Anonymous R. Kelly accuser identifies herself: 'I'm not ashamed of my past anymore'
R. Kelly‘s former hairdresser, Lanita Carter, is speaking out publicly for the first time about an alleged 2003 assault that helped lead to the R&B singer’s arrest.
Last month, the “Ignition” singer pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were minors. Carter is identifying herself as the woman listed in the indictment as “L.C.” Carter, now 40, was 24 years old at the time of the purported incident.
“I’m not ashamed of my past anymore. I’m not ashamed of what naysayers say,” Carter tells CBS News. She braided Kelly’s hair for more than a year and viewed him as a friend, even defending him over child pornography charges in 2002.
“Two words: perfect gentlemen,” Carter recalls. “I would tell people, ‘Pray for him. Pray for him. I do his hair. He is nothing like what they say!'”
She says that all changed on Feb. 18, 2003. “I get a phone call to come down and do his hair… When he came to the room and he asked me for that head massage, and I told him I didn’t do massages, I laughed it off. And I didn’t know he was for real,” Carter remembers. “If I could change that day – I wouldn’t have been there.”
Carter claims he “pulled my braid down by him” and told her to perform oral sex. “And he just started going… He did it, like, six times,” she says, alleging he only stopped after someone knocked on the door.
“He didn’t open the door right away. He says, ‘Fix your face! Fix your motherf***ing face!'” Carter recalls. “I knew that it’ll be my last day there… And I get to the bathroom, and I grabbed a wall, and it was a rose-colored towel… I wiped my face… I’m not dressed no type of way. I look at myself in the mirror, like, I’m not a beauty queen. I didn’t perceive myself to be nothing more than just his hair braider… And I was kept thinking to myself, like, ‘Why did this happen to me?'”
She states that she immediately called the police and provided them with DNA evidence from her shirt; however, no charges were brought against the singer. “Celebrities are powerful. Celebrities have support systems. I have no support system outside of my immediate family,” Carter notes.
Ten months after the alleged incident she signed a $650,000 settlement in which Kelly denied any wrongdoing and Carter agreed to keep quiet. Then in 2009, Kelly released the song “Hair Braider” where he boasted about having sex with a woman who braids his hair. That led to another confidential settlement — for $100,000. Kelly once again denied any wrongful conduct, but agreed to never perform the song or include it in future albums.
Carter responded to Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx, who pleaded with victims to come forward after Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary captured headlines. She also saw Kelly’s erratic interview with Gayle King where he denied all accusations of pedophilia and abuse and she was inspired to come forward.
“This is a release. I’ve been carryin’ this since 2003,” she declares, with tears streaming down her face. “I don’t want to be in the public. But this is my life… If I die tomorrow, I know that I told the truth.”
Kelly’s defense attorney, Steve Greenberg, said in a statement: “These allegations were fully investigated by the police and prosecutors… And a decision was made, after evaluating all of the evidence, not to bring any charges.”
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