ATLANTA — An Atlanta family who believes their daughter is being held against her will by singer R.Kelly is making a public plea for a sit down conversation with her.
Jonjelyn Savage, Joycelyn's mother, held a news conference Monday in metro Atlanta with her attorney Gerald Griggs.
After last week's explosive "CBS This Morning" interview with Robert Kelly aired, the family says their daughter reached out to them and told them she was fine. However, her mother said she believes the conversation was scripted.
"I knew from the narrative of what she was saying that is was another what I call 'a prison call,' that means a very monitored call," Jonjelyn Savage said.
In fact, Griggs said they could prove that those are not her words and that Joycelyn, who is now 23, still wants a relationship with her family.
"We are getting that from audio recordings that we have," he said. "I have audio of a lot of people saying something different than what they are saying on camera."
Griggs said last week when Joycelyn contacted them, a man who claimed to be a publicist for Kelly said he would help arrange for a sit down with the 23-year-old.
"He made certain offers, a meeting with Joycelyn Savage, which was supposed to be set up sometime today or tomorrow," Griggs added.
However, Griggs said he hasn't heard from them since the phone call.
"We just need a direct line of conversation and communication with Mr. Kelly's camp," Griggs said.
Jonjelyn had a personal message for her daughter at Tuesday's news conference.
"Joycelyn if you do hear my message please know that your mother loves you dearly," she said.
Also last week, Joycelyn and another one of Kelly's live-in girlfriends said their parents were lying in an interview with CBS' Gayle King, claiming the parents were only out to get money. The Savages dispute that claim.
"At no point have the Savages tried to or engaged in the selling of their daughter for the purpose of money," Griggs said.
The walls began closing in on the singer after Lifetime's documentary "Surviving R. Kelly," which aired in January. Kelly has denied the allegations stacked against him, saying "all of them are lying."
"We are concerned parents of our young adult daughter who was 19 at the time she met Mr. Kelly," Jonjelyn Savage said.
Last month Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse pertaining to four women, including three who were minors when the alleged abuse occurred.
The 52-year-old was taken to the same jail in Chicago last week for owing $161,000 in back child support. He walked out of jail last Saturday, shortly after someone paid it.
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