R. Kelly assistant says she NEVER helped him recruit women

R. Kelly assistant who walked in on him performing sex act on teenage Aaliyah says she NEVER helped him recruit women ‘because he was a mega superstar’ and ‘he didn’t need help’

  • Diana Copeland, R. Kelly’s long-time assistant, claimed she never helped R. Kelly recruit women or witnessed any illegal activities when she worked for him
  • She said the R&B singer needed no help getting women because of his status
  • In court, Copeland described Kelly as a controlling man who would keep his entourage of ‘girlfriends’ away from any man
  • Copeland said her responsibilities would end at his bedroom door 
  • She is accused of allegedly standing guard on a woman Kelly kept trapped 

R. Kelly’s executive assistant, who walked in on him performing sex acts on a teenager and is accused of standing guard on one of Kelly’s alleged trapped victims, said she would have done nothing differently if she could. 

Diana Copeland, Kelly’s assistant of 16 years, told Good Morning America that despite Kelly’s entourage of ‘girlfriends’ and strict house rules limiting their movement, she never suspected the music star of illegal activities and said she would not have been able to stop him even if she did. 

Copeland added that she had never seen anyone trapped in the house nor ever recruited any woman or girl for the R&B singer. 

‘He was R. Kelly, a mega superstar. He needed no help, absolutely no help to recruit women or to get women,’ Copeland said. 

Diana Copeland appeared on Good Morning America on Friday to claim that she did not help R. Kelly recruit women and that there was nothing she could have done to stop him

Copeland, Kelly’s former aide, testified that one of his girlfriends made her change into a robe during a 2019 meeting at Trump Tower so Kelly could see that she was not wearing a wire 

Copeland began testifying in R. Kelly’s trial last week. 

Copeland, who worked as an executive assistant for Kelly for 16 years, claimed that when he summoned her to his apartment in Trump Tower in Chicago in 2019, after she had already quit her job, one of the hip hop star’s girlfriends, Jane, made her change into a robe in order to prove that she was not wearing a wire.

‘Jane gave me a robe to put on. She asked me was I wired,’ Copeland told the jury in Brooklyn Federal Court. ‘I was shocked and I said no.’

Copeland said she removed the sweatshirt she was wearing and put on the robe over her tank top.

She said Kelly, 54, facing allegations of sexual abuse, asked her to write a ‘truthful’ letter, stating that he never verbally, physically or mentally abused anyone.

Copeland said in court that what she should have written instead was that she never witnessed him commit abuse.

The ex-aide said that years prior, Kelly had made her write a false confession, claiming that she had stolen money from him.

Under cross-examination, Copeland denied some of the claims that Kelly’s alleged victims had made during the trial, insisting that the women were not required to ask for permission to use the bathroom, were not denied food or locked in rooms for days.

In her testimony on Friday, however, Copeland claimed that a few years before Kelly’s 2019 arrest, the singer asked her why she had let one girlfriend ‘escape’ his apartment.

Copeland painted a portrait of Kelly as a controlling man who would not let his girlfriends ride in an Uber driven by a man.

The former aide said should would have to keep ordering ride-shares until a female driver arrived.

In an effort to limit his girlfriends’ interactions with other men, Copeland testified that he instructed them to turn around in public places, such as stores and elevators, so as not to meet a man’s gaze.

Copeland recounted how one time she inadvertently left Kelly’s girlfriend in an elevator because the woman had turned to face the back wall when a man walked in, and she did not see Copeland leave.

The long-time former assistant said she could move about his house relatively freely, but she was expected to knock on walls ‘to make sure that I announced my presence.’

She noted that Kelly expected everyone in his circle to knock on doors before entering: a rule that was put in place by the singer’s ex-wife.

Copeland said that despite countless arguments that led her to quit as Kelly’s assistant several time, she repeatedly went back to working for him because she felt ‘he didn’t have trustworthy employees.’

Copeland claimed that the award-winning singer did not control his bank account, did not know his own Social Security number, and struggled with reading and writing.

Copeland was the fifth former employee of Kelly’s to testify against him since the beginning of the high-profile trial on August 18.

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