R. Kelly's Girlfriend Jocelyn Savage Charged After Altercation At Trump Tower In Chicago
She says she's R. Kelly's girlfriend.
Getty Who is Joycelyn Savage? Savage is one of two of R. Kelly's girlfriends, one of whom has since ended her relationship.
In March 2019, while rumors began swirling that R. Kelly was holding women against their will, Savage and Azriel Clary, his other girlfriend, said they were his girlfriends and were willingly living with the 53-year-old singer. However, many people, including their parents, expressed concerns that the two women were brainwashed by him.
And just recently, Savage was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor after getting into an altercation with Clary.
The fight was seen on Instagram Stories earlier this month, and has since been uploaded to YouTube.
In February 2019, following Kelly's arrest on multiple alleged sexual misconduct charges, he was interviewed by CBS This Morning's Gayle King. In CBS News' primetime special, The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly, both Savage and Clary also sat down to be interviewed by King.
Clary’s parents and Savage’s parents were interviewed in the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which aired in January 2019. Clary’s parents, Alice and Angelo, said they hadn't had contact with their daughter in years. Clary denied ever having sex with Kelly before she was 18 years old, although her father said otherwise. Clary accused her parents of encouraging her to make sexual videos with Kelly and then blackmailing him for money.
Savage’s parents, Timothy and Jonjelyn, alleged she was also brainwashed victim being held against her will by Kelly. The Savage's family lawyer, Gerald Griggs, denied the claim the parents were trying to extort R. Kelly for money. "At no point have the Savages requested any money from Mr. Robert Sylvester Kelly, they have never received any money from Robert Sylvester Kelly and they don't want any money from Robert Sylvester Kelly," he said.
But at that time, Clary and Savage said there was nothing inappropriate about their relationship. In the CBS This Morning interview, Azriel cried as Savage comforted her. “I’m crying because you guys don’t know the truth. You guys believe in some façade that our parents are saying. This is all lies for money. If you can’t see that you’re ignorant and you’re stupid,” she said.
King later revealed that Kelly would not be present in the room for the interview with Clary and Savage. But once the interview began, he coughed very loudly “so they were aware that he was there.” King also said that Kelly interrupted the interview several times. When King asked, "Do both of you all believe you're in love with him?" Savage replied, “Absolutely.”
Since R. Kelly's arrest, Clary left R. Kelly's condo, has reunited with her family, and is considering assisting with the investigation against her ex.
But really, who is Joycelyn Savage? Was she willingly in a relationship with R. Kelly and Azriel Clary? And what is the fallout from her altercation with Clary? Here's what we know.
1. Who is Joycelyn Savage? She was just a teenager when she met R. Kelly.
Joycelyn was an aspiring teenage singer. Through a contact, Joycelyn met R. Kelly to discuss her possible music career through her father when she was 19. They went to one of his concerts and then met him backstage.
“When we got to go backstage with R. Kelly, we stayed there over two hours,” Joycelyn’s mom, Jonjelyn Savage, said back in 2017. “One-on-one with just me and my daughter and him. We went back to talk about the music. He listened to her CD. He was going to help her with her CD, and I was really impressed with him at first, because I have always been an R. Kelly fan.”
"I didn't go looking for a Joycelyn Savage. I was doing my show... he brought her and asked a friend of mine to put her on the stage with R. Kelly, make sure she's on the stage," Kelly told King on CBS This Morning.
2. She dropped out of college.
In May 2018, Joycelyn’s parents were interviewed by Megyn Kelly on Today. She was in college, and then dropped out. They didn’t find out directly from Joycelyn, however.
“We got a call from her roommate that she didn’t return for the Spring semester, and her room was cleaned out,” Jonjelyn said. They had no knowledge that it happened and she subsequently moved in with R. Kelly.
3. Savage lost contact with her family.
According to the Savages, Joycelyn stopped contacting her family. Her phone was no longer under her name, she didn’t answer phone calls, and she didn’t talk to her mom as they used to talk every day. They were a close-knit family and she didn’t even go to a grandparent’s funeral.
In 2016, Joycelyn's parents tried to get her away from R. Kelly through an intervention that they filmed and posted a video on YouTube. They claim their daughter Joycelyn is currently being brainwashed and held against her will.
“She’s being controlled,” Timothy Savage told Megyn Kelly. “I know my daughter.”
“It was as if she was brainwashed. [She] looked like a prisoner — it was horrible,” Jonjelyn said back in July 2017. “I hugged her and hugged her. But she just kept saying she’s in love and [Kelly] is the one who cares for her. I don’t know what to do. I hope that if I get her back, I can get her treatment for victims of cults. They can reprogram her. But I wish I could have stopped it from happening.”
Joycelyn’s parents said they have only heard from their daughter twice since they last saw her. They got a one-sentence text from her on Christmas Day 2018: “I hate Christmas has to be this way this year.” Jonjelyn received another text on May 14, 2018: “Happy Mother’s Day from me and Rob.”
4. She has denied being kept against her will.
Before Kelly was arrested, Savage was living with Kelly and said she was doing fine, despite her parents telling the police that she was “being held against her will” in what they called a “cult.” In July 2017, Joycelyn said, “I’m 21... I am in a happy place in my life and I’m not being brainwashed or anything like that. I’m happy where I’m at and everything is OK with me.”
During the Gayle King interview, when King alluded to their future, Clary replied, “I haven't figured out what I want to do with my life, but I know when that time comes, we know Rob is gonna support us regardless."
Savage agreed, adding, "Right, most definitely. He's our full support, and we're his full support. And all we need is each other... Both our parents are basically out here trying to get money and scam. Because they didn’t agree on what happened, you know? With music or whatever it could be. And they’re just very upset.”
5. Savage reached out to her family after the interview.
Soon after R. Kelly was interviewed by King, publicist Dontaye Carter shared a video on Twitter. In the video, Savage was on the telephone talking to her worried family.
In the video, her family members told Savage that they love her. They question why — if she was reportedly fine — hasn't she tried to call them or attended any funerals of people she knew. They ask her why she had yet to visit her grandmother, who has stage 4 cancer.
While Savage’s mom and sister asked her to come home, Savage said, “I have told you guys a million, million times, that I’m OK where I am and I’m happy, so I just really want to let you know that.”
Carter shared in the tweet that he believed what Savage said was scripted.
6. Savage got into a physical altercation with Clary.
On January 8, 2020, police were called to Trump Tower in Chicago, responding to a fight between two women. The two women were later revealed to be Joycelyn Savage, 24, and Azriel Clary, 22. What began as just an exchange of words turned physical, when Savage allegedly struck Clary in the face.
Though someone eventually separated them, Clary was taken to the hospital, and Savage turned herself in. She's since been charged with domestic battery. Even stranger is that the altercation occurred on R. Kelly's 53rd birthday, which he probably didn't celebrate since he's currently in jail.
7. She was later reunited with her family after appearing in court.
According to Griggs, Joycelyn’s parents’ attorney, she reunited with her parents after leaving a courthouse on January 9, 2020. Griggs says “Joycelyn was surprised to see her family at first, but talked to them for about 20 minutes.” Griggs also added that Savage is “willing to set up further contact” and will be in touch.
Savage is due back in court in a few weeks. And only time will tell if she will tell the truth about R. Kelly.
Maria Lianos-Carbone is author of "Oh Baby! A Mom's Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year" and publisher of amotherworld.com.