Reshona Landfair — the woman who testified as “Jane Doe” at R. Kelly’s 2022 federal trial — sits down with Jericka Duncan in her first television interview to tell the story she has long kept private. In a new memoir, Who’s Watching Shorty?, Landfair moves from anonymity to naming her experience and describing how it shaped her life.
Landfair’s account focuses on a traumatic episode that dates back decades: a videotape that surfaced in 2001, showing R. Kelly performing sexual acts with a girl who was then 14 years old. For years she was known in court documents and media coverage only as “Jane Doe.” After the 2021 and 2022 federal trials that led to convictions on racketeering and sex-crime charges, Landfair chose to speak publicly and to claim her name.
In the interview and in her book, Landfair chronicles the abuse and the long shadow it cast over her. She describes how a young person’s life was upended by exploitation, by the shock of having a private violation recorded, and by the subsequent public exposure when that recording leaked. Landfair explains why she testified in federal court and the personal costs of reliving the events during the trials. She also discusses the emotional and practical steps involved in reclaiming her identity after years of being referred to as an anonymous witness.
Landfair frames the memoir as a means of taking back her narrative and trying to make sense of survival. The book traces her experiences before, during and after the incident — including the challenges of being blamed, shamed or disbelieved; the legal processes that unfolded years later; and the complicated feelings that accompany any effort to heal. She speaks about the resonances between her story and those of other survivors, and about the need for communities and institutions to listen and respond more effectively.
Jericka Duncan’s interview highlights Landfair’s decision to move from silence to speech, a transition many survivors face. Landfair says she wrote the memoir not only to tell what happened to her but to honor other young people who were harmed and silenced. Reclaiming her given name is part of that larger effort to restore dignity and agency after exploitation and anonymity had defined public discussion of her case.
The interview touches on the wider legal backdrop: R. Kelly was convicted in federal court of racketeering and sex offenses in trials held in 2021 and 2022, and he is serving a prison sentence. Those cases followed years of allegations by multiple women and a public reckoning spurred in part by investigative reporting and survivor testimony. Landfair’s emergence as Reshona Landfair — moving out from the “Jane Doe” label — is one more chapter in the long process by which survivors sought accountability and visibility.
Landfair also discusses the practical realities of writing and publishing a memoir about abuse: revisiting painful memories, weighing the exposure that comes with naming, and anticipating the reactions of family and friends. She emphasizes that speaking out is a personal choice, that each person’s path to healing looks different, and that public attention can be both affirming and difficult.
Who’s Watching Shorty? is presented as Landfair’s effort to transform a private trauma into something that can be understood and that can support others. In the interview she expresses hope that telling her story will help prevent future abuse, encourage other survivors to seek help if and when they are ready, and shift how the public and institutions respond to allegations of sexual exploitation.
The conversation with Jericka Duncan situates Landfair’s memoir within the larger cultural and legal shifts over the past two decades. It considers how recordings, leaks and public scrutiny have complicated survivors’ lives, and how reclaiming identity can be an essential step toward recognition and recovery. Landfair’s choice to speak openly now — naming herself and sharing the details of her experience — is intended as both personal closure and a public contribution to ongoing conversations about accountability, consent and support for survivors.