It’s hard to write a title that accurately portrays this mess, and I tried to be as accurate and diplomatic as possible. We’ve heard that the late Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, now 19, was dating a guy named Nick Gordon in the aftermath of her mother’s untimely death. Nick is 22 and was raised in the same household as Krissi (she goes by Krissi) since he was 12. He was basically raised as her adopted brother (although I haven’t been able to confirm that Whitney ever formally adopted him) and they are said to have considered themselves brother and sister. So Krissi’s mom died and she started seeing a guy she once thought of as her brother. It’s disturbing on several levels, and Krissi’s family doesn’t approve. Whitney’s mom, Krissi’s grandmother Cissy, told a source that “what they’re doing is incestuous.” It wasn’t technically incest as they’re not related by blood, but it really creeped the family out.

Well now there’s a new Houston family reality show coming to A&E, and in a promo for the show Krissi confirms she’s engaged to Nick. Of course there’s a reality show, and of course these two are engaged.

How does the family of Whitney Houston cope after her death? Now we can find out.

We have a special sneak peek promo of A&E Network’s latest reality show, The Houstons: On Our Own, which shows how Whitney’s loved ones have tried to move on since her passing.

And for Bobbi Kristina Brown, that means getting engaged.

Rumors of the 19-year-old’s engagement to boyfriend and adopted brother Nick Gordon have been swirling around the Internet for quite some time now, but Bobbi kept denying the claims.

In the clip, you’ll see the drama revolving around Bobbi Kristina and Nick’s love affair (apparently, not everyone approves) and through what sounded like a nervous giggle, Bobbi announces, “We’re engaged!”

Watch to see how they took the news and catch the premiere of The Houstons: On Our Own on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

[From E! Online]

This still bothers me, but I have to say that after I saw Nick supporting Krissi at the Billboard Awards in May, I came away with a different opinion of him. He really seemed to adore and support her. There were allegations that he latched on to Krissi after Whitney died in order to get his hands on Whitney’s estate. They seem to really love each other at least. Again, it still seems wrong to me, and obviously Bobbi’s family agrees.

Here’s a shot of Bobbi’s engagement ring, which is from Nick’s Twitter and was posted in August. It’s sapphire although I can’t tell if those are real diamonds. Maybe it’s an heirloom ring from his/their family. Shudder. [via Daily Mail]

And here’s a promo for their new show. We don’t need more reality shows!

Another clip from the show. It shows how loved-up Krissi and Nick are, and how messed up Krissi is in the wake of her mom’s death.

Krissi and Nick are shown at the “Sparkle” premiere on 8-16-12. Credit: WENN.com

Video is below
Last night’s Billboard Awards paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston with performances of her hits by John Legend and Jordin Sparks. Legend did a soulful, if somewhat shaky, version of “The Greatest Love of All” while Sparks belted out “I Will Always Love You.” (Video is below.) The camera panned to Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in the audience several times and she was understandably crying.

Whitney was posthumously awarded the Billboard Millennium Award, which Bobbi accepted on her behalf. She was accompanied on stage by her aunt, Whitney’s sister in law, Pat Houston. Bobbi was very well spoken and composed on stage. She did seem a little buzzed to me, but maybe she was just overwhelmed in the moment. She’s gone through so much these past three months. Here’s a little more, thanks to Radar Online.

Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina made a rare public appearance Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas to take part in an emotional tribute to her late mother…

John Legend and Jordin Sparks, who plays Houston’s daughter in her final film, Sparkle, performed her hits, with Legend singing the Greatest Love of All, while Sparks amazed with her rendition of I Will Always Love You.

Following the moving memorials, the late singer’s sister-in-law Pat Houston and daughter Bobbi Kristina accepted the Billboard Millennium Award on Whitney’s behalf.

Pat said, “This is truly an honor. We thank you, Billboard; we thank you, Whoopi, Jordin; we love you, John. But tonight, the one person that should be accepting this award is the one person that Whitney loved most,” ushering in Bobbi Kristina.

Bobbi Kristina said she “just really want to say thank you to everyone who supported us through it all.

“Not just when it was good, but when it was bad too,” she said. “Thank you so much for showing that much love, ’cause she deserved it. There will never be another one, ever. I thank you so much.”

