Reshona Landfair, long identified in court records and the press as “Jane Doe,” says she met R. Kelly as a preteen in 1996. She recalls being starstruck at first and then groomed, leading to years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Landfair also describes the profound isolation she felt when a videotape of Kelly abusing her became public.
Speaking with NPR’s All Things Considered host Juana Summers, Landfair said the aftermath felt like being imprisoned: deeply traumatizing, hurtful and lonely. The tape was shown to juries in two trials related to Kelly’s child pornography charges — in 2008, which ended in acquittal, and again in 2022, which resulted in conviction.
Her new memoir, Who’s Watching Shorty? Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R. Kelly’s Abuse (Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group), traces her turbulent adolescence, her escape from a long cycle of exploitation, and her work to reclaim her identity and speak for other survivors. The full interview aired on NPR’s All Things Considered.