Gospel Artist DeLeon Richards sex scandal has been splashed everywhere. Across television new screens and on the internet. At the heart of the now infamous escapade was Gospel recording Artist DeLeon Richards and R&B crooner, R Kelly.

This was the first time most people from mainstream media had heard about DeLeon Richards Sheffield, when she and her husband’s names were caught in the middle of a 2004 extortion attempt, involving an alleged ten-year-old video tape with R Kelly.

The spotlight isn’t strange to DeLeon, however, who has been married to Baseball player, Gary Sheffield, for almost eight years and grew up singing in the Church, since the tender age of three. In the early 1980’s DeLeon was the youngest Gospel artist ever signed with a major record company.

DeLeon toured for the first time at age 5, opening in Japan for The Mighty Clouds of Joy, which sparked the beginning of her musical travel throughout the U.S., Germany, Europe, Asia and West Indies, as well as regular concert performances for the Military and USO.

Now 30 years old, with a newly-released worship CD entitled “Here In Me” she’s learned how to move beyond the whole ordeal and embrace life anew.

DeLeon recently spoke to Angela Bronner of AOL Black Voices to share her testimony of triumph and strength through the most difficult and tragic circumstances. Here’s what she had to say:

Note: The words below are just as she stated them and have not been altered.

“When I was getting out of high school going into college, it was a hard time for me. I’m an only child, and I was trying to make sense of my parents separation. At the same time, I’m a gospel artist. I’ve been going out in front of everybody singing and ministering and talking to people. And at that moment, I was dealing with my issues. I was dealing with just having two different lives basically. And still trying to figure out, okay, Lord, what is this all about? I don’t understand.

There was no shame [in the relationship with R. Kelly]. I had a relationship with someone. Now, as far as all the other stuff; the stuff that they were trying to extort me for, I’ve never seen anything. So, I don’t even know if a tape exists. At that time, when you’re telling people about God, but actually living a different life, that part, where it’s like, Okay Lord, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.

Derrick Mosley, minister and community acticist, accused and found guilty of trying to blackmail New York Yankee’s slugger Gary Sheffield and wife DeLeon Richards Sheffields.

But I was young, I was in a situation that’s no different than anybody else out there that could’ve made the same mistake. And so for that, I’ve asked God to forgive me for having [sex] outside of being married. You wish you could have completely walked the line perfectly straight. But, what do you do? You ask God to forgive you, you pick up your broken pieces and you keep moving. And if you do mess up, you can always go back and correct things. It’s never too late.

When you go through things like that, it only makes you stronger. It’s either gonna break you or it’s going to make you stronger. And I think for me and my family, I was really able to exercise my faith. Really. And trust God. I didn’t really know why it was happening, I didn’t know what the purpose was. Now, I know that the purpose was to definitely use that part of my life as ministry. And to be able to tell people, no matter how dark things get, or how you think, Oh my God, I’m never going to see the light of day, you can get through things. It comes to the highest of highest people and it comes to the lowest of lowest.

You don’t have to ride the same road again. Like if there’s a big hole in the road and you fell in it, you don’t have to go down that same road again. Take a different route. I try to tell young people, especially. Okay, we’ve made mistakes. You make mistakes. But don’t keep making the same mistake over and over and over. Because you see, it’s not getting you anywhere.”

More… To chek out DeLeon Richards new album “Here In Me“ and web site (click here)

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