Lifetime Responds To Drea Kelly’s Lawsuit Threat Over ‘Surviving R. Kelly’

Lifetime has responded to Drea Kelly’s — ex-wife of disgraced R&B star R. Kelly — threat to sue the network over her appearance in the latest trailer for “Surviving R. Kelly Part Two: The Reckoning.”

During the New York City screening of the forthcoming doc on Tuesday, Lifetime SVP and “Surviving R. Kelly” executive producer Brie Miranda Bryant spoke to Page Six about Kelly’s participation, confirming that she was not an active participant the second time around.

“I hope she feels differently after she sees it,” Bryant told Page Six regarding Kelly’s threat to sue. “The pieces that were in the trailer are from her interview in part one. She did not sit for Part Two.”

As the trailer for Part Two indicates, Drea is briefly featured wearing the same pink blazer and blue jeans she wore in the first doc.

Kelly is also distancing herself from the network due to what she called a lack of aftercare for the survivors who participated, according to her Q&A with TMZ.

“We had two therapists who were able to consult with the survivors and participants after every interview who were there throughout the duration [of production],” Bryant asserted. “We have, it may have hit 23 advocacy groups that have helped us during the making of the series to make sure we were staying within proper parameters.

“Even decisions in terms of how we speak of these women; ‘are you a survivor’ or ‘are you a victim?’ These are conversations we really had to have,” she continued. “How do they view themselves? What’s the appropriate lens for that? We’ve tried to take it as seriously as possible. First and foremost, it’s about the survivors feeling heard and getting them the justice they feel that they need.”

A rep for Lifetime told PageSix that all participants, including Drea, were offered various opportunities and means of support after the first doc was released.

“After the doc aired, Drea chose to not participate in many of the other things the other survivors decided to do that we continually invited them to partake in — most recently, we had invited the others survivors (as well as Drea but she declined) to attend The Wrap Women’s Event where there was a tribute to them for sharing their stories.”

“We also have a coalition of organizations under Stop Violence Against Women of non-profit partners all who offer resources, information and services to our survivors, as well as viewers at large.”

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