[From Radar Online]

I can’t imagine losing my mom when I was just 18. (Bobbi Kristina turned 19 in March.) My grandmother died when I was in my early 20s and I was devastated. It’s got to be even harder when your mom is famous and you’ve got to get dressed up, go out to an event and make a speech on her behalf. Krissi did an amazing job, though.

Bobbi Kristina’s boyfriend, 22 year-old Nick Gordon, was next to her in the audience. Like Krissi, he was wearing a pin with Whitney’s photo on it. Nick walked Krissi up on stage and gave her a kiss before she went on. It was sweet, and it made me worry less about the stories that he’s taking advantage of her. There was a lot of controversy when Krissi and Nick first got together, as Nick was raised by Whitney and Krissi used to consider him her “adopted brother.” The fact that he looks so supportive of her makes me think differently about their situation.

Here’s video of the tribute to Whitney. Kriss comes on at about 6:00.

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The first part of Bobby Brown’s interview with Matt Lauer aired on The Today Show this morning. We had some advance details yesterday, when we heard that Bobby denied being the one who got Whitney hooked on drugs. He told Lauer that Whitney was doing narcotics before he met her, and that he had only done pot and booze before they got together.

Bobby said a lot of really nice things about how much he loved Whitney and cherished their time together. He didn’t seem that emotional about her, though. He was somewhat detached when it came to describing how he learned about her death. Bobby came across as very pragmatic about Whitney, and I guess I expected him to at least get choked up about her. When you lose someone and are describing how you found out they died you usually remember how you felt at the time and start to get teary about it. He did say that he cried at the time. Maybe he’s just very guarded about his feelings. Here’s more:

Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston may no longer have been a couple when she died in February, but as he told TODAY’s Matt Lauer in an interview that aired Wednesday morning — his first interview since her death — he still misses her fiercely.

“Our relationship was great,” he said. “I had 14 beautiful, beautiful years with that woman.” And it’s not just his revisionist history, he insisted: “I can honestly say that — I loved that woman with — with everything that I am. And I believe she loved me the same way.”

Still, Whitney and Bobby’s relationship was, almost from the start, filled with conflict of one kind or the other. Brown says he never used hard drugs before meeting Houston, and said that she had used drugs before they were involved. “I worried about it when … we first got together until I tried it,” he said. “And when I tried it, for some reason, I have an addictive personality.”

He does have some regrets, wondering to Lauer whether “I coulda done something different, you know to — ensure that she had a longer life. But … you have to want it, you know?”

The 2005 single-season reality show “Being Bobby Brown,” which put an uncomfortable spotlight on their relationship and showed Houston’s temper flaring, he says, was a “wake-up, because we were able to see what others were saying about us …. (to) see that our drug use had affected our relationship, had affected the love we felt for each other.”

But Houston declined to appear on a second season of the show, and the pair separated in 2006; they divorced the following year. Still, said Brown — who told Lauer he would be getting remarried “soon” — he still has a lot of room in his heart for his late former wife.

“My fiancee knows how I felt about that woman,” Brown said. “My kids know how I feel … how I felt about Whitney. It’s not a secret, you know? I was in love with her deeply.”

[From The Today Show.MSNBC.com]

Bobby loved Whitney, but he had moved on from her before she died, and it showed. I like what he said about how she was glowing the last time he saw her, a week before her death. We heard rumors of their reconciliation back in 2008, and I tend to think they had an on-off relationship that didn’t end for good until one of them was in another relationship.

Also, I just want to say that I’m glad Matt Lauer did this interview instead of Ann Curry. Ann would have just asked Bobby how he was doing and gone “mmmhmm” and tried to look deep into his eyes, probing for sadness. She wouldn’t have asked any hard questions at all.

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:

In 2000:

Photo credit: Bauer Griffin and Fame

Whitney Houston’s full autopsy report has been released. (You can read the PDF on TMZ) The details are sordid, but more than that they’re just sad. Reading and thinking about it made my heart sink. There were prescription bottles and drugs found all over the room, with a total of 12 prescription drugs entered into evidence. Cops found evidence of illegal drug use including “a small spoon with a white crystal like substance in it” and “remnants of a white powdery substance” in a drawer with a portable mirror in it. This suggests that the room was not wiped clean of evidence at all. Earlier reports claiming a shady hanger-on named Raffles Von Exel removed evidence from the scene are not being taken seriously by police. (Von Exel denies giving an interview in which he allegedly admitted removing evidence.)

