Keke Palmer Slams Former Mentor R. Kelly as Interview Brings Up Sexual Allegations He Faces: ‘Heartbreaking’

R. Kelly used to be one of Keke Palmer‘s mentors when her career was first getting underway, so she was particularly hurt after watching the docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” which showed Kelly’s accusers talking about the alleged abuse they suffered.

Palmer stopped by “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” on Sunday, and she talked about first seeing the docuseries after a caller asked what was the most “eye-opening” part.

“The whole thing,” she answered. “The whole thing was eye-opening, painful, sad, disappointing and heartbreaking.”

Cohen then asked the 25-year-old if she was surprised by any of the allegations in the docuseries.

“Yes, because that’s not the side I knew,” she stated. “That’s not the person that I worked with. That’s not the experience I had. So just imagine if you’re having a great experience with someone and then you’re hearing all this stuff it’s like, ‘Why didn’t you show them what you showed me?’ That’s the feeling I had.”

“I hated talking about it because I felt like, man, you were a friend to me but then I’m seeing you as a foe to others and I’m hurt for them,” added Palmer. “How do I feel about it? How do I put myself in this position now? It was very sad. I think that anybody that loved him as a person probably feels that way. That’s not something you want to hear about somebody that you cared for.”

The “Joyful Noise” actress also shared her feelings on the disgraced singer immediately after she saw the docuseries on Jan. 9

“Just finished Surviving R. Kelly and I have spent the last hour crying,” she wrote on Instagram. “As a student of R. Kelly’s for the time I was and having been around his light and understanding the obstacles he overcame as a child to actually be birthed into the musical genius he is today all to put others through the same darkness he was running from is the most disheartening thing to accept … I will stand by my sisters because that’s simply what’s right.” 

In February, after “Surviving R. Kelly” aired, following years of accusations that he raped and abused women, Kelly was hit with 10 counts of sexual abuse in Chicago. And in May he was charged with 11 new felony sexual misconduct counts.

The charges stem from the singer allegedly sexually abusing four women, three who were reportedly underage when they said it occurred. Kelly is also going through a child support battle with his ex-wife Andrea Kelly, whom he’s filed a motion against to demand she stop talking about him in the press.

According to Kelly’s legal team, his ex’s repeated public statements about him are violating a marriage settlement agreement they both signed in 2009.