The singer R Kelly wrote a letter threatening to reveal embarrassing details of a woman’s sexual history if she didn’t drop a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse, the woman and her lawyer said on Monday.

In the letter, a person identifying himself as R Kelly warned a lawyer for the woman, Faith Rodgers, that if she persisted with the suit, she would be “subjected to public opinion”.

The letter said the singer would demand medical documentation of her claim that he gave her herpes, force her to turn over texts and social media posts, and have “10 personal male witnesses testifying under oath about her sex life”.

“If Ms Rodgers really cares about her own reputation she should cease her participation and association with the organizers of this negative campaign,” the letter said.

A lawyer for R Kelly in Chicago, Steve Greenberg, denied the letter’s authenticity, saying it “looks fake”.

“It obviously was not authored or signed by Mr Kelly, nor sent on his behalf,” Greenberg said. “He doesn’t write letters.”

The letter was sent in October to one of Rodgers’ lawyers in New York, a few weeks after the singer was served with the lawsuit accusing him of demeaning her, locking her in rooms and vehicles, and subjecting her to “non-permissive, painful and abusive sex”.

Rodgers, 21, said she met Kelly as a 19-year-old after a concert in San Antonio. She participated in the recently aired Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly, which catalogued years of accusations against the singer by a number of complainants.

“We are here today to let Mr Kelly know in no uncertain terms that he cannot and will not intimidate his alleged victims into keeping silent about their allegations,” one of her lawyers, Gloria Allred, said at the news conference in New York on Monday.

“No woman should be victim-shamed, harassed or retaliated against because she asserted her rights and spoke her truth,” Rodgers added.



Kelly has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.