LOS ANGELES:
Singer Whitney Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown struck back at claims that he was responsible for getting the pop star hooked on drugs or that he somehow played a role in her cocaine-fueled death in February.
“I’m not the one that got Whitney on drugs at all,” Brown says in an interview to be aired this week on the “Today” show.”I’m not the reason she’s gone,” he adds.
Houston, 48, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11 from what authorities called accidental drowning brought on by cocaine use and heart disease. White powder and paraphernalia drug were found in the bathroom where she died.
The late singer had spoken publicly about a long battle with cocaine, marijuana and crack, particularly during her tempestuous 15-year marriage to Brown. They divorced in 2007, but some fans and members of Houston’s family have blamed Brown for her untimely death.
In his first TV interview since the singer died, Brown, 43, told “Today” show host Matt Lauer that he had been off drugs for seven years and was hurt to hear that Houston had been using cocaine. “I was hurt because I didn’t know she was still struggling with it,” he says.
Brown said drugs were part of Houston’s life before he met her in 1991. “I smoked weed, I drank beer, but no I wasn’t the one that got Whitney on drugs at all,” he said.
Brown turned up for Houston’s funeral in New Jersey but left before the service started saying he felt unwanted and disrespected. Six weeks after Houston died, Brown was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with drunk driving and driving on a suspended license. He has pleaded not guilty.
The troubled singer, however, added that Houston had a “glow about her” when he last saw her about a week before she died. He was at a restaurant having dinner with their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. “She just looked like she was in a good place,” he said about the “I Will Always Love You” singer.
The interview will be aired on “Today” show today and on Thursday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2012.
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People forget that Whitney had been in the “industry” in one way or another her entire life and to say she had blinders on to drugs until Bobby came around is just crazy.