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A LOVE STORY
PEOPLE LOVED TO
HATE THEM, BUTIN
THE END, ONE OF
ENTERTAINMENT'S
MOST INFAMOUS
PAIRS HAD SOMETHING IN OOMMON
By

MARGENA A.
CHRISTIAN

AS MUCH AS SOME PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO WRITE

Bobby Brown out of the annals of Whitney Houston's storied li(e, they simply
can't. Bobby existed. He still exists. Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, their 1,9-yearold daughter, is his namesake. Deal with it.
The history books will forever show Whitney and Bobby as one of entc^rtainment's most well-known couples. She was the music industry's darling from Newark, N.J. He was the music industry's bad boy from Boston. Right from the onset
of their relationship in 1989, people wondered what could have lead to such an
odd union.
"They don't know Bobby and me," Whitney told EBONY in 1993. "So they're
looking at the image and they go, 'What are they doing together.'' But they don't
know the real people we are. Bobby comes from the same kind of family 1 come
from. If you know Bobby's mother and his father, and you know my mother and
my father, then you would understand why Bobby and I are together."
By the time they wed in 1992, people were taking bets at their wedding on just
how long they would stay together. They vowed to fight hard for love, and in fact,
proved everyone wrong. Through bouts with each other's substance abuse and his
arrest for lack of child support payments from a previous relationship, "Nippy"

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 THK P.AIR WEI) IN 1992. "I LOVE HIM MORE

THAN I THOUGHT 1 COULD EVER LOVH ANYONK.
IN MY LIFE," ACCORDING TO F,BON>

them the new Ike and Tina. Anytime Whitney

said something in support of her man, people
dismissed it and laughed, such as the time she
introduced Bobby as "the Original R & B King."
Those who know music history know the truth.
When the pair met for the first time during
the 1989 Soul Train Awards, Bobby was ruling
the music industry as a solo artist with soldout concerts, a Grammy, three American Music
Awards and a Soul Train Award. Music legend
Dionne Warwick, Whitney's cousin, took the
stage that night and introduced him by saying "It's not hard to figure out who the hottest
young soul male artist is."

and Bobby stood the rain and weathered the storm for 15 years until
their final separation in 2006 and subsequent divorce in 2007.
Was Bobby the love of her life?
"[He was] the first, the second, the third and the fourth [love of
her lifej," said singer Cherrelle, Whitney's best friend. "She was
a normal person. He was just a normal guy. They married very
young. They were both homebodies. They would play basketball in
the middle of the night. You only saw them out together at events,
lie took care of his wife, his household and his children."
The couple offered a glimpse into their private lives on the 2005
Bravo reality series. Being Bobby Brown. The show did little to diffuse the dysfunctional perceptions many already held about the
duo as they argued incessantlywith Houston often using her famous "hell to the no" phraseand showed Bobbi Kristina stuck in
the middle of the crossfire. The show seemed like a collision course
toward their final days as a married couple.
"One thing I can tell you about my friend is that she never, ever
let what people said about them bother her," said Cherrelle. "It
amazed me. She would say, 'AH I can do is pray for them. They yet
not know.' She never took offense. If you never walked in Whitney's shoes, you could never understand it. The things people
would come to her and say were mean."
Whitney and Bobby were ofien the butt of jokes. Some called

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Bobby sat with his former New Edition group

