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R. Kelly's alleged victim opens up to Jada Pinkett Smith in shocking 'Red Table Talk'

Anika Reed
USA TODAY

Jada Pinkett Smith is using her platform to talk about R. Kelly and the aftermath of the Lifetime docu-series "Surviving R. Kelly."

In part one of a special two-part "Red Table Talk," which aired early Saturday on Facebook, Pinkett Smith, daughter Willow Smith and mom Adrienne Banfield-Jones were joined by Lisa Van Allen, who appeared in the docu-series and says she was a victim of Kelly's abusive behavior. 

"When he first told me he had never had a threesome, and I felt like I needed to do that for him because we were together and I was living with him," Van Allen said in the clip. "I did it, and then he wanted another one and another one, and that's when it was like 'Uh oh.' "

Van Allen described her relationship with Kelly to Pinkett Smith. 

Van Allen said in "Surviving R. Kelly" the singer coerced her into having sex with him and a 14-year-old girl, lying to Van Allen and telling her that the other girl was 16, not 14, she said. She said that she found a sex tape that allegedly featured her with Kelly and the 14-year-old. 

Lifetime will air an encore marathon of all six-hours of "Surviving R. Kelly" on Friday starting at 6 EST/PST.

Van Allen also claimed in the docu-series she stole the infamous tape. 

"People need to remember that Lisa you were a child on that tape and I think that people got that twisted, the idea that those were two minors," said Pinkett Smith, who had joined other celebrities in speaking out on social media about the docu-series.

"Exactly," Van Allen replied. "People don't understand, I was 17. When I started noticing that he was a liar and a manipulator was when I started putting things together that didn't add up, like when I found out the girl was younger. And I'm like 'why would he do that?' Things like that are when I started really really questioning him."

R. Kelly performs in concert in 2015.

"Because the threesomes, even though I didn't want them and I didn't like them, back then I would have done them, and I hate to say that," Van Allen said. 

She continued: "I have a thing I say now to young girls or girls in general: Love yourself first. Because that was the problem. I was putting his feelings before mine.

"I didn't care that it bothered me. I didn't care that I cried and I was upset and I had to share someone I loved with other women," she said. "I wanted him to be happy."

'Surviving R. Kelly': All the shocking claims from night one of the docu-series

More: The most horrifying claims from night two

More: Everything we learned from the docu-series' finale

“People say, ‘Once they found out she was 14 why didn’t you turn him in?’ Because I loved him. I wanted to help him get better first because that’s how we work as far as love goes,” she continued. “I’m not going to call the cops on someone I love. I’m going to try to figure out how to help you and what I can do to save you.”

“Once I realized he couldn’t be saved — he didn’t want to be saved — he would tell me things like: ‘My mama told me if you love a man, you don’t try to change him.’ The older I got it was like, ‘Boy, that’s some bull.' ”

Before Van Allen joined the table, Smith started off the episode by talking about her feelings toward the docu-series.

"I felt a lot of things. I had a lot of feeling about it. One being, I was like, man, how complicit we all have been," she said. "That really broke my heart to really think about, we ignored it."

She also said she understood the alleged victims and opened up about her own previous abusive relationships.

"So I'll tell you one of the honey traps for me, the you ain't (expletive) cycle, where you have somebody that breaks you down and then comes back to you and they're like I can't live with out you. And the endorphins in my mind and those highs and lows and even just being addicted to that cycle," she explained. "I've been there, I've been addicted to that cycle."

She continued, "And the idea of having a superstar point you out, where most of us come from backgrounds where we feel neglected, we feel like we haven't been loved enough."

In the Lifetime docu-series, Van Allen described that after finding out the girl's age and seeing the sex tape, she stole it. 

"I came across the (tape) one with me, him and the 14-year-old,” she said, stating the tape contained footage of Kelly urinating on the girl. "...When I saw it, it upset me, and I didn’t want him to have possession of the tape anymore, because I was in it. So I took it, and I kept it on me, and when I got a chance to go back to my hotel room, I left it at my hotel room. And he never noticed it was gone.

“I just didn’t know that there was a point in time when they were talking about killing me," she concluded.

More: 'Surviving R. Kelly' reignites prosecutors' interest in Atlanta, Chicago

Van Allen is not the only person to voice her thoughts since the docu-series.

R. Kelly's estranged daughter Joann Kelly, who goes by the stage name Buku Abi, spoke out about the growing controversy surrounding her father on her Instagram story Thursday.

"I just want you all to understand that devastated is an understatement," Kelly, 20, wrote. "I pray for all the families & women who have been affected by my father's actions. Trust, I am deeply affected by all of this. However, it had been very difficult to process it all. Let alone gather all the right words to express everything I feel."

However, the docu-series appears to have reignited interest in Kelly's music, despite fans and celebrities calling to #MuteRKelly on social media, as album sales, song sales and audio and video streams for the artist all have spiked since the premiere. 

More: R. Kelly's birthday celebration at a Chicago nightclub interrupted by police

More: Omarion receives backlash after he says he'll retire R. Kelly songs -- after tour

Contributing: Cydney Henderson, Maeve McDermott, Julia Thompson

 

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