Beyoncé's father and former manager of Destiny's Child, Mathew Knowles, is claiming that he did everything possible to protect the girlband from R Kelly.
After hearing "some of those things" about the notorious sexual predator, he deliberately kept Destiny's Child away from him for their safety.
He also admits that hearing about Kelly's horrendous reputation for sexual, mental and physical abuse played a role in stopping the R&B band from collaborating with him.
A criminal investigation into dozens of allegations against R Kelly is now underway in Chicago and Atlanta following the Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly.
The Ignition singer, real name Robert Kelly, is accused of holding numerous women in a dangerous 'sex cult' in his homes, as well as having abusive, sexual relationships with underage girls as young as 12. He strongly denies this.
Rumours of his behaviour have been rampant since the early 1990s, after he forged singer Aaliyah's documents to allow her to marry him aged just 15, while he was 27.
Knowles claims that he originally turned down offers for Destiny's Child to collaborate with Kelly at first because he "didn't think it was a good song", according to Metro.
The 67-year-old, who is the father of Beyoncé and Solange, commented that he never let the band members out of his sight;
"I was there, and my former wife Tina was there. The thing with R Kelly was, he liked to record late at night, around midnight. And what was different with his studio was that one room had a recording suite, and next door was a club, with 40 or 50 people dancing."
He continued; "R Kelly was managed by Sony, by someone I won’t name, and at that time, they would almost force you to record with their artists. R Kelly wasn’t cheap – it was $75,000, plus travel costs, so we’re talking $100,000 for a song."
He added that Kelly's negative reputation was in it's early stages, "I personally rejected the song, because I didn’t think it was a good song. Not just because of his reputation – this was around 1998, we had just begun to hear some of those things."
Mathew later said that the rumours surrounding Kelly's deplorable behaviour played a part in his choices for the girlband from then on, he said;
"Certainly, it was both of those things. The girls were 15, 16. When they went to the bathroom, Tina would go with them. They did not leave our eyes." They were allegedly under strict supervision, and were protected from him.
Another source for Metro claims that;
"Record labels would ask R Kelly to write songs for emerging artists as a way to help them break into the industry and he made several requests for Destiny’s Child," the source suggests.
"Mathew and Tina rejected all of them because they didn’t want him anywhere near the band which is why they are one of the few acts to debut in the 90s without an R Kelly song in its official discography," they added.
Only one Destiny's Child song is associated with R Kelly, Stimulate Me, which appeared on the soundtrack for Eddie Murphy's film Life in 1999.
Apparently Kelly did not work in the studio at the same time as the group, and the song never actually appeared as an official Destiny's Child release, so the gals are off the hook.
We're glad Mathew Knowles had the ability to keep the group protected from him, sadly other women weren't as fortunate.
