Bobby Brown: I didn’t turn Whitney on to drugs, don’t blame me

Bobby Brown Whitney Houston
In 2001

Bobby Brown is about to have a two-part interview air with Matt Lauer on the Today Show tomorrow and Thursday. The Huffington Post has a preview for us, and of course they primarily talk about Brown’s late ex wife, Whitney Houston. The way Brown’s statement is worded, it sounds like he’s sort-of suggesting that it was Whitney who turned him on to drugs, not the other way around. Remember when Whitney went on Oprah and said that Bobby was “her drug”? She said in 2009 that “He was my drug. I didn’t do anything without him. I wasn’t getting high by myself. It was me and him together. We were partners.

A lot of people blamed Bobby for corrupting Whitney somehow and turning her into an addict. She had such a sweet songstress image in the 80s when she hit the scene, and that all went downhill when she married Bobby. Of course Bobby wasn’t around and had been out of the picture for years when she ultimately died from drugs. He’s now trying to set the record straight, and claims that he’s not the one who got Whitney hooked. Here’s more, thanks to the Huffington Post:

Since the death of his ex-wife, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown has been targeted by those who believe his “negative influence” on the legendary singer led to her tragic end. Now, Brown is speaking out for the first time since Houston’s death, telling NBC’s “Today” show anchor Matt Lauer, “I’m not the reason she’s gone.”

Brown had dinner with Houston and the ex-couple’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, a week before the singer’s death and remembers a glowing Whitney who “looked really well” and exhibited a positive demeanor that left Brown even more shocked upon news of her death.

“I was hurt. I was hurt … Because, you know, me being off of narcotics for the last seven years — I felt that she was, you know, I didn’t know she was struggling with it still. But at the same time, you know– listen, it’s a hard fight,” Brown told Lauer. “It’s a hard fight to, you know, maintain sobriety that way.”

But Brown doesn’t blame Houston’s longtime battle with drug use for her death.

“From what I feel and you know, how I saw her, the last time I saw her, it had to be that particular day. You know, it had to be that one, because that’s all it takes … One hit, you know, and you know, it could definitely take your life away from you. And, unfortunately, that was it.”

As for those who believe that Brown’s introduction into Houston’s life is what sparked her downward spiral, Brown says those negative comments coming from Houston’s family, friends and fans have no grounds.

“I didn’t get high before I met Whitney … I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn’t the one that got Whitney on drugs at all … I’m not the reason she’s gone.” Brown says.

Though Brown tells Lauer that he has been off drugs for seven years, the singer seems to still be battling alcohol abuse. Brown pled no contest last Wednesday to his March DUI arrest. Brown will reportedly undergo a 90-day alcohol education course as well as three years of informal probation as part of his sentence.

[From Huffington Post]

At least Bobby isn’t doing the hard stuff anymore, although drinking and driving can definitely kill you. I guess I believe him that he didn’t introduce Whitney to drugs. Even if he did, she’s responsible for her own drug use and she chose to stay with him for a long time.

Have you guys heard this other crazy story about Whitney? A former bodyguard for Micheal Jackson (who also claims to be Blanket’s dad, and he looks just like the kid. There’s a video here with more on that if you’re interested) says that Whitney and Michael Jackson had a fling in the early 90s, and that Jackson was head over heels for Whitney and never got over her. Really, that’s what this guy claims. Here are his quotes, via Wonderwall:

, “This affair will end all the myths that Michael was some kind of child molester. He was a straight man. One of the many stories that has never been told about Michael is that he had an ultra-secret affair with Whitney Houston that he never got over. He was furious when he heard she had also slept with (brother) Jermaine, but this didn’t stop him holding a candle for her his whole life.”

Fiddes tells the publication Jackson and Houston met in 1991, when both were at the height of their careers.

He says, “They instantly connected as kindred spirits because they understood each other’s massive fame. Whitney practically moved in to Michael’s ranch and they had a fling like any other young couple. But Michael said later he had always hoped the relationship had gone further, and I know he dreamed of marrying her.”

Fiddes claims the romance lasted just two weeks and came a year before Houston wed Bobby Brown.

[From Wonderwall]

I don’t know, I’m not really buying it. I see Jackson as having been either asexual or not interesting in adult relationships, and I’ll leave it at that.

It will be interesting to see Bobby’s interview tomorrow. I bet he’s still in a lot of pain. There were stories that he behaved badly at Whitney’s funeral, but he claims he was treated poorly by security.

