Accused sex predator R. Kelly has been arrested in Chicago over a huge unpaid child support bill, authorities have confirmed.

The troubled singer was taken into custody and will be transferred to the county jail, Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said.

It’s been claimed that Kelly has failed to pay $US160,000 ($A227,000) worth of child support he owes.

The disgraced star was charged last month with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse pertaining to four women years ago, including three who were underage at the time. The singer has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

JUST IN: R. Kelly is back in custody after his child support hearing https://t.co/3eu5nh2it9 pic.twitter.com/MKcjP1oBBt — CBS News (@CBSNews) 6 March 2019

His arrest came after he exploded with rage during a TV interview aired in the US — and blamed the parents of the alleged victims for “selling” their daughters to him.

Kelly flew off the handle during his 80-minute sit-down with morning TV host Gayle King, prompting the cameras to stop rolling at one point, the New York Post reported.

“Thirty years of my career! Y’all trying to kill me!” Kelly bellowed as he stood up, pounded his chest and pointed directly at the camera.

“This is not about music! I’m trying to have a relationship with my kids and I can’t do it! You just don’t want to believe the truth! You don’t want to believe it!”

Just before his emotional outburst, Kelly broke into tears as he insisted, “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my f**king life!”

After Kelly’s publicist intervened and calmed the singer down, the cameras started rolling again as he was getting his makeup touched up.

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“I hope this camera keep going. This is not true. It doesn’t even make sense,” Kelly raged. “Why would I hold all these women?”

King gently urged the 52-year-old to not just “rant” at the camera.

“You sound like you’re playing the victim here,” she said.

“I’m just telling the truth,” he replied.

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester, pleaded not guilty last month to 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Three of the four alleged victims were minors at the time. The alleged incidents date back to 1998.

He’s long been accused of holding some of the women hostage in his home as part of a sex cult.

But Kelly insisted he was in a relationship with the women, Jocelyn Savage and Azriel Clary.

“What kind of love is it that keeps these young women away from their families?” asked King.

“What kind of father, what kind of mother would sell their daughter to a man?” he countered.

“So you’re saying the parents handed their daughters, Azriel and Jocelyn, to you?” King asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”

He replied, “Absolutely.”

The R&B star said he agreed to do the CBS interview because he’s “very tired of all of the lies.”

“I’ve been hearing things, and you know, and seeing things on the blogs, and you know, you know, I’m just tired,” Kelly said.

King asked, “What are the lies that you’re hearing that disturb you most?”

“Oh my God. Um — all of them, got little girls trapped in the basement … helicopters over my house trying to rescue someone that doesn’t need rescuing because they’re not in my house,” he replied, adding, “Handcuffing people, starving people. I have a harem, what you call it — a cult. I don’t even really know what a cult is. But I know I don’t have one.”

This story was originally published in the New York Post and is reprinted with permission.