R. Kelly accuser testifies her defense of singer in CBS News interview was not truthful, now says relationship was abusive

An R. Kelly accuser on Tuesday testified in the singer's federal racketeering trial that she wasn't truthful during a 2019 interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, in which she defended the disgraced R&B singer as he hovered nearby. Although the woman identified herself to King by name during the interview, she is now testifying anonymously during Kelly's trial using a pseudonym.

In her interview with King, the woman said she and another woman were Kelly's live-in girlfriends. At the time, she described a loving relationship, but later said she had been "brainwashed" by Kelly. Speaking in court on Tuesday, the woman said Kelly was present during the 2019 CBS News interview, and would cough to "to let us know he was there" and signal that the two women should back up his denials of abuse. (King reported on "CBS This Morning" at the time that Kelly was present and coughed at times during the interview.) The woman testified that she would now characterize her relationship with Kelly as abusive, though she said she did not feel that way at the time. She said that she has had no contact with Kelly since January 2020.