The detail in this report that stood out for me is the fact that Whitney died alone in the bathtub after her assistant stepped out to run an errand. The assistant found her face down in the bathtub when she returned and no one else was in the room. For some reason I got the impression that there was a group of people partying with her – there wasn’t. It was just Whitney. Officials have ruled Whitney’s death an accident, and there was no evidence of foul play. Whitney did have some small abrasions on her forehead, nose and chest, suggesting that she either fell or slid in the bathtub. (They didn’t conclude that, it’s something I’m guessing.) They also noted that she had a hole in her septum from years of cocaine use. I wasn’t a huge Whitney Houston fan, but reading this is making me get teary. I know she was an addict but it’s still very, very sad. Here’s more on the report, from Radar:

The full autopsy report has been released for Whitney Houston, and disturbing details are revealed in the forty-two page document, including there was a white substance found in the bathroom on a spoon, and that Whitney had a perforation in her posterior nasal septum, RadarOnline.com is reporting.

The report states that the last person to see Houston alive was her assistant, who told the singer to take a bath to get ready for Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party. The assistant went to Neiman Marcus to run an errand and when she got back, the report states, “she went into the bathroom and found the decedent lying face down in the bathtub, unresponsive, with the top of her head facing west. The bathtub was filled with water and there was water on the bathroom floor, however, the water was not running. She called out to the bodyguard and they pulled the decedent out of the bathtub. The assistant then called downstairs telling them to call 911.”

Various prescription pill bottles were found in the living room and bedroom of the hotel suite but the bathroom was where the cocaine was found. “Located on the south portion of the counter was a small spoon with a white crystal substance in it and a rolled up piece of white paper, along with other miscellaneous items. Located in the top drawer in the north side of the counter were remnants of a white powdery substance and a portable mirror on a base. On the bottom of that base were more remnants of a white powdery substance.”

[From Radar]

The report concluded that toxicology “showed cocaine, benzoylecgonice, cocaethylene, marijuana, Xanax, Flexiril, and Benadryl.” As was previously announced, “Death was due to drowning due to effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use. No foul play is suspected. The mode of death is accident.”

I’m not going to include more, if you want the details you can read them on Radar. I’m just going to hug everyone I love now.

Whitney’s mom, Cissy Houston, recently did an interview in which she said she misses Whitney and would do anything she could to bring her back. She also said she doesn’t blame herself for Whitney’s death, and that there are a lot of people coming out of the woodwork now that she’s passed. As for Cissy’s reaction to this autopsy report, she’s said to be “devastated,” especially because she doesn’t want people to remember her daughter as a drug addict.

This story is kind of crazy, so bear with me. Remember when that photo of poor Whitney in her casket was on the cover of The National Enquirer? The people at the funeral home were mortified, because they would never jeopardize their business for a quick buck. A lot of people wondered which one of Whitney’s family and friends at her private memorial would sell her out like that. Roger Friedman reported in Forbes about two weeks ago that the culprit was likely a guy named Raffles van Exel, a known con artist who uses several alias and has posted a YouTube video bragging about getting close to celebrities. People at the funeral home reported seeing this guy take a photo of Whitney in repose, and he seems to have ingratiated himself to her family following her death.

Well now van Exel (if that’s even his name) told a Dutch paper that he cleaned Whitney’s hotel suite right after she was found dead. This may be why no traces of cocaine were found at the scene, despite the fact that cocaine was found in her system after she died and is considered a contributing factor in her death. Celebuzz has this story:

A close confidant of the late pop diva Whitney Houston has admitted he cleaned up the hotel room where she drowned, Celebuzz has learned.

In an interview with respected Dutch newspaper The Telegraph on February 15, just four days after the singer’s death, Raffles van Exel confessed: “The room had to be emptied.”

“Someone had to do it,” van Exel told the newspaper, according to a translation of the article published online.

Van Exel stopped short of telling The Telegraph what exactly he removed from the suite and he has not returned Celebuzz’s request for comment.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office declared Houston, 48, died from an accidental drowning in a hotel bathtub with the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.”

Sources tell Celebuzz that Beverly Hills police are still investigating how Houston acquired the drugs that contributed to her death and whether they were hidden from police and first responders.

No cocaine or drug paraphernalia were found in the suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., the source adds.

