00:00During Gayle King's sit-down with Joycelyn Savage and Azrael Clary, who are 23 and 21
00:04respectively for CBS This Morning, both young women were adamant that they are in a
00:08relationship with R. Kelly and are living with him of their own free will.
00:12A portion of King's interview with the girls aired Thursday, one day after the anchor
00:16sit-down with an extremely volatile Kelly, with Savage and Clary echoing the singer's
00:20claims that their parents have falsely accused Kelly, who was 52, of brainwashing
00:24and kidnapping their daughters in an attempt to make money. Said Clary, who was 17 at the
00:28time she met the R&B singer.
00:30When I first met Robert, my parents told me to lie about my age. So when I met him,
00:36he thought that I was 18.
00:38Clary went on to add that her parents lied to the police as well, telling them that she was
00:4218 years old. Savage, who met Kelly when she was 19, agreed with Clary's statement, saying
00:47both our parents are basically out here trying to get money and scam.
00:50During Kelly's interview with King, part of which aired on Wednesday morning, Kelly
00:54claimed that Savage's and Clary's parents had been selling their daughters to him for
00:57money and had approved of the relationship until they had ceased to profit from it.
01:01Shortly after King's sit-down with the Grammy winner aired, Kelly, who was out on bail
01:05following his arrest for 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, returned to
01:09police custody for failing to pay $161,000 in child support payments.
01:13Meanwhile, in a press conference held Wednesday, Savage's parents argued Kelly's claims
01:17that they had sold their daughter to him, with Timothy Savage imploring,
01:21From day one, the only thing we wanted to do was to actually see our daughter, hear from our
01:25daughter and make sure she's fine. Both the Savage and Clary families have denied ever seeking
01:29financial compensation from Kelly, nor receiving any.
01:32During the CBS interview, both Savage and Clary reiterated several times that their parents
01:36were mistaken in believing that they had been brainwashed by Kelly, with Clary insisting in
01:40particular that her parents have known where she has been the last four years, have seen her
01:44several times and have stopped answering her phone calls.
01:47She also claimed that her parents encouraged her to take sexual photos and videos with Kelly.
01:51And they said, because if they ever have to blackmail him, what they're trying to do now,
01:56they can use it against him, which is exactly what they're doing.
01:59The interview then began to take a similar path to Kelly's dramatic one the day before,
02:02with Clary succumbing to tears as she told King that no one knew the truth and that the whole
02:06situation came down to lies for money.
02:08All because that's the world we live in. Negativity sells.
02:11Gossip is what sells. Rumors are what sells.
02:14When King pushed back that this isn't about rumors, it's about decades of sex
02:17assault. Clary insisted that they weren't there to talk about allegations.
02:20They were there to talk about their parents.
02:22Back in the CBS studio after the clip from the interview aired, King revealed that Kelly's
02:26team had agreed that the singer would not be in the room while she spoke with the girls,
02:29but that he had entered the room anyway and coughed loudly at times to make them aware
02:33of his presence.
02:34Anchor Nora O'Donnell also added that Kelly tried to stop the interview several times backstage.
02:39During the Savage Family's Wednesday news conference, Joycelyn's mother referred to
02:43King's interview with Kelly, during which he screamed, cried, swore and beat his chest
02:47in frustration, saying,
02:55An expanded version of King's sit-downs with both Kelly and Clary and Savage will air as a
02:59one-hour primetime special on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern and will include unseen portions
03:03of both interviews.
03:04To read more on this story, head to THR.com.
03:07For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.
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