members and witnessed Whitney getting booed
for what the audience considered a soul-deficient performance. To say the least, the youngsters were a bit amused by the audience's response. Whitney especially noticed Bobby, five
years her junior, laughing himself silly.
"When she first laid eyes on him, she said,
'That's gonna be my husband," recalled Cherrelle, who met the singer through Il&B artist
Teddy Pendergrass when he and Whitney recorded the 1984 song "Hold Me."
"She looked beyond the things Bobby did. His
soul was good. He had a good spirit. He wasn't
what he was portrayed to be, the bad boy. He was
a good guy. They both experienced success at a
young age and sold millions of records. What
they had in common was the pressure, the expectations. She dressed up as the princess. He
was supposed to be the bad boy. People thought
she should have married Prince Charming, and
he should have married Ugly Betty."
Teddy Riley, who helped perfect Bobby's new jack swing sound,
was around during the height of his red-hot career, which spawned
the 7 times platinum album Don't He Cruel.
"Trust, he was that man, but when he got with Whitney, he really exclusively gave his heart, life and soul to her," said Riley.
"They were so lovable. He would watch her or stand behind her
while she was singing or vice versa. One time we did a session, and
he asked her if she could stay on the phone while he sang his parts.
'I just need your presence,' he told her."
Riley remembers asking Bobby if he really wanted to get married, because when other male solo artists with large female fan
bases strolled down the aisle, album sales slumped severely. Marriage for a male singer could mean career suicide, which is why
talk of personal life is off limits for many performers.
"Bobby told me, 'I'm going to sell records anyway,'" recalled
Riley. "When I saw them together, they were affectionate" beyond
measure in the studio. They convinced me. I told him 1 would
stand up at his wedding. They were really in love. In the beginning, their life was amazing."
In 1992, Riley produced and co-wrote their up-tempo duet
"Something In Common." Whitney and Bobby changed the lyrics
to suit their relationship. She encouraged Bobby to release the

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"WITH ALL FAMILY,

THINGS CAN BE FIXED IN
YOUR HOME, [BUT] THE
PEOPLE AROUND YOU
ARE TRYING TO EARN A
DOLLAR, SO THEY PUT
OUT YOUR LAUNDRY."

song as a single and was eager for them to do a music video

together. Bobbi Kristina made a cameo at the end of the
video with Whitney bottle-feeding her as Bobby plants a
kiss on their infant daughter's forehead.
"At some point, when they were single, they were a bad
boy and bad girl," said Riley. "They realized they had
something in common. Whitney was a diva and a strongminded woman who didn't take no mess. If you didn't
have your [shit] together, she would tell you to get out of
her face. She would tell you in a minute. She looked for
real people. I [overheard] them talk about certain things.
Things they've been through and how they felt it was time
to settle down and give their lives to each other."
But even the seemingly strongest of relationships have
not gone the distance managed by Whitney and Bobby.
During a 2009 interview with Oprah, Whitney revealed
her alleged abuse at the hand of her husband and the
alleged jealousy Bobby felt as his skyrocketing career
slowed to a standstill while she continued to make music
at a dizzying pace.
"I felt they could have kept their relationship private,"
said Riley. "With all family, things can be fixed in your
home. [But] the people around you are trying to earn a
dollar, so they put out your laundry."
It should come as no surprise that many are blaming Bobby for
her addiction. The truth is that Whitney started using drugs long
before he entered her life. By her own admission, during the 2009
Oprah interview, Whitney said her drug use became "heavy" after
filming 1992's The Bodyguard. Others are even going so far as to
hold Bobby, now clean and sober, responsible for her death.
"Bobby ain't do shit!" said Cherrelle. "They weren't even together anymore."
Drugs weren't the only source of the couple's strife. According
to some, Whitney's "secrets" played a major role. Allegations of
her bisexuality were gaining momentum by the late '80s. Details
of the secret life she reportedly shared for numerous years with
longtime friend Robyn Crawford, a former All-State basketball
star (and at one time Whitney's executive assistant) who served as
the maid of honor at her wedding, had started to surface.
"She got talked about so bad. Is that kind? If the tabloids didn't
talk about her as bad, maybe she'd still be here," said Cherrelle.