However, Houston’s cocaine use appeared to have occurred “in the time period just immediately prior to her collapse in the bathtub at the hotel,” Chief Coroner Craig Harvey said when he announced the findings of his report, last week.

“(Houston’s case) is still an open investigation for us… I can’t disclose any details about the investigation,” BHPD Lt. Mark Rosen told People on March 23.

In various media released, Van Exel, a Dutch national, touts himself as a “highly respected entertainment consultant” who has “guided some of the world’s most acclaimed executives and celebrities.”

[From Celebuzz]

Ok, so maybe some creepy hanger on just cashed in after Whitney died and covered up evidence of her overdose, it doesn’t have to mean that there’s some conspiracy over her death. This is still giving me butterflies in my stomach, particularly after watching this video of van Exel (below) that Roger Friedman clued me in on. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, just fast forward to 1:43, where van Exel uses crutches to fake an injury and gain access to the Billboard Music Awards. He calls the security guard a “fool” for giving them a ride on a golf cart and letting them bypass security because he had crutches. He then pretends to be a representative for Joe Jackson despite not knowing him at all. At the beginning of the video, he explains that celebrities are just like regular people and that they’ll get more comfortable with you the more they see you hanging around. This is seriously creeping me out. He says at 3:40 “go for the kill and never take no for an answer.”

Note that the website mentioned on the video, “Diary of a Hollywood Street King,” is NOT van Exel’s blog. It’s an urban blog that copied the video and uploaded it again. They also claim to have details of how van Exel obtained cocaine for many celebrities, extorted money from them and was an enabler for Whitney’s drug habit. So maybe he was her dealer and he cleaned up the cocaine because he’s the one who got it for her. Now I know why her family isn’t convinced that her death was an accident. Holy sh*t. This is starting to remind me of Anna Nicole Smith’s death. Whitney had enablers around her, and this one in particular seems to have had nefarious intentions.

Photo via Celebrity Dirty Laundry.

The coroner has released a statement on the cause of death for Whitney Houston, and it actually surprised me. I thought that Whitney’s cause of death would have been a combination of sedative drugs, but the initial autopsy report claims that she died from accidental drowning, with the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use” contributing to her death. She was also on a cocktail of prescription and other non-prescription drugs, including marijuana, benadryl, a muscle relaxant and xanax. The coroner thinks that Whitney had a “cardiac event” perhaps brought on by cocaine use, which caused her to slip underwater and drown. This is perhaps a controversial conclusion given the evidence, as E! Online has quotes from another medical expert who claims that the sedatives in her system, even though they were in “therapeutic levels,” should have been considered contributing factors in her death. (They still might be, as the full coroner report has not yet been released.) Here’s E!’s very good explanation of the coroner’s report, and CNN has more:

Whitney Houston drowned on Feb. 11, having ingested cocaine recently enough to have it be a contributing factor in her death.

But what does that mean? Did she overdose? Hit her head? Simply fall asleep? Did years of cocaine use cause the heart disease that was also detected during autopsy?

How exactly did Houston, who was only 48, die in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton?

Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter, who determined cause of death to be accidental drowning combined with cocaine use and atherosclerotic heart disease, tells E! News that his team actually has not been able to pinpoint exactly how Houston died as far as sequence of events—but there are some likely possibilities.

“It means she could have passed out and drowned,” Winter says. “Also, continued use of drugs resulted in heart disease, and that could have led to a heart attack.”

“At this time,” he adds, “I don’t know how bad her heart was. That will be in the final report. We know she drowned, she had heart disease, and the cocaine was considered a contributing cause to her death.” They will be reexamining Houston’s heart for other indicators of deterioration in the coming days.

As for the traces of pills found in her system, chief coroner investigator Craig Harvey told reporters during a press conference that it was “clear Houston was taking Xanax, but the levels were such they were a therapeutic level…normal for someone following the rules of a prescribed medication.”

“The Benadryl may have created a combined effect,” Harvey said, “but the toxicology said all levels were therapeutic or sub-therapeutic and not contributory to her death.”

They found a “moderate” amount of cocaine—an “acute dose, not too much before she collapsed,” he said, but noted that there was evidence of “chronic usage.”

