Porsha Williams is speaking up and out about a personal experience with shamed singer R. Kelly.

As reported, the self-ordained Pied Piper was convicted of sexual abuse and racketeering and faces life behind bars for his crimes against a lengthy list of victims – including minors.

Now, former ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star Williams is opening up about her own abusive encounter with Kelly.

Full story below…

The 40-year-old, who is promoting her new book ‘The Pursuit of Porsha,’ shared her story with PEOPLE.

In a narrative she says she’s shared with investigators, Williams detailed her experience with Kelly when she was 25.

Back in 2007, she says she was mulling a career in music and met a friend of the performer. She was then flown to meet him in Chicago and expected to be driven to a recording studio. However, she was instead chauffeured to Kelly’s house.

After a brief exchange of words with Kelly, Williams said that someone ushered her to his bedroom. She added that the crooner joined her and instructed her to remove her clothes. Writing in ‘The Pursuit of Porsha,’ the mom of one said her internal thought was:

“I’ve already put myself in this position. This is what you’re supposed to do. You have to. There is no turning back.”

Williams says she saw Kelly on two more occasions but opted to cease continuing after waking to the sound of a woman being beaten in another room.

It’s an experience she kept under wraps for years; so much that even many of those closest to her didn’t know.

For years she kept it a secret, even from those she was closest to.

Explaining the early rationale behind that decision, Williams said:

“It’s not something you want to tell your mom, because my mom is a very strong woman and she did her very best in raising me. And I think for any woman or man who’s been in an abusive situation, you don’t want to tell your parents because you don’t want them to think that they had let you down in any way. I don’t want her to think that she had done anything wrong. And so I took it upon myself.”

Now, though, the newly engaged star finds purpose in sharing her experience – not just with the public but with investigators. She told PEOPLE:

“I realized it was my opportunity to help anyone who’s been hurt by him. There had been so many other instances where I had been abused by men that my mentality [at that time] was of an abused person, and that it was okay for me to be treated like that.”

‘The Pursuit of Porsha’ arrives on November 30.

Check out more from Williams’ PEOPLE feature:

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