For more than two decades, Reshona Landfair lived in the shadow of an infamous R. Kelly videotape that the public dissected, joked about, and weaponized, while rarely stopping to consider the child at the center of it.
Known only as “Jane Doe” during the Chicago trial that helped convict R. Kelly, she has now stepped into the light with her first televised interview on CBS Mornings, ahead of the release of her memoir, “Who’s Watching Shorty?”
It is a moment years in the making. And it is heavy.
Reshona Landfair was just 13 when she says she was groomed by Kelly, a man she trusted and referred to as her godfather. In the interview, she describes a slow, calculated process that blurred boundaries and normalized behavior no child should ever be asked to understand. By the time the video that would later circulate was recorded, she says she was still a virgin, emotionally overwhelmed, and deeply manipulated.
For 25 years, her name followed her without permission. She shortened it to “Chon” when meeting new people, hoping to outrun the association that tabloids and late-night jokes refused to let die. Her privacy was stripped away before she had the language or power to defend herself. She was reduced to a headline instead of being recognized as a child who had been exploited.
Testifying against Kelly in 2022 forced Reshona to confront the past in ways she had long avoided. She recalls locking eyes with him in court and realizing, in that instant, that she owed him nothing. What stayed with her most was his refusal to accept responsibility, a reminder of how deeply ingrained his sense of untouchability had been.
In her memoir, Reshona details years spent under control that extended far beyond the initial abuse. She describes a cycle of affection, isolation, fear, and punishment that kept her trapped well into adulthood. What hurts most, she says, is not only what happened behind closed doors, but how many systems failed her afterward. Family members. Industry gatekeepers. A culture that turned a child’s trauma into a punchline. For years, Black America watched the tape referenced in comedy skits and casual conversations, while the girl in it disappeared from public concern.
R. Kelly’s crimes are no longer rumors or debates. He is serving decades-long federal sentences for sex trafficking, racketeering, and producing child sexual abuse material.