“Drug use creates problems,” Harvey explained. “If you have one condition and you’re using cocaine, you’ll exacerbate it. It causes the heart to beat faster, the arteries to constrict, which can create a problem and set you up for a cardiac event.”

“It exacerbates heat disease,” he said. “Probably in the long run, [all of the substances] didn’t help.”

The coroner’s office said earlier today that the final report should be available for release within two weeks.

Meanwhile, at least one medical expert doesn’t buy the notion that the marijuana, Xanax and other sedatives found in her system were not considered contributing factors in Houston’s death.

“I don’t know how you can say that a bunch of sedating drugs, even in small amounts, couldn’t contribute to somebody either passing out or becoming sedated to the point where you wouldn’t necessarily struggle to recover the way most people would,” Dr. David Baron, chief of staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Ortopaedic Hospital, tells E! News.

“If we were falling asleep and slipped under the water, our emergency systems in our brain would wake us up,” Baron said. “When people are sedated, the brain doesn’t have the normal alarm systems working properly to make you struggle and fight for life. So I really don’t get why [the coroner's office] said they were not contributing causes; I don’t know how they can know that unless they were in such minute amounts.”

Which is a possibility—the official report hasn’t been released yet.

As for the cocaine, Baron said, if she ingested a “large amount…she could have easily had a cardiac event like a heart attack and an irregular heartbeat. There is no way after someone dies to know if they had an arrhythmia, they are always the mystery of sudden death where you weren’t there to witness it.”

“We are probably never going to know the exact sequence of events that took place,” Baron concluded. “But the question about whether the drug use caused her to drown or not I think is unquestionable. It either compromised her heart, made it weak, caused an arrhythmia and resulted in blood vessels constricting.”

[From E! Online]

As a layperson, I wondered how medical examiners can determine a death by heart attack. Like I assumed that there would be definitive evidence to show that a heart attack took place, but that doesn’t seem to be the case given the quotes in this article. Examiners might only be going on the condition of the heart and arteries. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.) I asked my husband, who is a scientist, to help me find out more about this, and he semi-confirmed this with some research. I also found this statement on Wikipedia’s autopsy entry “A study that focused on myocardial infarction (heart attack) as a cause of death found significant errors of omission and commission,[5] i.e. a sizable number cases ascribed to myocardial infarctions (MIs) were not MIs and a significant number of non-MIs were actually MIs.” So as this E! article explains, it sounds like the heart attack and then drowning theory for Whitney is just that, a theory.

Radar is trying to make this into a scandal and is suggesting that since no cocaine was found on the scene that someone must have cleaned it up. Life isn’t like a CSI episode and just because cocaine wasn’t found in the hotel room that doesn’t mean that someone hid evidence. Whitney could have done a bump from her purse that someone picked up after she died, or she might have done some lines in another person’s hotel room. Of course it’s easy to imagine people freaking out and cleaning up illegal drugs in Whitney’s suite before the paramedics came. Poor Whitney.

When I covered earlier details of this story yesterday, I mentioned that I have a brother and that’s why this creeps me out so much. I can’t imagine getting with my freaking brother in any way and I think I’d feel the same if he wasn’t my biological brother. It’s just – no way in hell. I talked to my brother yesterday and he was teasing me about this, which caused me to yell at him and cover my ears in horror. (Although he loves making me do that, he knows just what to say.)

So that’s an intro to this follow up about 19 year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown (some of you schooled me that I should call her “Krissi” as she goes by that, so I will). Krissi doesn’t consider it incestual in any way to date a dude she grew up with. Yesterday we heard that Krissi’s grandmother, the late Whitney Houston’s mom Cissy, was slamming Krissi’s new boyfriend, 22 year-old Nick Gordon, for taking advantage of her granddaughter at a vulnerable time. Cissy also called Krissi and Nick’s relationship “incestual,” but Krissi of course disagrees since Nick isn’t her actual brother. (Some of you mentioned the rumor that Nick is possibly Bobbi’s half brother, and was Whitney’s son with another man. I just hope that’s in no way true.) Here’s TMZ’s story on this. Oh and also, Krissi has been wearing a ring on her engagement finger, so she could be engaged.

Sources close to BK tell TMZ, the 19-year-old finally ‘fessed up to her close buddies … she and 22-year-old Nick Gordon are dating — ten years after Whitney unofficially adopted the boy because he was having problems at home.

