R Kelly released from US jail after ‘someone’ pays $161 000 overdue child support

Authorities do not know who paid off the outstanding amount, but the singer said “thanks for the order, guys”, as he left jail.

R Kelly has been released from a US jail after the $161,000 (£123,000) he owed in child support was paid.

The singer walked out of a Chicago jail after “someone” paid the outstanding amount for him, Cook County sheriff’s spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said.

Officials said the person who paid the sum in full did not want to be identified, and they left the section of the bond slip where they should be named blank.

Kelly, wearing a red jacket, blue trousers with a scarf over his head, was accompanied by two other men and was smiling and appeared relaxed as he left the prison.

He told reporters outside the jail “thanks for the order, guys”, although it is not clear what the remark meant.

“I promise you, we’re going to straighten all this stuff out,” he added, before thanking his fans and leaving with the men.

The R&B artist, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was jailed on Wednesday by a judge who told him he would stay behind bars until he paid the debt in full.

Kelly, 52, was prepared to pay $50,000 to $60,000 (£38,000 to £46,000) in support for his three children with ex-wife Andrea Kelly when he went to court, his publicist said, but the judge insisted on the whole amount.

In an interview broadcast earlier this week, in which he at times appeared out of control, he accused Ms Kelly of “destroying my name”.

Speaking to Gayle King of CBS This Morning, he said: “How can I pay child support if my ex-wife is destroying my name and I can’t work?”

He shouted and cried about the state of his finances and his “zero” relationship with the three children in the interview, which was released in instalments.

At one point, he stood up and yelled: “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my ******g life!”

The singer earlier admitted he had done “lots of things wrong” regarding his relationship with women but that he had apologised.

His stay in jail was Kelly’s second in a matter of weeks.

Last month he pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of aggravated sexual abuse of four women, including three who were minors when the alleged crimes were committed.

Kelly spent a weekend in jail after being arrested and was only freed when a 47-year-old suburban Chicago business owner posted his $100,000 (£77,000) bail.

Kelly’s career began in 1993 and since then he has written numerous hits for himself and others, including Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion.

He has sold an estimated 75 million albums and singles worldwide and is the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s. – news.sky.com