Porsha Williams is gearing up for the release of her first-ever book ‘The Pursuit of Porsha‘ on November 30, and her accompanying ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ spin-off series ‘Porsha’s Family Matters‘ set to air November 28.
Ahead of both releases, the former RHOA star has been sharing teasers of her upcoming book and giving fans a taste of what to expect as she pulls back the curtain and exposes even more of her life outside of what fans saw on the show.
During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE this week, the mother of one gave a sit-down interview, and also gave up some exclusive tea on an explosive encounter that she previously had with shamed singer, R. Kelly. Porsha revealed that during a time when she was pursuing her music career, her and Kelly’s paths crossed, and she found herself in a compromising position at his home.
Porsha Williams is opening up for the first time about her experience with R. Kelly, and why she wanted to share her story with investigators.
“I realized it was my opportunity to help anyone who’s been hurt by him,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “There had been so many other instances where I had been abused by men that my mentality [at that time] was of an abused person, and that it was okay for me to be treated like that.”
After meeting a friend of the R&B singer in 2007, the future Real Housewives of Atlanta star, then 25 and considering a career in music, was flown to Chicago to meet Kelly and potentially work with him. Williams says she expected to be driven to a recording studio when she arrived but was taken to Kelly’s home instead.
After an initial introduction to Kelly — who was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in September — someone led Williams to his bedroom and left her alone there for hours. When Kelly finally joined her, she said he told her to take off her clothes. “I’ve already put myself in this position,” she writes in her new memoir The Pursuit of Porsha, available Nov. 30. “This is what you’re supposed to do. You have to. There is no turning back.”
Kelly’s lawyer Thomas A. Farinella declined to comment.
Williams saw Kelly two more times and says in her book that she encountered several young women who also were staying at his home. She writes that she decided not to see him again after she woke up one day and heard a woman being beaten in another room.
For years she kept it a secret, even from those she was closest to.
“It’s not something you want to tell your mom, because my mom is a very strong woman and she did her very best in raising me,” says Williams. “And I think for any woman or man who’s been in an abusive situation, you don’t want to tell your parents because you don’t want them to think that they had let you down in any way. I don’t want her to think that she had done anything wrong. And so I took it upon myself.”
“But I was glad when I did, she was glad that I told her and we talked about it,” Williams adds. “She told me some of her experiences. And we just talked about how this should be told so other women don’t have to go through it.”
via PEOPLE
Shocking!
She also dished with the outlet on her decision to leave RHOA after 10 years and 9 seasons, co-parenting in her newly blended family, motherhood, and more.