In 2004 with Bobbi Kristina:
Bobby Brown Whitney Houston

In 2000:
Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston

Photo credit: Bauer Griffin and Fame

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48 Responses to “Bobby Brown: I didn’t turn Whitney on to drugs, don’t blame me”

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  1. Orly says:

    I saw an interview with Chaka Khan on CNN where she said that Whitney was using before bobby. Someone else Whitney worked with also claimed that Whitney was using while in NY (on broadway?) I think before meeting Bobby. Or it could have been C.K. who said that as well.
    Who knows at this point. Being with him sure didn’t help.

    • Maguita says:

      @Orly,

      From what I’ve heard during past interviews with people close to the Houstons, Whitney was already on Heroine when she got “discovered” by Davis. He cleaned her up, gave her a fresh image, and put the first album out. He was there for her her whole life. As much as she allowed him.

      Miles Davis also fronted Whitney money for her comeback, he believed that much in her talent. Not that I believe him a Saint, but he recognized the talent and the $$ everyone can get out of that magnificent voice, and especially, her presence on stage when she sings.

      As for Bobby, well, he was a bad boy. Whitney was already an addict when they first met, and during her interview with Oprah, she clearly and loudly admitted to abusing what SHE calls SOFT DRUGS: weed and cocaine. Yes, Whitney Houston considers cocaine as a soft drug. But when she got with Bobby, the abuse just went through the roof. And no one helped.

      There is a reason why Bobbi-Christina already went through rehab for cocaine when she was only 17. If her mother wasn’t there to take care of her, and by all accounts she spent the past 10 years with her grandma and aunts, obviously, she saw something that made it ok for her to also abuse, not run far away from it so not to end up like her mother.

      The biggest laugh? Michael Jackson had sex, intentionally and repeatedly, with a woman! Sad all over. Drugs make you look very, very sad.

      • Orly says:

        I didn’t know all that because I wasn’t following closely. Thanks for the details. It’s all very tragic and could have been avoided.

      • renee says:

        I believe you mean Clive Davis. Miles Davis, the trumpeter and jazz great, was long dead by the time that Whitney’s comeback occurred.

      • Maguita says:

        Renée, thank you! I did mean Clive, but obviously wrote Miles… Sorry about that.

      • Whatever says:

        You really need t quit Maquita. Whitney was not using Heroine before Bobby. Bobby was the one who OD”d on it a few years ago. Get your information right because everytime there’s a Story about WHitney, you come in to slander her name. None of the things you just wrote is true. Bobby admitted years ago, that he was already BROKE and Addicted to coke before they married. Those were his words That’s why he was kicked out of new eddition.

      • Whatever says:

        WHitney was using, but not addicted. Bobby Brown in an interview, admitted to being addicted to coke before they got married in 92. Bobby Brown is lying once more because he’s still addicted. He was arrested for coke in 2008.

        He didn’t introduce Whitney to drugs, but he ruined her image and caused her a lot of pain. Never mind the fact that he had no money to support himself all those years, and he cheated on her and abused her.

      • Maguita says:

        Whatever, you need to respect other’s point of views on celebrities, and not take it so personally… Unless you are a member of the Houston family.

        You have every right to your defense of your favorite star, but thread the line of delusion carefully: personal attacks are not making your words neither valuable nor truthful. Calm the eff down, and check your facts first. Google makes it easier these days, if you doubt someone’s words, just do the research before attacking them. Makes you look fanatical to aggressive extremes.

    • Belle says:

      Agree about MJ… intentionally and repeatedly!

    • Whatever says:

      Personal attacks on who? I said you need to check your facts first and stop the slander with lies. You know Bobby’s the one who OD’s on heroine right? He’s the one who was using that stuff not Whitney. Whitney was using coke leisurely before the marriage, but Bobby was already addicted to cocaine, he admitted it before on national televion. He’s lying now, and has been for a long time. Heroine was not Whitney’s drug of choice, but Bobby was hooked on that stuff. I’m not part of the Houston’s, but perhaps you are a member of the Browns since you seems so invested in slandering this woman’s name everytime there’s a story about her.

      Bobbi Kristina didn’t spend 10 years of her life with her grandma and Aunts? Making things up once again.

      • Tarebear says:

        Heroin. Please spell it heroin.
        Heroine is a female hero, and I doubt Whitney was smoking that.

