Whitney Houston passed away in 2012, and left chaos in her wake. Her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown inherited some of her mother’s estate, and following Whitney’s passing, Bobbi Kristina began “dating” Nick Gordon, a guy who had been raised as her brother. In January 2015, in a home Bobbi shared with Nick, Bobbi was found unresponsive in a bathtub. She spent six months in a coma, then passed away in July 2015. Everyone blamed Nick. He seemed like a con artist, and he also seemed to have had some kind of hand in Bobbi’s death. He was never criminally charged, but the family sued him in civil court, and he was ordered to pay $36 million to Bobbi Kristina’s family. I have no idea if he ever did. Sadly he’s passed away, and it looks like a drug overdose:
Nick Gordon, the ex-boyfriend of Bobbi Kristina Brown, has died. He was 30. Gordon’s brother, Jack Walker Jr., confirms to PEOPLE that Gordon died Wednesday in Florida following a drug overdose.
“We are devastated by the loss of my beautiful brother,” Walker Jr. tells PEOPLE in a statement. “He leaves a void in the hearts of my family and his friends. Nick’s battle in life was not an easy one. I will be forever grateful that my God afforded a small moment at the very end of Nick’s life, and I was able to hold his hand as he journeyed on.”
In response to Gordon’s death, Gordon’s lawyer Joe S. Habachy tells PEOPLE, “My heart is heavy today after learning that my long time client Nick Gordon died at the young age of thirty. While I cannot speak to the specific circumstances of his death, I can say that it’s been truly heartbreaking to have witnessed first hand the total devastation that drug addiction has wreaked upon a group of young friends, all of whom were loved and had immense potential,” Habachy adds.
Sources told The Daily Mail that Gordon had suffered a number of heart attacks on New Year’s Day and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at Altamonte Springs Hospital, where he eventually died.
Gordon’s sudden death comes three years after he was found liable in the wrongful death case of Whitney Houston‘s daughter, Brown. The 22-year-old was found unconscious and unresponsive with drugs in her system in the bathtub of the Georgia townhouse she shared with Gordon in early 2015. As a result of the case decision, Gordon was ordered by a judge to pay $36 million to her estate.
In recent years, Gordon found himself entangled in legal drama after his girlfriend Laura Leal accused him of a physical altercation.
This feels more like an accident than Nick consciously choosing to overdose. It was reported, at the time, that both Nick and Bobbi Kristina were heavy drug users at the time of her death, and I would not be surprised if Nick had been abusing drugs for years. It took a toll on his body. I feel sorry for Nick’s family. This whole saga from Whitney and Bobby Brown to Bobbi and Nick, has been a Faulknerian family tragedy and it’s sad.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sad. I mean – it’s always sad when someone’s life goes so far off the rails that they do the kind of shit that he’s done over the years. I think he can be a victim of his circumstances, but also be a pretty garbage person, though. It’s a shame that he never pulled it together.
Faulknerian is a perfect descriptor of this tragic saga. I feel so much for all the family and friends left in the wake.
Same. The story of Whitney breaks my heart every time. Such a tragic way for her life to end. Her gift that continues to bring so much joy to so many… she just left this world way too soon. She never realized her extra ordinary self worth. Kills me. 😭
Yes. Her voice. Her talent. Her face. Her charisma and wit. She was truly extraordinary. She seemed to have it all and yet she was miserable. Makes me wonder if it’s really possible to fill the void.
Same here too. As an 80s kid, Whitney was just the best – incredible talent, gorgeous, we all wanted to be just like her. It’s really sad, and especially more so that her daughter was lost in a similar way.
It’s horrible to not be even a little bit surprised by the death of a 30 year old.
rest in peace of course, but I always thought Whitney’s death was suspicious too, like the talented mr gordon had somehow descended on their lives and moved right in…
It was drugs. Drugs were there way before Gordon. Drugs attract shady people and shady situations that sometimes turn out tragic. Nick Gordon wasn’t a good person but it’s unfair to pin it all on him. Obviously, he was genuinely addicted too.
I’m still so sad about Whitney and Bobbi Kristina’s death. Awful all around.
Whitney’s death was not the first time she OD-ed. She had a serious crack/cocaine addiction and abused prescription drugs. She was on a path of total self destruction.
