During the throes of the investigation into R. Kelly’s personal life, he was consistently seen with with several ladies in tow. However, following in the footsteps of Halle Calhoun and Dominique Gardner, Azriel Clary took a stand against the “Ignition” singer after previously pleading for his justice. Since moving out of his Trump Tower Condo in November 2019, Azriel has been on social media while Kelly remains in prison, serving his 30-year sentence. But where is Azriel today? Keep reading to learn more about Azriel’s relationship with Kelly and what she is up to now.
How Did Azriel Clary and R. Kelly Meet?
Azriel and Kelly met when she was only 17 years old. She attended one of his concerts in Orlando with her family when he picked her out of the crowd to go on stage, her parents, Alice and Angelo Clary, said during their interview in Surviving R. Kelly. After Azriel and Kelly exited the stage from the back, Kelly asked her to sing and then exchanged phone numbers. Her parents said the two were secretly communicating without their knowledge.
Azriel convinced her parents that Kelly was going to help her with her music career. Although they did all they could do to make sure they were never alone together, things between Azriel and Kelly escalated. Kelly convinced her parents to let Azriel to go on tour with him, promising she would be in contact with them the whole time and she would be accompanied by a guardian. Azriel slowly stopped communicating with her parents.
Does Azriel Clary Still Support R. Kelly?
Although Azriel’s parents made various public pleas and allegations of kidnapping, she continued to keep her distance and accused them of extortion. Azriel was seen supporting Kelly at several court hearings and pleaded his innocence on CBS This Morning with Gayle King in 2019.
“I’m crying because you guys don’t know the truth! You guys believe in some f–king facade that our parents are saying. This is all f–king lies for money, and if you can’t see that, you’re ignorant and you’re stupid as f–k because you want to be. All because that’s the world we live in. Negativity sells, gossip is what sells, rumors are what sell,” Azriel cried in March 2019.
By November of that year, things seemingly changed as Azriel moved out of Kelly’s Chicago Trump Tower condo.
“No one ever wakes up and says, ‘Today I’m going to be manipulated, or taken advantage of, or kidnapped,’” she wrote via Twitter in January 2020. “Those are things you just cannot control. I never thought me and ‘victim’ would ever be in the same sentence because I too was in denial … but once you realize, you realize.”
Two years after her sit down with Gayle, Azriel returned to CBS for an interview with a different tone, claiming that the disgraced artist coached her on what to say.
“[Kelly] came in and he told us to be angry and be upset and she’s gonna try to do this,” she recalled in September 2021. “And so we were — we came in angry.”
“I was scared because I was, like, ‘I don’t want the world to see me this way,’ you know? I don’t — I’m loving, I’m caring, I’m compassionate. And no one got to see that side of me,” she told the Note to Self: Inspiring Words From Inspiring People author.
Azriel ultimately decided to testify against Kelly, telling Gayle, “It was very disturbing to have to relive those moments.”
“A piece of me was happy because I felt like this person no longer has control over me, you know? You don’t tell me what to do and what to wear and where to go and how long to be in a room anymore,” she said.
Where Is Azriel Clary Today?
From a young age, Azriel dreamed of becoming a singer and it seems she’s finally living out her dream and is using social media to promote her music.
“She’s a remarkable singer,” her mother said in the documentary, adding that she began singing at age 5 or 6.
Though she previously stated she would “never sing again,” Azriel revealed she “finally [found] confidence” in singing before releasing her music.
“The only memories I have attached to singing is when I was younger, and, as I said, it [burnt] me out. It was forceful and like a job and not something I enjoyed. Everything from that I wore, how my hair was styled, what song I sung, choreography, everything was not my choice which no longer made it fun,” she shared via social media. “So don’t bash me for finally finding confidence in something that was once a burden to me.”
She has since released songs such as “Sounds of An Angel,” “Inside Me” and “Wait on Me,” which was released on her 24th birthday.
“This is probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” she told HuffPost in June 2022. “I’m accomplishing things. I’m outgrowing old habits, and it’s really just a great place to be in.”
Discussion about this post