Aaliyah's Family Speaks on Drama Behind Marriage to R. Kelly

Aaliyah's cousin and manager of her Blackground Records label, Jomo Hankerson, spoke with The Ryan Cameron Morning show recently about the upcoming Lifetime biopic based off of her legacy.  Hankerson addressed various topics surrounding the publicly criticized casting of actress Zendaya as the lead role, and also Aaliyah's controversial marriage to R. Kelly.  Hankerson was reluctant to speak too in-depth on the R. Kelly marriage but did state that the matter will be addressed in another film.

After being asked whether Aaliyah and R. Kelly were actually married, Hankerson replied:

"Well, umm, I'll let that come out in the movie.  It won't be in this movie, but it will come out one day. It's not my place or the forum for me to really get into that, that's why I just back off that."

Hankerson also spoke on the controversy behind their marriage and how Aaiyah's career suffered turbulence due to her association with Kelly.

"It was, at the time, it was....she was huge. He was huge...It was a lot of things going on like that. I think it was just indicative of the times. When you hear that first album [which R.Kelly helped produce] it was obviously a lot of creative chemistry.

"Aaliyah got villainized — that's the part that I never understood and that's what made the transition to the second album difficult...It was hard for us to get producers."

Hankerson also spoke on the backlash that the Lifetime biopic has been receiving for casting Zendaya to play the role of Aaliyah, and who he thinks would actually be the perfect fit for the role.

"You know, first of all, Aaliyah went through a similar situation after the R. Kelly thing so, I hate to see a young woman go through that kind of backlash that she's getting. She's just trying to get a certain job so, it's not her. Our problem is with Lifetime and the way that they did the project. I know that there's gonna be certain things that they don't cover, simply because they don't have the knowledge.

"My one problem with what Lifetime is doing musically is that they're actually having the young lady re-cut Aaliyah's vocals. So to hear somebody else on top of that....I can't imagine somebody signing "One In A Million" as if she's Aaliyah. That's unfathomable to me.

"I would love to get Zoe Saldana. I think she could pull off the acting part and she's obviously gorgeous and beautiful."

Source: bossip.com  Aaliyah photo used under Fair Use