Is R Kelly Holding 6 Women Hostage in his home?

R&B singer R. Kelly is allegedly holding six women against their will in an abusive “cult,” according to the parents of several of the women and three former members of Kelly’s inner circle, whom BuzzFeed interviewed in an explosive new report.

“Six women live in properties rented by Kelly in Chicago and the Atlanta suburbs,” the report states, citing details from Cheryl Mack, Kitti Jones, and Asante McGee, who were previously in Kelly’s inner circle. “He controls every aspect of their lives: dictating what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records.”

Several of the women’s parents have gone to the police to try and get their daughters back. BuzzFeed reports that one Georgia family told police that their daughter is being held in a “cult” by Kelly, whom they said is “abusive and is controlling her daughter.”

The mother of the same woman told BuzzFeed that her daughter “looked like a prisoner” when she last saw her, and acted as if she were “brainwashed” while continually professing her love for Kelly.

A representative for Kelly denied the allegations in a statement provided to BuzzFeed.

The six women living with Kelly reportedly range in age from 18 to 31 years old, and Kelly allegedly confiscates the women’s cell phones and makes them ask permission to leave the two locations in Chicago and Atlanta. BuzzFeed notes that all of six of the women are of consensual age in those two states and points out that consenting adults are free to enter “non-traditional” relationships, but three of the women’s parents are nonetheless fighting to get their daughters back.

Kelly has had a history of allegations from his sexual conduct with women. He was acquitted in 2008 on 14 charges of child pornography in a six-year trial, which centered around a videotape that allegedly showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl.