Television June 08, 2016
Drugs, Sex, and Violence: Bobby Brown’s Shocking Revelations About Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina
Last night, Bobby Brown's "20/20" interview with Robin Roberts aired, in which he opened up about his late ex-wife Whitney Houston and their daughter Bobbi Kristina, who passed away last year. While many have blamed Bobby for Whitney's past drug use, he is denying it all.
In his new book, “Every Little Step,” he revealed that he saw her “snorting a line of coke" on their wedding day. He told Roberts, “It was the first time I had actually saw her do drugs… she wasn't that. The drugs wasn't her. She did drugs but drugs didn't do her. She knew how to handle herself. It only made me love and want to protect her more."
He added, "It wasn't me who started her. I take my part and I take it hard for me even being a part of it, but we all have our own minds and some of us are stronger than others."
Though Bobby and Whitney did drugs together, they made sure to hide that part of their lives from Bobbi Kristina. He said, "I always made a point to not let her see me or my wife in that type of situation, in that type of feeling. It's hard when, you know, you're doing it every day.”
Brown also shut down reports he is an abuser of women, telling Roberts, "They said that I've harmed Whitney, that I was violent towards her. It was just lies. I've never been a violent man towards a woman ever.” In his book, he admitted to hitting her once, and reflected, "I did. Me at the time, trying to maintain a sobriety, and the person that's in your relationship is not going along with it — it was rough."
Though they split for good in 2006, Bobby says he will always love her. He said, “I was deeply in love with her. For the rest of my life, I think, I will have that feeling towards her because she was that one person that knew me, that one person that had no judgment.”
As for how their love began, Bobby reflected on the first time they met at the 1989 Soul Train Awards. He shared, "She was bumping into me at Soul Train. I was like, 'You keep bumping into me.' And I kept doing that. And I did it like two or three times, and she kept bumping me. And I asked her why, and she was like, 'Because I want to.' And that attitude, that whole thing right there... that's the way it started.”
In 1989, Bobby was riding high from his success as a solo artist with a hit song “My Prerogative.” With success, Brown found himself surrounded by drugs and women. He claims to have had sex with Janet Jackson, Madonna, and a ghost? He said, "I bought this mansion in Georgia... this was a really, really spooky place. But yes, one time, I woke up and, yeah, a ghost — I was being mounted by a ghost. I wasn't high... I was not trippin'.”
After Whitney's death, Bobby and Bobbi Kristina drifted apart, but reunited on Father's Day in 2014. Bobbi apparently had plans to move to Los Angeles to be closer to Bobby, but the move never happened… she was found unconscious just days before. On his loss, he said with tears in his eyes, "If I could get those two days back, I would go and get her. My daughter would be here.”
Though Bobbi and Whitney are buried side by side, Bobby has refused to visit their graves. He explained, "I don't like cemeteries. They are with me here, they are not in there.”
Bobby has been leaning on his wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, to help him overcome the pain of losing both Bobbi and Whitney. She shared, “He has feelings, he has emotions. I don't think [people] know that... he has a good days and bad days, and he struggles like everybody else. He gets on his knees, and he prays, and he asks for support, and he has really strong faith.”
She added, “When you're living with somebody who has fought so many addictions and has come so far, and then you see there is still something holding them back... you just want to help them. So I'm learning, obviously, with this process, how to be supportive.”
The couple have a third child on the way. He is currently promoting his book “Every Little Step,” out June 13.