it upon myself.”
“But I was glad when I did, and she was glad that I told her, and we talked about it, Williams noted. “She told me some of her experiences. And we just talked about how this should be told, so other women don’t have to go through it.”
Williams’ memoir, “The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power and Purpose,” hits bookshelves on Nov. 30.
