Whitney Houston left millions of fans heartbroken after she passed a night before the Grammy
Awards.
Having conquered the music industry, movies and performed in sold-out arenas, she called
it the most “incredible” moment in her life when she gave birth to her daughter Bobbi
Kristina.
Later, the public was shocked and saddened as the course of both mother and daughter’s
lives would strangely echo one another.
How did Whitney save her daughter’s life just hours before she lost her own?
In today’s video, we’ll take a look at two wonderful women who’ve gone through
so much before taking a permanent spot in our memories.
If they were both alive today, things could have been different.
Their life, all the trials and tribulations of Houston and her daughter, who wanted to
be a singer like her mom, could’ve turned out differently.
Unfortunately, fans all over the world can only dream of this outcome now.
Whitney Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown in mid-1992 and gave birth to Bobbi Kristina
the following year.
Becoming a mother was something she had spoken of longingly as she had a miscarriage while
filming the hit movie The Bodyguard alongside Kevin Costner.
“I’ve been in front of millions of people, and that has been incredible.
But man, when I gave birth to her, and they put her in my arms, I thought: ‘This has
got to be it.’
I haven’t experienced anything greater,” Houston said mere months after giving birth.
Bobbi Kristina and her mom shared a very close bond.
She often kept Whitney company when the singer went on tours.
Whenever possible, Bobbi would even join her mommy on stage to the delight of fans.
The demands of an international performing career soon would affect Houston’s motherhood
paradise, as touring and filming demands also required mother and child to spend time apart.
Houston had experienced similar periods of absence with her own mother, Cissy Houston.
A backup singer for Dionne Warwick , Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, Houston remembered
her mother was very concerned she had to leave her children, recalling her saying, “Mommy
loves you, but she’s got to go to work.”
Bobbi Kristina tried to look after her mom as much as she could as Whitney fought a battle
against her addiction.
A relative said in an interview about how close Bobbi was to her mom.
“Honestly, Whitney in many ways depended on Bobbi Kristina more than Bobbi Kristina
did on her,” they said.
“No matter what she did or how drunk she got or how much her voice cracked at times,
Bobbi Kristina still loved her so much and never gave up on her.”
Her daughter was her friend, confidante, and her protector.
Unfortunately, Whitney’s past trauma, having little control over her career and becoming
famous in the 80s left their mark.
Following her divorce from Brown in 2007, Houston was granted custody of Bobbi Kristina.
They moved to a new Atlanta, Georgia residence, where she attempted to kick drugs once more
and focus on her life with her daughter.
It was during this period that Nick Gordon came to live with them.
Unofficially adopted by Houston, Gordon had been raised as a brother to Bobbi Kristina.
Houston began to rely more and more on her daughter.
As her substance abuse grew, a dishevelled and dazed-looking Houston was often seen being
steered through public events and paparazzi crowds by her teenage daughter.
According to Houston’s sister-in-law and close friend Tina Brown, Gordon allegedly
obtained drugs for Houston and Bobbi Kristina.
“Bobbi Kristina didn’t do any drugs until she started hanging around Nick,” Brown
alleges in the 2021 documentary Whitney & Bobbi Kristina: Didn’t We Almost Have It All.
As Houston’s career was on the rise, so was her substance abuse problem.
Throughout the 90s, Whitney’s career soared with starring in numerous films and releasing
chart-topping albums.
Sadly, out of the spotlight, she was battling an ongoing substance abuse problem that was
becoming more and more apparent to her adored, growing daughter.
Fans were offered a glimpse into their family life with the release of the 2005 reality
series Being Bobby Brown.
A young Bobbi Kristina was often filmed visibly embarrassed and alarmed at her parents’
erratic and intoxicated antics.
Something a kid should never see.
Yet, Houston’s deep love for her daughter was also apparent.
Like her mother before her, Bobbi Kristina was becoming aware of the harsh and intrusive
glare of the celebrity media, all too aware of her parent’s controversies and rumoured
infidelities playing out in the public forum.
