R. Kelly's alleged 'sex slave' calls family for first time in 2 years, says she's 'very happy'

R. Kelly's ranting interview with CBS on Wednesday morning had one immediate impact: Joycelyn Savage, one of his alleged "sex slaves," who hasn't talked to her family in two years, called them to say she's fine and "very happy" after they held a press conference condemning Kelly and begging her to get in touch.

"I've told you guys a million, million times, that I'm OK and I'm very happy, you know where I'm at," Joycelyn Savage, 23, kept saying on the phone call to the office of her family's Atlanta lawyer, Gerald Griggs, who posted it on Twitter.

But her mother, Jonjelyn Savage, and her sisters, Jori, 11, and Jailyn, 18, kept asking her, "When are you coming home?"

"How do we know you're happy if we haven't heard from you for two years?" her mother asked. "Why can't you call your family or friends or come to your grandfather's funeral or talk to your grandmother who has Stage 4 cancer?"

Joycelyn hung up after about three minutes, Griggs told USA TODAY, and he said she appeared to be "reading from a script."

"When her little sister asked her, how're you doing, she paused for 45 seconds," Griggs said. "She called because she and someone in Kelly's camp saw our press conference (responding to Kelly's CBS interview). That broke through whatever control (Kelly) has over her."

CBS's Gayle King's interview with Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, is scheduled to air Thursday morning. Both women, who Kelly referred to as his girlfriends, are believed to live with him and remain his supporters, although their parents have accused him, in the Lifetime film "Surviving R. Kelly," of holding them against their will in his alleged "sex cult."

Michael Avenatti, the Los Angeles lawyer who says he represents multiple accusers of Kelly, hinted that he represents Clary's parents, Alice and Angelo Clary, in tweets condemning the interview with their daughter, snippets of which have been aired.

“It is pathetic and disgusting that R Kelly has manipulated these young girls and lied to them about their families. It has been his modus operandi for decades and part of his abuse," Avenatti tweeted.

In King's interview with Kelly, he ranted, screamed and cried about the sex-crimes charges Cook County prosecutors in Chicago have brought against him, denied he had ever engaged in sex with underage girls and called all of his accusers liars.

The Savages said they watched the interview as a "church-going family."

"If he gets this upset on TV, I can only imagine what he does behind closed doors when he's not on camera," said Jonjelyn Savage. "Allegedly he has a bad temper, he's very controlling, and when the girls do something he doesn't like, he throws a rage and becomes physically violent."

Griggs said both Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary attended Kelly's $1 million bond hearing on Feb. 23, although neither talked to the media, Griggs said.

Griggs said he believes Joycelyn called because of the press conference the family held in Fulton County, Georgia, after Kelly's CBS interview aired, to deny Kelly's assertions, among others, that Joycelyn's father, Timothy Savage, had offered his daughter to Kelly for money.

At no point did this happen, Griggs said.

"No money was ever requested or given to the Savages. Stop the lies or show the receipts. #RKelly. Tim Savage has never met R Kelly," Griggs tweeted.

He said "someone in the Kelly camp" saw the press conference and contacted Griggs to set up a phone call from the daughter. He said the family was not surprised to hear her say, again, that she's fine, but was surprised that her little sister was able to throw her off her "script."

Still, Griggs told USA TODAY, "I feel that we (the Savage family) will be speaking in person to Joycelyn very, very soon, I believe the needle has been moved and I'm cautiously optimistic."

Griggs, a longtime defense attorney in the Atlanta area, predicted Kelly's interview with King will come back to haunt him at his trial in Chicago on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse dating back to 1998 and involving four accusers, three of them under 17 at the time.

"It's an out-of-court statement and any pre-court statement can be used against him to prove a fact" at trial, Griggs said. "He denied having sex with anyone under 17 – now prosecutors can use that statement against him (at trial)."

This is why, Griggs said, defense attorneys tell their clients: Don't make statements before trial.

"What's (Kelly's) strategy? I wish I could say I see the strategy. I don't see the strategy," Griggs said.

Kelly's Chicago attorney in the sex-crimes case, Steve Greenberg, did not return a message from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: R. Kelly's alleged 'sex slave' calls family for first time in 2 years, says she's 'very happy'