TMZ broke the story … Bobbi’s grandma Cissy Houston saw the video we posted — showing Bobbi and Nick holding hands and kissing on a lunch run in Atlanta this week — and told a close friend, “What [Bobbi and Nick] are doing is incestuous.”

But Bobbi couldn’t care less — telling friends … she doesn’t give a damn about what Cissy thinks about her controversial relationship … and because Nick’s not her blood brother, she definitely doesn’t consider it incest.

As one source put it — Bobbi “can’t please everyone, so she is going to please herself by doing what she wants to do for once.”

As for the maybe engagement ring Bobbi was wearing — we’re told she’s been mum on what it means … but cryptically told friends, she and Nick ARE planning a trip to Vegas in the near future.

[From TMZ]

I just hope these kids aren’t stupid and impulsive enough to actually get married. And if they do, they should get a DNA test first but you know that’s not going to happen. At least they’re there for each other at a really sad time I guess. Krissi needs support from her family.

Krissi and Whitney are shown on 9-1-09. Credit: WENN.com

Video of Bobbi Kristina and Nick together is here

This is one controversial story that I didn’t want to discuss when it came out, but now that there’s more news about it we may as well. I’ll start with an anecdote that comes to mind. About 15 years ago, when I was in college, I met a couple through a mutual friend that kind of blew my mind. They were step-brother and step-sister, not related at all except by marriage, and they acted like best buddies in public until one night when they started making out at a party. It skeeved both my friend and me out, but we acted cool about it and tried not to judge. I barely knew the couple and I lost touch with that friend, but I will always remember seeing them make out and wondering how that worked exactly. I have a brother and even if he wasn’t my blood brother I like to think I could never view him that way. Maybe since I have a brother I’m reacting more strongly to this than I otherwise would. (There’s also a couple on “Teen Mom,” Catelynn and Tyler, who are step brother and sister. Their situation is different because Catelynn and Tyler were dating before their parents met and got married.)

As you know Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, lost her mother Whitney Houston just over a month ago. It’s a lot to deal with at such a young age, and she must be very vulnerable. We heard from Bobbi in an interview with Oprah last weekend. She sounded like she’s coping well, but it just seemed way too soon to be interviewing her. (And one of Bobbi’s aunts agrees.) Bobbi is now involved in what looks like a new romance with her “adopted brother” Nick Gordon, 22. Nick was living with Bobbi and her mom since he was 12, basically for the last 10 years, although he is not related to her at all. He’s currently living with her in the late Whitney’s mansion, and they were recently spotted out kissing and holding hands.

Nick has blasted his critics on twitter, and he sounds like he’s being defensive about the romance, not that he’s denying it at all. Outlets are reporting that Nick is tweeting that he’s not dating Bobbi Kristina, but read these tweets and tell me if he’s defending himself or saying he’s not involved with her. (Note that he seems to have cleaned up this account and I can no longer find these tweets.)

“Yea we got a little closer and what!”

Though he was never formally adopted by Whitney Houston, Gordon was essentially Houston’s “adopted son” after the late singer took him in when he was just 12-years old, her brother Michael Houston told ABCNews.com.

Similarly, Bobbi Kristina and Gordon were raised like brother and sister, though they are not blood-related.

“All the haters that don’t know us or the real story can’t unfollow me. I don’t give a f–k,” Gordon wrote on Twitter to address the rumors. “I’ve proved my loyalty to her and the Houston family. I don’t owe any of you anything. Ha, I don’t even know y’all haters.”

Bobbi Kristina’s “brother” also added that anyone who thought they were having an incestuous relationship because of the “sibling” label was badly mistaken.

“For the stupid ppl out there, she gave birth to 1 child. And she trusted me with EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!” he wrote.

“She called me her ‘God Son,’” he continued. “I swear some ppl in this world act like they don’t have a brain …”

[From The Daily News]

Now Bobbi Kristina’s grandmother, Whitney’s mom, has told TMZ off the record that she thinks this is like incest and that Nick is taking advantage of Bobbi. Well, Bobbi is the sole heir to her late mom’s fortune. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Cissy Houston — Whitney Houston’s mom — has reacted fiercely to the video we posted Wednesday … showing Bobbi Kristina and Whitney’s “adopted” son Nick Gordon in a romantic grip, and then kissing (below).