Bobbi Kristina wanted to be a singer like Whitney and had started recording songs with
her mother by late 2011.
Unfortunately, their time together was cut short when Houston was found unresponsive
in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel and pronounced dead on the scene.
She was only 48 years old.
A report issued by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office stated the cause of death
was accidental drowning, with heart disease and the use of illegal substances as contributing
factors.
Gordon and Bobbi Kristina were also staying at the Beverly Hilton that night.
Just hours earlier, the singer had saved Bobbi Kristina’s life after she fell asleep in
the tub at the same hotel, goddaughter Brandi Boyd revealed.
“The next morning, Whitney is like, Krissi almost died last night ... you need to get
away from that water, that water is evil!” Boyd said.
The late singer told friends and family that, quote, “God told her” to check on the
18-year-old when she found her asleep in the tub.
But, sadly, no one was there to do the same for Whitney.
An overwhelmed Bobbi Kristina was reportedly hospitalized in the days immediately following
her mother’s death out of concern for her physical and mental health.
Understandably, she was heartbroken over the loss of her mom and spoke about it in interviews.
“I can hear her voice and her spirit talking to me, telling me, keep moving, baby.
I can always feel her with me.
She humbles me,” she told ABC News.
“I remember what she told me; I remember what she taught me.
She was a sister, a comforter.
The spirit that she had, no matter where she was, she touched everyone.”
Causing an inevitable controversy within the family, Bobbi Kristina had begun seeing Gordon
romantically, announcing their engagement in October 2012.
Like her mother, Bobbi Kristina would face media scrutiny over her love life, all while
attempting to kickstart a music career in the shadow of her famous mother’s death.
Though physical and mental abuse allegations would later surface, Bobbi Kristina announced
she and Gordon had wed in early 2014.
However, her father’s lawyer would later state the pair had never officially married.
Almost three years from her mother’s death, Gordon reportedly found Bobbi Kristina face
down in a bathtub in her Georgia home.
Eerily familiar, isn’t it?
Alive but unresponsive, doctors placed her in an induced coma, but she never fully recovered.
Unable to rule her death an accident, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office report,
the underlying cause was “immersion associated with drug intoxication,” and an autopsy
showed she had morphine, cocaine, prescription drugs and alcohol in her body.
Gordon, who Houston welcomed into her home when he was 12, was found liable for Bobbi
Kristina’s death in a civil case, though he was never criminally charged.
He died of a heroin overdose last year.
Bobby Brown blames his daughter’s former boyfriend for her death and his ex-wife Whitney
Houston's three years prior.
“Nick was the only one there in both situations; with my ex-wife and my daughter, and they
both died the same way,” the Grammy-winning singer said in an interview.
He elaborated that he believed Gordon provided Houston and their daughter the drugs that
would later contribute to their deaths.
Brown said he learned that Bobbi Kristina was being physically abused by Gordon only
after her death, but could never confront Gordon with his allegations due to being in
rehab himself.
He said he regrets that he wasn’t involved in his daughter’s life enough after Houston’s
death to see the warning signs.
“I don’t know why I didn’t see it.
But we hadn’t been spending as much time together after her mother’s death as we
should’ve been.”
Though he did reveal the pair had plans to reunite just two days after her untimely death.
A few months before her passing, they had become closer.
She even had a plane ticket to see her father, to come and stay with him for a while.
“It was just a matter of two days before she would’ve been on a flight.
Two days before this all happened.
If I could just get those two days back, she’d still be here because I would have found out
what was going on to do something about it,” said a heartbroken Bobby Brown.
Unfortunately, we can’t change the past.
But we can see to it that our present and our future learn from our past mistakes.
We can also learn to be more open-hearted, kind and accepting.
Drop some love in the comments below for the incredibly hard-working and passionate singer,
the legendary Whitney Houston, and her daughter Bobbi Kristina.
They WILL ALWAYS live in our hearts.
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