R. Kelly Responds To Daughter’s Transgender Announcement: ‘You Can’t Judge Nobody’

R. Kelly isn’t the type to hold his tongue, but any father would find it challenging to find out that their daughter just came out online stating that she has felt she was a boy all her life.

Kelly opened an interview with WCGI radio on Monday, where he responded for the first time publicly to his daughter’s announcement: “You don’t really wanna open it up by saying my daughter is becoming my son.”

Jay, who was born Jaya, announced via the social media site Ask.fm, that she was really a boy at heart and shared some of her experiences there:

I came out through a text to my mum and then I told her when I got more comfortable. I told her because I knew she would love me no matter what, she has not once judged me in life. She always told me that she loved me and to be who I truly am

R. Kelly, who is now 47, didn’t believe the reports about his daughter at first, as reported by Nydailynews.com:

Don’t even give the blogs that kind of credit. As far as that is concerned, always believe what you see with your own eyes, that is. Always believe what you see. That is the best way to go about this business. I’ve heard a lot of things about a lot of people and it was never true. You gotta know there’s a back story. There’s a background. That’s why you can’t judge nobody

In vindicating his daughter’s decision, Kelly spoke about the importance of supporting your children, no matter what: “You save money so your kids can go to college — no matter what they are or who they are. They’re your kids, you gotta support them,” he said.

Jay revealed that even though he hasn’t spoken to dad, R. Kelly, since coming out, his mother has been nothing but supportive as well:

“My mom was like, ‘Baby, you know I love you if you were bi, gay, lesbian, you name it and I would still love you so much. I was like, ‘Thank you mom for accepting the fact that I’m a transgender,'” he said.

Jay also revealed that intends to undergo a series of gender realignment surgeries in the near future: “I believe I am a boy and want surgery, and the medication to help me (be) who I was supposed to be.” Jay wrote on the social media site.