R. Kelly Reportedly Hospitalized After Overdosing in Prison
Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was rushed to the hospital last week after overdosing in prison--and his lawyers allege someone tried to kill him.
Kelly, 58, who was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in 2022 and is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence in Butner, North Carolina, was taken to the hospital last week after overdosing on medication while in solitary confinement.
In a claim filed Monday, Kelly's lawyer Beau B. Brindley accuses prison staff of making the "Bump N' Grind" performer take more than his usual dosages.
When Kelly awoke the next morning, he was reportedly "faint" and "dizzy" and fell to the ground when he attempted to get up. The Chicago native then "crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness," the filing says.
Kelly was taken to Duke University Hospital by ambulance, where he remained for two days. During his stay, Kelly claims he learned he had taken an amount of medication that could have killed him, according to TMZ.
The "Pied Piper of R&B" also alleges that prison medical staff has taken him off necessary blood-thinner medication and won't allow him to have recommended surgery to remove blood clots in his legs and lungs.
"Surgery was ordered with a seven-day hospital stay," Brindley told Us Weekly. "Within an hour of the diagnosis, armed officers removed Mr. Kelly from the hospital. He was denied surgery that medical professionals deemed necessary.”
This latest filing comes days after Kelly and his lawyers asked to be moved from prison to home confinement because his life was being threatened. The three-time Grammy winner accused authorities of attempting to enlist an imprisoned Aryan Brotherhood gang leader named Mikeal Glenn Stine to kill him behind bars.
Federal prosecutors slammed Kelly's release attempt as "deeply unserious" and "a mockery of the harm suffered” by his abuse victims.