Strange Details Everyone Ignores About Aaliyah

At the height of her fame, R&B singer Aaliyah was a superstar. She was a famous figure by the time she was in her mid-teens, rivaling contemporaries like Beyonce as arguably the hottest name in the game. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she worked with the finest producers and songwriters in the industry to release a series of platinum-selling albums and smash hit singles. Aaliyah's "Journey to the Past," the theme to Disney's animated movie "Anastasia," was nominated for an Academy Award. She was also behind "Are You That Somebody?" from the 1998 comedy "Dr. Doolittle," which earned her a Grammy nomination.

Tragically, on August 25, 2001, Aaliyah died in a freak plane accident in the Bahamas shortly after wrapping up filming for the music video for her next single, "Rock the Boat." She was 22. Her death was met with a wave of grief from her fans and celebrity friends, and her reputation has been kept alive by her work. But she has also returned to the public consciousness in recent years thanks to everything from high-profile arrests to conspiracy theories to claims she predicted her own death. Here are the strange details about Aaliyah's short life that even her fans may not be aware of.

If Aaliyah was around today, a certain portion of the internet would be teasing her for being a "nepo baby" — a star whose big break was the result of nepotism. In Aaliyah's case, her path was set thanks to her aunt,who was none other than R&B icon Gladys Knight. During the young star's childhood, Knight was still a sought-after performer and a major draw for audiences.

Knight's former husband, Barry Hankerson, was a renowned figure in the world of music, with his own record label and experience managing top R&B stars. He became Aaliyah's manager, steering his niece almost immediately into the music industry, and was instrumental in organizing her live debut alongside Knight for her Las Vegas residency in 1990. Aaliyah was then 11 and already on her way to stardom thanks to her connections. He also helped her to sign her first record contract with Jive Records at the age of just 12. In 1995, Aalyah's father took over management of her music career.

By the time she was in her early teens, Aaliyah was already honing her craft as a future R&B star and recording her debut album. Released in 1994, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" was greeted by the listening public with a great deal of warmth, and the album soon went platinum. Aaliyah was just 15 at the time of its release, and its title is seemingly a reference to the level of talent she was able to demonstrate while still legally a minor. 

Today, though, the name comes across as particularly creepy today, especially when taken in light of the superstar producer who was responsible for a great deal of the music on it: R. Kelly. Kelly had been introduced to Aaliyah through the young singer's uncle, Barry Hankerson, and he took a major role in crafting the sound of her debut album. But rumors later emerged that Kelly had started a sexual relationship with Aaliyah and the pair had illegally married. Things came to a head when Vibe published a bombshell article featuring their marriage certificate. On it, Aaliyah had seemingly lied about her age, claiming she was 18, while Kelly was 27 years old at the time.

As rumors about R. Kelly and Aaliyah swirled, her team sought to minimize the damage the scandal might do to her career. Speaking to Vibe, former Jive A&R Jeff Sledge said the atmosphere at the label became tense after the revelations. "We just kept trying to pump the records out," he said. "It was a horrible scandal, a horrible situation for everybody involved so we tried to keep the focus on the music and the videos and it wasn't like now with social media. Twitter wasn't on fire with it. But once 'Vibe' did that article, it definitely put a whole different energy around the project and about her and [Kelly]."

The marriage was reportedly annulled shortly after once Aaliyah's parents found out. Her and Kelly's work relationship was also severed, and record executive Damon Dash later claimed that she wanted the singer to be kept away from her in the months following the scandal. Aaliyah refused to discuss the nature of her relationship with Kelly for the rest of her life, making the subject a no-go area for journalists. Kelly was similarly tight-lipped, though he later told GQ in 2016: "I can tell you I loved her, I can tell you she loved me, we was very close. We were, you know, best best best best friends." 

At Kelly's 2021 trial, his former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, claimed that in 1994, Aaliyah believed she was pregnant. It has been suggested that the marriage was concocted so that she could get an abortion with the approval of a spouse, rather than her parents. Kelly is now behind bars after being found guilty of multiple sex crimes.

Scrutiny of Aaliyah's love life continued into adulthood, and she was often the focus of media speculation related to the famous men she may or may not have been dating. Of course, celebrity gossip has remained a huge source of entertainment in the decades since the singer's death. But when she was alive, the culture around celebrities' private lives was hugely intrusive, and Aaliyah struggled to keep control of the narrative around her own life. In the same way she declined to admit her involvement with R. Kelly had come to the point of marriage, she also denied having relationships with other famous figures from the music industry.

One such figure was Jay-Z. According to his business partner, Damon Dash — who Aaliyah was in a relationship with at the time of her death — the rapper attempted to romance the young star with gifts and flowers. Word spread that the two were in a relationship, though Aaliyah herself scotched the rumors. However, Dash has more recently claimed that he and Jay-Z were both attempting to begin a relationship at the same time, and that she ultimately chose him. Publicly, Aaliyah only referred to Dash as a "good friend," though this may simply have been a tactic to protect her privacy (per Biography). At the time of her plane crash, she and Dash were reportedly planning to marry.

Shocking celebrity deaths have a tendency to attract conspiracy theories, and Aaliyah's was no exception. In a 2019 documentary, "Surviving R Kelly Part II: The Reckoning," Damon Dash described her as the "sacrificial lamb" in the R. Kelly case (via The Independent). And in 2024, her tragic passing came back under the spotlight amid accusations against her former associate, Sean "Diddy" Combs, who is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Amid growing awareness of the exploitation of girls and young women in the music industry, some are wondering whether the crash that took Aaliyah's life and those of eight others was truly an accident. Despite no definitive evidence, some online sleuths believe that Aaliyah's death may have been organized to protect famous faces in the music industry who may have been involved in Diddy's alleged crimes.

More intriguing, however, is a detail concerning the moments before the fateful plane crash. According to The Daily Beast, Aaliyah had a known fear of flying. Some question why she would have boarded the private plane, which was small and overloaded with luggage — a contributing factor in the crash. But an eye witness whose family reportedly owned the taxi company Aaliyah and her team used to get to the airport claimed to have seen her being carried onto the plane unconscious. Apparently, she was given a pill by someone in her entourage.