CHICAGO, IL – SEPTEMBER 17: Singer R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on September 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Kelly is facing multiple sexual assault charges and is being held without bail. (Photo by Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images)
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:49 AM – Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Disgraced 58-year-old R&B singer R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been hospitalized after he reportedly overdosed in prison.
According to a report by The New York Post, Kelly’s attorney, Beau B. Brindley, claimed that the Bureau of Prisons staff had intentionally given him too much medication, which caused him to overdose and be transferred to a nearby hospital.
It is unclear what “medication” the “Bump n’ Grind” singer was taking at the time.
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Brindley explained that Kelly, who is serving a 31-year sentence for child sexual abuse crimes, was taken by ambulance to Duke University Hospital. He also emphasized that the musician was being forced to take the medication while in solitary confinement.
On June 13th, Kelly purportedly felt “faint” and “dizzy” and “started to see black spots in his vision.” He then allegedly “tried to get up, but fell to the ground,” before he “crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness.”
The outlet reported that while he was in the ambulance, he allegedly heard a prison officer say: “This is going to open a whole new can of worms.” His lawyer continued, stating that Kelly allegedly learned at the hospital that he had been administered “an overdose quantity of his medications that threatened his life.”
Additionally, Brindley also claimed that doctors “discovered blood clots” in both of the singer’s “legs and lungs,” but he was allegedly removed from the hospital before he could receive treatment.
“When advised he required surgery and needed to be kept for two weeks, officers assigned to Mr. Kelly in the hospital contacted the officials at Butner,” Brindley stated in the court documents. “Within an hour, officers with guns came into his hospital room and removed Mr. Kelly. He was taken from the hospital against his will and against the directives of the doctors.”
Brindley further alleged that Kelly “was denied the surgery he needs to clear blood clots in his lungs that threaten his life,” and that he was returned to solitary confinement at the prison.
“It is undeniable. Mr. Kelly’s life is in jeopardy right now because the Bureau of Prisons denied him necessary surgery to clear clots from his lungs,” Bridley went on to say. “He could die from this condition, and they are letting it happen.”
“Mr. Kelly’s life is in danger, and that danger is coming from Bureau of Prisons officials and their actions. Mr. Kelly needs this Court’s intervention. His life actually depends on it,” he continued, stating that Kelly is requesting a temporary furlough to home detention.
In September 2022, a Chicago jury found Kelly guilty of child sex offenses, and he was given a 20-year prison sentence. However, the judge only gave Kelly an extra year in prison. The remaining 19 years were served concurrently in Kelly’s original 30-year sentence.
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