  2. stinky says:

    go away.

  3. Janet says:

    Much as I can’t stand Bobby Brown, he’s right about this. Whitney was using before she ever met the guy. He enabled her drug habit, but he didn’t start it.

    • Maguita says:

      Also agree!

      Whitney had YEARS away from Bobby to get over her addiction. But there was Ray-J. I find that guy shady.

      However, like many of the Jackson family after Michael’s death, Bobby Brown is trying to cash in on Whitney’s death as well.

      If Whitney hadn’t suddenly overdosed and died, we wouldn’t be hearing as much from Bobby Brown. The guy had just become a very past and dépassé 80s pop icon.

    • DreamyK says:

      Whitney said in interviews early on in her relationship with Bobby that she wasn’t the good girl everyone thought she was, and that she was more like Bobby.

      Strangely enough, Rhianna has also said pretty much the same thing about herself: that her image is not who she is, hence the tramping about half nekkid, tats, choice in lovers, talk about BDSM, lap dances by midgets in bondage gear, only dating guys with big shillelagh’s etc.

    • Whatever says:

      He surely enabled it. And physically abusing her didn’t help matters either. If she was using before him marrying him, made her even worse off. He was also Bi-polar. Whitney literally married to bottom of the barrel.

  4. NerdMomma says:

    This may be a weird comment, but I’m just going to say it. She looks so vivacious and full of life in those pictures. I remember times when she did seem out of it and druggy, but it just seems, I guess, like her body and face held up well against the drug use. Unlike Lohan, it didn’t age her in an insane way. I wonder if that’s crack versus meth, or what.

    • Whatever says:

      Whitney was a world renowned Beauty. She was a model, and the reason why she got away with using drugs so long is that her looks really never changed. She remianed stunning. Drugs effect people differently though. Lohan looks 50 years old and not 24. Bobby Od’d, and had a stroke. That’s why his mouth became twisted.

      • DreamyK says:

        Wow. I didn’t know Bobby had a drug induced stroke. You know, it’s not something a lot of people talk about, but drugs can and do cause strokes in younger people. After I left my ex due to his substance abuse, he began to do more of god knows what and at the age of 44 had a freakin’ stroke. He mostly recovered from it, but still! I wish that it was more publicized that drugs cause strokes.

      • Whatever says:

        Dreamy, yes he had a drug induced stroke years ago, which caused the twist of his mouth and face. But he claims that he didn’t use anything hard. Bobby is a liar.He didn’t get Whitney hooked on drugs but he was already addicted to coke before they married.

    • Tiffany says:

      I agree she held up well, but I think a HUGE part of this is that she looked like a sweetheart. As a “cute” girl myself, people tend to give you a pass on things because they think that you just aren’t capable of being naughty.

  5. Melissa says:

    Well, he didn’t do anything to help get her off them either.

    • Whatever says:

      Clearly, he added to her problems by being physically abusive and adding to her problems by constantly getting into trouble.

    • Tiffany says:

      How can you say that when he has had periods of sobriety? And is it another person’s responsibility to help others become sober? Most treatment plans say that the ONLY person in charge of your sobriety is you. You can’t get well for others, and family and friends can’t wish it enough to make sobriety happen for the addict.

      The addict alone is responsibile for their own sobriety.

  6. Jayna says:

    Why do you think she loved Bobby? She was a drug user who found someone to do drugs with, They enabled and ruined each other. That’s what happens when two addicts live together.

    • danielle says:

      Sad but true.

    • lucy2 says:

      I think you’re right.
      The two of them together made each other worse. He may not be to blame, but he’s certainly no hero. You know?

  7. TheOriginalVictoria says:

    He is a f’ing liar. He was doing coke way before Whitney came into the picture. They got together because of their love of partying. Whitney just had a better image and knew how to hide that side of her for a long time. She always kept it clean for her outer persona.

    Bobby is a douche. And I am willing to believe the fact that he was always cheating on her, then had a nerve to use her ass for a reality show as he sobered up, drilling a hole through bank account, didn’t help things either.

    He didn’t get her hooked but he was an enabler who used her flaws to remain on the high horse for years until he couldn’t. Team Whitney forever. No matter how cracked out she was, she still managed to keep herself classy for some reason.

    I still think her death is suspicious. Always will.

