FORT WORTH, Texas — To go on national television, sharing the darkest moments of your life, is terrifying. But Kitti Jones did it, and there’s a good chance you saw it.
"We knew it was going to be a big deal," said Jones, of the Lifetime documentary "Surviving R. Kelly" that debuted this month.
In it, Jones shares her story with the singer that started in North Texas in November of 2011.
"That’s when my life changed," she said.
At the time, Jones was 33 and a popular DJ with R&B radio station 97.9 The Beat. She met Kelly after a local concert inside a Mansfield bar. Soon after, she left her radio job, moved to be with Kelly in Chicago and toured with him. She says, off-stage, she endured two years of emotional and physical abuse. Jones told her story to Rolling Stone magazine in 2017, but the documentary was different.
"I went in, feeling like ‘Bring it,’" she said. "I’m just going to let it go, and I didn’t hold anything back."
The response has been huge. The series broke ratings records for the Lifetime network. Calls for more witnesses in Chicago, a new investigation in Georgia, and refusals to play Kelly’s music have made these women feel that sharing their pain is finally paying off.
"It’s not that they’re just hearing us, they’re believing us," said Jones.
Kelly has denied all allegations against him. But Jones feels empowered these women’s voices may finally be drowning out his -- voices of survivors.
"I can’t even put it into words. Not even just being looked at as one, I feel like one," Jones said.