DARLA KHAZEI/ AP
- Aaliyah's mom, Diane Haughton, seems to be calling out author Kathy Iandoli.
- Haughton claimed an author used Aaliyah's gravesite to "promote a book" about the singer.
- Iandoli denied the claim on Twitter adding, "I have been told that fans have had my book there with them."
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Diane Haughton, the mother of the late singer Aaliyah, is calling out an author for promoting an unauthorized biography of Aaliyah at the singer's gravesite.
Haughton penned a post shared on the official Instagram account for the singer, ran by her estate, to condemn the author and share the changes she plans to make at the gravesite.
"Due to the behavior of an individual that has been to Aaliyah's resting place in order to promote a book, I have been forced to make a drastic change at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum," Haughton wrote in part on Instagram Tuesday, referring to her daughter's burial site in Westchester County, New York.
"This person interrupted all my thoughts and ideas to make August 25th, 2021 a day of Remembrance and Love for my daughter," she continued, noting the day her daughter died due to a fatal plane crash in the Bahamas, where she was shooting her final music video, "Rock the Boat." Aaliyah was 22.
"Please accept my sincere apologies for this and know I love you and always will. Aaliyah's life will still shine no matter what," Haughton added.
Although Haughton never named anyone specifically, author Kathy Iandoli, who penned an unauthorized biography of Aaliyah titled "Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah," responded on Twitter.
"I did not promote my book outside of Aaliyah's gravesite," she said Tuesday. "That is offensive to even suggest. I have been told that fans have had my book there with them. Please no longer bring my book to Ferncliff. Apologies that fans can not visit Aaliyah's resting place."
-kathy iandoli (She/Her) (@kath3000) August 24, 2021
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Iandoli said explained what motivated her tell Aaliyah's story.
"The conversation that's surrounded Aaliyah has been so disjointed," she said. "We're now getting the most negative parts of the highlight reel, and I wanted to not only flip the narrative but really hold a magnifying glass to the narrative and show who she was."
Aaliyah's name has been in the news recently as R. Kelly is currently on trial for a long list of allegations, including accusations that he bribed a government official to obtain a fake ID so Kelly could marry Aaliyah when she was 15 years old. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
Insider's Haven Orecchio-Egresitz reported that a former girlfriend of R. Kelly testified in the courtroom Tuesday that he married Aaliyah "because she was underage and needed the permission of her parents or 'a spouse' to get an abortion."
Iandoli also shared that the Haughton family declined to work with her on the book although she "did reach out to the family for permission," she said in VF.
She continued: "I did the due diligence of asking because that was the first line, like I wanted that for myself as a person who respected her family, but it didn't work out."