The Pied Piper of R&B, alleged young girl choppin’ Kels and his wife Andrea Lee Kelly have officially divorced after 11 years, according to a statement from their lawyers yesterday.
While the two will have joint custody of their children, no other details of their split were publicly disclosed. The divorce comes on the heels of Mr. Bump and Grind’s acquittal on child pornography charges last June.
The couple have weathered a rack of up and downs during the six-year old case with Kels rumored to be with an assortment of different young women during their relationship. The 35-year old Andrea filed an emergency protective order to keep the R away from her amid claims of physical abuse which she rescinded weeks later. They initially filed for divorce in 2006 but remained committed to making the union work.
In an 2007 Essence Magazine interview, Andrea pulled back the curtain on her life with Kels. “Some people in my position would probably be very broken right now, and they would probably be saying, ‘Woe is me.’ But I’m just not that person.”
The two married in 1996 when the then 20-year old Andrea auditioned as a backup dancer for the R. In addition to handling most of the choreography for his tours, videos and live performances, Andrea also founded and serves as Artistic Director of Dream tu Dance and the Andrea Kelly School of Dance.
While we would never ever encourage families to split up, we must commend Andrea for ability to weather the storm and still remain very much a lady. Judging from our pictures below, we believe that the sexy ebony princess will be just fine!
Check out some photos of Andrea’s choreography for Dream tu Dance below.