Cissy told a close friend, “What they’re doing is incestuous.” Cissy feels her granddaughter has problems and Nick is taking advantage of her.

Although Whitney never formally adopted Nick, she considered him her son and Bobbi called him her brother. For his part, Nick called Bobbi his sister.

Cissy is so concerned that Bobbi has become impressionable and therefore an easy target for Nick, she’s asking the Whitney Houston Estate to take legal steps to get him evicted from Whitney’s home — where Bobbi Kristina is also living.

[From TMZ]

If they called each other brother and sister for the last 10 years, I don’t really get it. I do understand how relatives could be outraged. It’s not that I think it’s necessarily wrong, and Bobbi deserves some happiness. It’s just that I can’t imagine it personally, if that makes sense. Hopefully they genuinely care for each other and Nick has Bobbi’s best interests at heart.

Photo credit: OWN via PCNPhotos and Twitter

Just reading some of these quotes from Bobbi Kristina on Oprah’s show honestly made me cry a little. I cannot imagine losing my mom like that and my heart goes out to her. Still, I do feel like it’s too soon for her to be giving interviews about her mom’s death. Oprah scored an interview with Whitney Houston’s 19 year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. (Update: DListed has the video, and it’s below now.) From the little I could see on the video, Bobbi Kristina seems in good spirits. She finds a lot of comfort in her fond memories of her mom, and belief that she’s with her in spirit. Here’s some of what she said:

In her first interview since Whitney Houston’s death, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown said she’s “doing as good as I possibly can” and recalled the tender last moments she shared with her superstar mother before her sudden death last month.

“She’s always with me,” said the 19-year-old, Houston’s only child and sole heir. “Her spirit is strong, it’s a strong spirit. I feel her pass through me all the time.”

“I can hear her voice in spirit talking to me, ‘Keep talking to me. I got you,’” says Brown. “She’s always with me. I can always feel her. I can always feel her with me. She always asked me,’Do you need me?’ And I caught myself, out of nowhere, I didn’t even know I said it, I said, ‘I’ll always need you.’ ”

Brown made the comments in a Sunday interview with Oprah Winfrey on Winfrey’s network, OWN, that also featured Pat Houston, the singer’s manager and sister-in-law, and Gary Houston, the brother of Whitney Houston.

Brown credited her family and God for helping her cope since her mother’s death on Feb. 11 at the age of 48.

“It comes in waves. One moment I can be happy and laughing, but then it comes over me. It’s my mom,” she said.

Houston, who had struggled with drugs and alcohol in the past but according to family had been apparently clean, was found in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on the eve of the Grammys. She was to attend a pre-Grammy party the night she died.

Brown said the night before her mother’s death, she asked Houston to spend the night with her.

“I slept in her arms all day, all night long,” said Brown, whose father is singer Bobby Brown.

Pat Houston said in the days before Houston died, the singer had not been abusing drugs, despite reports that she had been acting erratically.

[From Huffington Post, with additional quotes from People.com]

Bobbi Kristina also said that she just automatically wakes up at 5:00 am every day and starts praying for her mom. She said that she believes her mom turns on and off lights in the house. She added “I can still laugh. I can still sit there and I can still talk to her.” She also thinks that Whitney’s spirit told her that it was ok for her to “come home.”

As for the other interview on Oprah’s show last night, it’s worth noting that Pat Houston is not the sister-in-law who sold Whitney out to the National Enquirer years ago, nor is she the sister-in-law who was wasted out of her mind on Access Hollywood recently. Those two in-laws are on Bobby Brown’s side, predictably. Like the wasted sister-in-law we just heard from, Pat Houston seems to think there’s some kind of conspiracy surrounding Whitney’s death. She told Oprah she “didn’t know how” Whitney got in the tub where she was found dead. Pat didn’t say outright that Whitney was murdered, though, she just hinted that there was something fishy about it.

I’m glad to know that Bobbi is ok, and that she seems sober. She’s going to launch some kind of singing career, which she was reportedly aiming for prior to her mother’s death. She told Oprah “I have to carry on the legacy. We’re going to do the singing thing. Some acting, some dancing.” I just hope she has good people around her.

There’s also news that Bobbi Kristina wants to change her last name from “Brown” to “Houston,” probably more in memory of her mom than necessarily to cut ties with her dad. At least I hope that’s the case.

Update: Here’s the video, .