Jane Doe in R. Kelly's sex tape tells her story: "My true self today is Reshona Landfair"

The woman who testified as Jane Doe at R. Kelly's 2022 federal trial told "CBS Mornings" it feels "very liberating" to finally reveal her identity and speak publicly about the relationship she formed with the R&B singer when she was just a teenager.

"I really wanted to live in my true skin and my true self. My true self today is Reshona Landfair," Landfair, now 41, told "CBS Mornings" in her first TV interview about her memoir, "Who's Watching Shorty?: Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R. Kelly's Abuse."

Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex crimes in two separate federal trials in 2021 and 2022. Kelly's legal troubles started many years before that, including when a tape that he had filmed performing sex acts on a 14-year-old girl leaked in 2001. That girl is now identified as Landfair.

The start of R. Kelly's alleged grooming

Landfair had dreams of becoming a star. In the 90s, she was a child rapper and came from a musical family in Chicago. Her aunt, R&B singer Sparkle, eventually introduced her to Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly. 

In the book, Landfair writes that her aunt Sparkle told her, "The next time we're at the studio, you should ask Robert to be your godfather," and to sit on his lap and rub his head. 

"That is the start of him entering into my life in a different way than just being an artist or hanging out at the studio. It became more personable at that moment," Landfair said.

Landfair said Kelly agreed to be her godfather. Soon after, when she was around 13, Landfair alleged the singer began grooming her and touching her inappropriately. At one point, she said her aunt Sparkle suspected something wasn't right and called social services. 

"I don't think they believed her because there were no obvious signs of what was actually taking place," Landfair said. 

"I was empty"

A few weeks before her 17th birthday in 2001, Landfair said Kelly told her that a sex tape filmed when she was 14 was being sold nationwide. He was arrested on child pornography charges related to the tape in 2002.

"I was empty. I was very hollow inside. I was very confused," Landfair recalled when she heard the sex tape had been leaked. 

According to Landfair, Kelly told her parents that he was in love with their daughter after the sex tape leaked.

"It was very complicated," Landfair said. "My dad wanted to make the right decision and he was not OK with anything that took place." Landfair claimed that she was brainwashed by Kelly. 

"He utilized me against my parents — making threats of suicide and doing different things out of desperation to convince them to not turn on him," Landfair said. 

In 2008, a jury in Chicago acquitted Kelly in the child pornography case. Landfair later said she lied to a grand jury, when she testified that the young girl on the sex tape was not her – calling it "one of [her] biggest regrets."

Life-changing moment

For Landfair, the 2019 Lifetime docuseries, "Surviving R. Kelly," changed everything. 

"The spirit of conviction came over me during that moment," Landfair said. "Somehow, I felt responsible that he was able to hurt so many more people. During the time, I thought maybe these were just sexual fetishes that he had with me. Maybe this was just abuse I was going through." 

"But when I saw that his behavior had gotten so much worse and he was allowed to hurt so many people because I lied – that did not sit well with me as an adult, as a woman," she added. 

A few months after the docuseries was released, federal prosecutors charged the singer with sex trafficking, racketeering and other crimes in New York and in Chicago.

In 2021, Kelly was convicted on counts of racketeering and sex trafficking in a New York trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. A year later, Landfair testified against him in a separate Chicago trial, where he was convicted on multiple counts, including child pornography, and acquitted of seven others, including a charge of obstruction of justice related to his 2008 child pornography case. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, to be served consecutively with his New York sentence.

In a statement to CBS News, Sparkle said she's "relieved that Reshona is finally free to speak her truth and begin her healing journey."

Sparkle, who testified in Kelly's 2008 trial and spoke out in the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries, added: "Any suggestion that I groomed, facilitated, or enabled harm to my niece is untrue and deeply painful, especially given my documented actions at the time and throughout." In an interview in 2019, Sparkle told Jericka Duncan that she was "the first person who spoke up and out against him, and I did it alone."

"This is the beginning of Reshona's lengthy deprogramming journey," Sparkle's statement read. "It is true that she is a survivor of years of abuse, still learning to process what happened to her and who is responsible. It is also true and well documented that I stood up for her to try and stop the damage being done to her and countless others. I wish her continued healing and peace as she continues to not only find her voice, but hopefully require accountability from those closest to her." 

In a statement, Kelly's lawyer said, in part: "Neither Mr. Kelly nor his legal counsel have been provided with an advance copy of Ms. Landfair's memoir. It is, therefore, impossible to comment on any specific allegation. Nor does Mr. Kelly wish to engage in any kind of refutation that would, in any way, limit the financial success of Ms. Landfair's memoir." 

The statement went on to say that Kelly "wishes her success and peace at all levels."

In her memoir, "Who's Watching Shorty?," Landfair speaks directly to survivors and reminds herself that she, too, deserves grace. "Embrace this next chapter in your journey with anticipation that God will plant new dreams in the fertile soul of your heart," writes Landfair. "Love you times infinity, Reshona."

Landfair is now a mother to a 5-year-old boy. She is also the founder of Project Refine, an organization she says she's building with the goal of mentoring girls and women. She explained: "I'm just trying to put my best foot forward and use all of this pain and turn it into purpose."

"I'm very proud of myself. I've come a long way. A lot of cold nights. But I'm here today," she said.