Defiant R&B singer R. Kelly walked out of a Chicago jail for the second time in as many weeks on Saturday after paying off the $161,000 in child support he owed his ex-wife.
Kelly walked out of a Chicago jail just after noon local time and quickly got into a waiting van as his lawyer prepared to talk to reporters.
Kelly had been jailed again since Wednesday after failing to make outstanding child support payments dating back eight months for his three children.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was previously jailed on Feb. 22 after he was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse and held on $1 million bond.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Defendants must typically pay 10 percent of the bond to be released from custody, but Kelly’s lawyer had said during the bond hearing the singer’s finances were “a mess.” He spent the weekend in jail, until a friend, Valencia Love, paid the $100,000 on Feb. 25 and he was released.
Just prior to being taken into custody on Wednesday, the 52-year old singer taped an operatic interview with “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King, in which he yelled and cried, calling the allegations against him “not fair.”
Kelly told King his ex-wife was lying when she said he abused her, asking, “How can I pay child support if my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can’t work?”
He also brought up his previous sexual assault case, which ended in his acquittal in 2008.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair to nobody. When you beat your case, you beat your case,” the singer said in a clip released by the network.
Kelly also told King he had “zero” relationship with his three children but said that they love him.
