Joycelyn Savage wants everyone to know that she is happy.
She spoke to TMZ in an interview late Monday night the same day BuzzFeed published a story claiming that she and other women were being held "against their will in a cult" by Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly.
Savage's parents held a press conference in Johns Creek on Monday in front of a home they say is Kelly's, and alleging their daughter has been "brainwashed" by the singer. Her father, Timothy Savage, said he hasn't seen his daughter since December and believes she now lives at Kelly's Chicago home.
Wearing long hair and a grey sweater, 21-year-old Jocelyn Savage disputed the claims that her parents and sources cited in the BuzzFeed story made about Robert Sylvester Kelly. The story alleges that Savage and other women lived in Kelly’s homes in Chicago and in Johns Creek in an environment that is “an abusive cult.”
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"I just mainly want to say that I am in a happy place with my life," said Savage, a former Georgia Gwinnett College student. "I’m not being brainwashed or anything like that. It just came to a point where it definitely has gotten out of hand. I just want everybody to know—my parents and everybody in the world—that I am totally fine. I’m happy where I’m at, and everything is okay with me."
In the video, the male interviewer asks Savage if she is “being held against her will” or doing anything she doesn’t want to do. She says no.
“I’ve never felt like a hostage or anything like that in that nature,” she says. “Never.”
Savage says she texts her parents from “time to time” but last spoke to them face-to-face parents “five or six months” ago and they have been “causing problems” in her life.
Savage said she’s not in Georgia, but didn’t tell the BuzzFeed reporter where she was. Savage also dodged questions on who she was with and if she was allowed to leave wherever she was.
“No,” she said. “I don’t want to speak on that.”
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Kelly’s lawyer, Linda Mensch, sent a statement to the AJC yesterday saying Kelly will “forcibly pursue his accusers to clear his name.”
Timothy Savage, Joycelyn's father, is calling Kelly's bluff. He filmed a short video yesterday in response to the interview Joycelyn gave to TMZ.
“... (Joycelyn is) not allowed to tell you her location,” Timothy Savage says. “Mr. R. Kelly, if you want to file a lawsuit, you should’ve filed it yesterday. I’m waiting on you. File the lawsuit. If that’s what you want to do, I’ll see you in court. File it, so everybody can see your dirty laundry.”
Savage ended the video with a short message to his daughter, saying he was praying for her.
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