Lanita Carter said she was 24 and working as R. Kelly’s hairdresser at the time of the alleged sexual assault.
An R. Kelly accuser spoke out publicly for the first time this week, saying the R&B singer tried to force her to have oral sex in 2003.
Lanita Carter told "CBS This Morning" she was 24 years old and working as Kelly’s hairdresser at the time of the alleged sexual assault. She said one day she received a call to do Kelly’s hair and when he came into the room, he asked her for a massage.
“I told him I didn't do massages, I laughed it off,” Carter said. “And I didn't know he was for real…. If I could change that day — I wouldn't have been there."
Carter, who is listed in Kelly’s recent indictment as “L.C.,” said that before the alleged sexual assault she would have described Kelly, whose real name is Robert, as a “perfect gentleman” but that all changed on Feb. 18, 2003.
"He pulled my braid down by him. And he say, 'S*** it for daddy, s*** it for daddy.' And I said, 'No,”’ Carter said. “And he just started going, [spitting noises]. He did it, like, six times.”
Carter claimed Kelly only stopped because he was interrupted by a knock at the door.
She said she called the police the same day and they retrieved her clothes and allegedly found DNA evidence, according to Carter, but charges were not filed. She said she later signed a $650,000 settlement with Kelly and agreed to keep quiet, according to CBS News.
In 2009, Kelly allegedly referenced Carter in a song about having sex with a woman who does “zigzag” braids.
"That was one of the hairstyles that I was known for doing, that I never did on him," Carter said.
Kelly reportedly paid Carter $100,000 in a settlement about the song in 2009 and agreed not to perform it or include it in future albums, CBS News reported.
Kelly is currently out on bail after being charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four women. He has pleaded not guilty. A woman who said she was a friend of Kelly’s paid 10 percent of his $1 million bail to free him.
Late last month attorney Michael Avenatti announced that he had given a videotape to the state attorney's office that showed Kelly engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl.
The charges came on the heels of "Surviving R. Kelly," a docu-series that accused the Grammy Award-winning artist of repeatedly having sex with underage women, and being physically and emotionally abusive to many women and young girls.
“I think all the women are lying. Mr. Kelly is strong, he's got a lot of support and he's going to be vindicated on all these charges — one by one if it has to be,” Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg said after the singer was indicted.
Kelly faced child pornography charges in 2002 for a tape that prosecutors said depicted Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Six years later, he was acquitted of those charges.
He has always denied all allegations of wrongdoing against him.
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