    • Whatever says:

      I hate Bobby with a passion because he lies about everything. He’s lying to Matt Lauer, and he knows it. He was arrested in 2008 for possession of Coke.

      I wished Matt would’ve asked Bobby about how he abused her all those years.

  8. Rice says:

    I’m not going to touch that whole “which came first, the chicken or the egg” thing that is the Bobby and Whitney Cracktales. But I am curious as to why anyone would believe anything by a man named “Fiddles”.

  9. Belle says:

    Not a Bobby Brown fan, but don’t think he is responsible for her drug use. By many accounts, she was an addict prior to even meeting Bobby… and when they got together, they did drugs together. If they were both using, then of course he didn’t ‘do anything’ to help get her off the drugs… they were BOTH enablers, and Whitney wasn’t the angel so many believe her to have been.

  10. really says:

    Who cares if he kills himself drinking and driving? It’s the sober people he’ll take down with him that concern me.

  11. danielle says:

    Yeah, I think she had to be using before. She was 26 when she met Brown, not 16. I doubt she was sweet and innocent and he said “let’s smoke crack” and she said “Sure!”

  12. The Original Mia says:

    Whitney was doing drugs before Bobby. People may want to blame him because of his bad boy reputation, but Whitney’s sweet girl rep was all an act. She was a drug abuser before and after Bobby. He isn’t the best man, but he didn’t start Whitney down this path. That was started years before he came in the picture. Sad, but true.

  13. pwal says:

    What bothers me most about this write-up was the snippet about the MJ and the bodyguard. First off, I wish the people who bother to pick up the bodyguard story would do some research. For one, MJ and Whitney knew each other since the 80s. Next, Whitney was probably messing around with Jermaine (while he was married)in the 80s; however, I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael was interested. And Whitney spoke about the relationship on Oprah and she expanded on it in a documentary that David Gest put together.

    I have no idea if anything sexual happened, but I can’t stand that sheer laziness is giving this bodyguard an extended shot at the spotlight.

  14. fabgrrl says:

    I’m trying to imagine what a Michael Jackson/Whitney Houston paring would have been — wow! And can you just imagine the talented and beautiful children they would have produced? (Yes, beautiful. For those who forgot, or never knew, MJ was quite a nice looking young man.)

  15. Amanda G says:

    How many times can you say ” you know” in one interview? The man can barely speak! Listen, I think we can only believe half of what he said. I don’t think he’s been sober that long and I don’t think he never touched a drug before Whitney. About the only thing I believe is his funeral story and that he didn’t get her hooked on drugs. And really, how do you get someone hooked? It’s a persons CHOICE to do that stuff at first. After that, your body takes over.

    I don’t see MJ being capable of a real love affair. Emotionally the guy was stuck at 10 years old from the abuse.

    • Whatever says:

      Everything from his mouth is clearly a lie. Even his treatement at the funeral was a lie. No one removed him, he removed himself. He was already an addict before marrying her, and I hope he stops with the interviews.

    • pwal says:

      Actually, I can picture it, mainly because of Stephanie Mills. Back in the 70’s, they dated. And while their dates were mainly relegated to hanging out in an apartment, it did progress to spooning, with Michael only in his drawers.

      And the fact that Stephanie is still giggly about it, after nearly 40 years, makes me think that he’s capable of surprising a woman.

  16. james mcphail says:

    Dear Bobby Brown I don’t believe a f***in thing you say about Ms Houston. You are such low life trash and you suck.

  17. Cecila says:

    What does it matter Whitney is gone may she rest in peace u can’t turn back the hands of time and to bad cant. No body knows what the truth is except God . I think know matter what when people start using the truth is sometimes distorted I don’t believe anyone can make u addicted to anything people are not that powerful but people can have a strong influence on u and I believe they may have influences each other been each others bad vise

  18. Kelly says:

    I believe Bobby.

  19. Jamie says:

    Unfortunately, Bobby is telling the truth. My mom was an event organizer in the 80s and 90s, and she worked with Whitney and Bobby both a few times. She told me about 10 years ago that Whitney was a heave coke user before she met Bobby. She said that Whit was very ghetto, was a heavy partier, and it was a miracle her antics didn’t make the papers. That’s not to say that Bobby was a good guy. He used to go around broadcasting the intimate acts he did with Whitney when they first started dating. I think he’s a creep and was not good enough for her, but I do believe that it was his drug use that increased once they got together. From there they enabled one another.