Porsha Williams addresses sexual encounter with R. Kelly in new memoir
Williams' memoir, "The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power and Purpose" was released on Tuesday
Porsha Williams has always been comfortable with exposing the intimate details of her life to the world.
That was made evident in the decade she spent on the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of Atlanta, detailing her tumultuous relationship with ex-husband Kordell Stewart, and on her new spin-off, Porsha’s Family Matters, centered around her current beau, Simon Guobadia.
But on Tuesday, she revealed a secret that surprised her fans. She admitted in her new memoir, “The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power and Purpose” that she’d had a sexual encounter with R. Kelly.
Williams, 40, wrote that she has a history of attracting men who abuse her, either physically or mentally. One such incident centered around an uncomfortable sexual experience she had with Kelly in 2007 when she was 25-years-old. She said that while in Las Vegas, one of Kelly’s assistants approached her and invited her to the disgraced singer/songwriter’s Chicago mansion.
But rather than being taken to Kelly’s recording studio, she was taken to his bedroom, where she remained for hours. She stated that once Kelly, who was 39 at the time, emerged, she had sex with him even though she felt uncomfortable.
“I’ve already put myself in this position,” Williams wrote. “This is what you’re supposed to do. You have to.”
Kelly was just the latest of a slew of men in Williams’ life who had taken advantage of her, she said in the book.
Williams said her lack of self-esteem is why she accepted this pattern of abuse during an interview with Variety.
“I had my own business, I had my own home,” Williams said. “It was a mentality that has been conditioned over the years by men — that they are better than me. And I only have value if they say I have value. I think me being in that weakened mindset made me ready and available for him to be a predator, and seek me out.”
That wasn’t the only time Williams would visit Kelly’s house, but the last time is when she realized it was time to let him go. While attending a party at his home with “twenty or thirty other girls,” Kelly handpicked some of them, but left Williams out.
After ending up alone, she asked, “What is my life?”
Williams then demanded to leave after overhearing the sounds of women screaming and being beaten.
Williams detailed the encounter during an appearance on The Tamron Hall Show recently, explaining her decision to disclose it amid the news of his trial and eventual conviction for sex trafficking.
“Putting his name in the book is just putting a name to another face that I had already encountered before,” Williams told Hall. “I didn’t love myself, I didn’t see who I was in those situations.”
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