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Lifetime responds to Drea Kelly’s lawsuit threat over ‘Surviving R. Kelly Part II’

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Bob Levey/WireImageAfter R. Kelly’s former wife, Drea Kelly, threatened to sue Lifetime over using her image in the trailer for Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, the show’s executive producer has responded.

“I hope she feels differently after she sees it,” Lifetime SVP Brie Miranda Bryant tells Page Six. “The pieces that were in the trailer are from her interview in part one. She did not sit for Part Two.”

Drea was featured in the original docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, which aired in January.

“Ms. Kelly fears that it may mislead audiences to believe she was a full participant in the follow-up series,” her representative said in a previous statement. “The history and actions that took place before, during and after the filming of the first documentary led Ms. Kelly to decline participating on numerous occasions.” 

Drea also complained to TMZ that Lifetime did not offer adequate emotional support for the women who were featured in the docuseries.  In response, a Lifetime representative says Drea refused to be involved in programs the network offered for the “survivors.”

“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,” the rep tells Page Six.

The Lifegtime reps adds that Drea declined an invitation to the Power Women Summit in Santa Monica, California “where there was a tribute to[the survivors] for sharing their stories.”

Drea divorced R. Kelly in 2009 after 13 years of marriage and obtained custody of their three children.

Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning will debut January 2 at 9 p.m. ET, and will continue on January 3 and January 4 on Lifetime.

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