People always used to blame Bobbi Brown for Whitney’s addiction problems also. I think no one ever wanted to believe that a woman with a voice that beautiful could be battling her own demons. After loosing Whitney so young I can see why Bobbi subsequently, and sadly, turned to drugs.
JadedOne, I watched a documentary recently about Whitney and Bobby. It said he had problems with alcohol, and she had problems with drugs. Then they fell in love and adopted each other’s vices. I’d just always heard that everything was all Bobby’s fault, so it was interesting (and sad) to hear that she was already abusing drugs when she met him.
What was the doc Amiloo? I would love to watch it.
The documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me included that Whitney was using drugs way before she first became famous. Her brothers said they were doing drugs with her in New Jersey when she was still a teenager – or even younger than that.
@Sue, you need to adjust your thinking. Whitney Houston was massively talented and a beautiful soul. She also had a documented history of drug use going back to her early years in the industry (possibly earlier). Nick Gordon was a 12 year old child when he was taken in and adopted by Whitney. He was maybe 21/22 when she died. Are you seriously saying that you think a kid was responsible for 48 year old Whitney’s drug use and death? Sit down.
Yup, me : I agree with you overall but Whitney never adopted Gordon. Bobbi Kristina is her one and only child. Nick went to live with them when he was around 17, after his own family kicked him out.
That’s a disgusting comment!
If anything, those kids became addicts with a lot of help from the environment they grew up in. There’s sadly nothing suspicious about a drug addicts dying from drug overdose, the opioid crisis should have made this very clear to everyone by now. To blame a child for their parent’s addiction is messed up.
His lawyer said it all perfectly. Pretty devastating situation all around.
This.
Does Bobbi Brown do drugs, too? I always wondered how he stepped off the train tracks seemingly problem-free, while others in Whitney’s wake followed a similar fate.
IIRC, he did drugs while he was with Whitney, but sobered up after they split. I remember that people used to blame Bobby for Whitney getting into drugs because she had such a wholesome image. But according to a documentary I saw, she was doing drugs before she met Bobby.
Not surprised by his ending.
and bobby brown outlives them all. who would’ve thought.
He lived with them as a child – one would assume because his parents were not fit.
Hard circumstances to overcome.
Tragic all the way around.
I read this and IMMEDIATELY thought of Michael Hutchence…Paula Yates…and Peaches Geldof…the horrific legacy of drugs and how it can decimate a family….
Yes good point—-Peaches Geldof’s little child in the house alone with her when she overdosed and died just like Paula Yates’s little child with Hutchence was in the house alone with her when SHE overdosed and died…
What does it mean he was found liable, but not responsible, for Bobbi Kristina’s death?
He was found liable in civil court-but wasn’t tried or convicted in criminal court. There’s a lower burden of proof in civil court.
Ohh, wow, okay I see. Thank you for explaining! i’m not familiar with the case because I tried to stay away from how sad and confusing it all seemed, so that detail in this article surprised me. Sounds like he should have been in prison. I’ll never understand the justice system.
Not surprising, but still sad. Drugs really destroyed this whole family.
I still think when Whitney felt forced to end her relationship with her girlfriend and opted for street cred with Bobby Brown, it was the beginning of the end. Bobby is like Keith Richards, seemingly super-human in their survival of drugs that would and had killed others in their twenties. Poor Whitney and poor Bobbi. After Whitney’s death, her father should have stepped up to guide her, be with her, take her into his home, but he did not. Instead, the nefarious Nick Gordon hurt and killed her (I wonder what “liable” means here. Liable for beating her, drowning her?) Bobby Brown failed his daughter. Incredibly sad all around.
Liable means civilly liable. It doesn’t mean that anyone proved that he beat or drowned her. I’m not saying he did or didn’t do those things. I’m just saying that’s not what liable means in this context.
A jury in a civil trial found that there was at least a 50.1% chance that he bore some responsibility for Bobbi’s death and imposed a financial liability as a result of that finding. This is very different from a criminal trial which seeks to prove guilt and must do so beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden for civil liability is significantly lower than the burden for proving criminal guilt.
Wow, surprised but not surprised. He knew he was screwed with the huge debt to Whitney’s estate (or was it Bobbi Brown himself)? He had no meaningful skill or employment. Likely a lot of guilt over BC’s death. And, of course, no secret he had a long term hard drug habit. What a sad, sorry shame for them all.