Wendy Williams, 54, is taking the sexual abuse allegations against R. Kelly, 52, very seriously. The outspoken talk show host — who returned to her show on March 4, after a health-advised hiatus — got serious when she reacted to Kelly’s explosive interview with Gayle King, which CBS This Morning aired part of the sit-down on Wednesday morning (March 6). In teaser clips from the interview, Kelly was overcome with emotion and burst into tears while denying the sexual abuse allegations against him. At one point, he began to raise his voice. “This is not me! I’m fighting for my f–king life!”, Kelly said directly into the camera.
After seeing the clip, Wendy became emotional herself — not because she thinks the rapper is not guilty, but because she believes he needs more help than being put behind bars. “At this point, R. Kelly’s got nothing to lose. He’s a sick man,” Wendy told her audience during her show on March 6. “You know I’ve been around for a very long time… the radio days — I went from finding him hella guilty, to guilty and feeling really sorry for him and wanting him to get help.”
Wendy continued: “His help is not behind bars. I don’t know where his help is… This is not just Robert Kelly this is a whole stable of people he had involved… It’s not just R Kelly, it’s going around our country… This is terrible.”
“Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn't do this stuff! This is not me! I'm fighting for my f***ing life! Y'all killing me with this sh*t!" @RKelly told @GayleKing, standing up. "I gave you 30 years of my f***ing career!"https://t.co/u4AENVJQsc pic.twitter.com/jLF7l8etYh
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
There were many notable moments during King’s interview with Kelly, including the part where he told her that he needed “help.” This came after he denied the sexual abuse allegations against him.
“I need help. This is the kind of help I need. I need somebody to help me not have a big heart because my heart is so big,” Kelly told King. “People betray me and I keep forgiving them.” But, later on in the interview, he agreed he needed to seek therapy.
Kelly has been open about his claims that he was a victim of molestation in the past. When asked about being molested, said that it has “absolutely not” affected his behavior. However, he did admit that his past has affected his music.
Kelly was also asked about his relationship with the two women he currently lives with — Azriel Clary, 21, and Joycelyn Savage, 23. “I love them and it’s like they’re my girlfriends, it’s like we have a relationship. It’s real and I’ve known guys all my life to have five or six women, ok, so don’t go there on me because that’s the truth,” he explained. When King noted that the two women are much younger than him, Kelly said, “I don’t look at ‘much younger’ than me, I just look at ‘legal.'”