THE BROWN KAMILV DURING HAPPIKR TIMKS. "1 HAVE POl NI)
THAT THE TRIALS AND TItinULATIONS THAT BOBBY AND I MAY GO
TIIROl GH ARE THF.RF, TO MAKH US STRONtiKH. TO MAKF. US MORK
PATIENT. TO MAKE US SOMF.TIME.S SIT BACK AND NOT TRY TO
MANEUVER THE SITUATION THF. WAY WE THINK IT .SHOULD (iO.
BUT TO JUST PUT OUR TRUST IN GOD," EBONY REPORTED.

"Maybe she wouldn't have tried to escape with a pill or a drug.

At the end of the day, did you help her or did you talk about her?
Those that did [talk about her] make sure you understand the
blood is on [your] hands, too."
In the entertainment industry, where bisexuality is more commonplace than most are willing to admit, could it have been that
the pressure on Whitney to live a lie was greater than the desire to
walk in her own truth?
In Brown's 2008 autobiography, Bobby Brown: The Truth, the
Whole Truth au/Nothing But..., he said their marriage was "doomed
from the very beginning." He stated, "I think we got married for all
the wrong reasons. Now, 1 realize Whitney [Cont. on page 140]

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V i.()\ i: s l o i n

Whitney and Bobby

| Going the Distance

Cont. from page 131

Cont. from page 117

had a different agenda than I did when we

got married.... I believe her agenda was to
clean up her image, while mine was to be
loved and have children."
They certainly had their share of ups
and downs. Some thought the duo would
ride it out for the long haul.
"Sometimes things don't work out as we
plan. Life goes on," said Cherrelle. "She
divorced the marriage, but she never divorced him as a friend. She was a Bible girl.
She went by the word. Before she would
ever have been an adulteress or disloyal
and make a mockery out of something,
I she lelt that divorce] was the right thing
to do. Did they still have the greatest love
for each other? Yes. My words to her were
always, 'Y'all gonna be back together.'"
Early last year Bobby lost his beloved
mother, Carole Brown. Whitney attended the funeral and sang at the service.
"Once a Brown, always a Brown," she
would often say.
Life is strange. Just as he met the woman who would later become his wife surroimded by his New Edition brotherhood,
liobby, now reunited with the group,
ltiarned of Whitney's death shortly before
one of their performances in Mississippi
on February 11.
Overcome with emotion several times
during the concert, he broke down into
tears and had to stop singing to compose himself. At one point the griefstricken Bobby looked above, and said,
"I love you, Whitney."
Sometimes the truth isn't as sensational or as sexy as we'd hope. Could it all
be so simple? Perhaps the bond Whitney
Elizabeth Houston and Robert Barisford
Brown had was genuine love.
"Who cares what the thoughtless
think," said Cherrelle. "There is no
heaven or hell the world, the fans or
friends can put them in. Whatever they
had and shared was between Whitney,
Bobby and God." B

try it another time.' This time, I was so

relaxed. I was happier. I had just had my
wedding."
Any EBONY issues with Whitney
Houston on the cover always sold very well.
Our readers thirsted for tidbits on the life
of America's reigning music sweetheart.
And they got plenty of it. In July 1994,
the magazine featured Whitney, Bobby
and baby Bobbi Kristina, headlined "The
Awards, The Gossip, The Glory: Whitney's
Wild and Wonderful Year."
By then, Whitney was no longer
the idealistic ingenue. The Bodyguard
soundtrack had .sold more than 1 million
copies in a single week and topped the
charts for months. She had swept the
most recent awards shows, sashaying
away with three Grammy Awards, eight
American Music Awards, five NAACP
Image Awards, two Soul Train Music
Awards, and 11 Billboard Music Awards.
She had also presented at the Academy
Awards ceremony.
During that interview, she spoke
about being annoyed by the rumors and
gossip surrounding her marriage and her
husband. She again said that (iod had
blessed her, but she also ranted against
the media, intrusion into her privacy,
"battered Whitney" stories, racism in
Americaall the while defending Bobby
and their relationship.
"I know that they [the media] are
trying to make my husband out to be
this man who has no respect for his wife
or his family, who has no respect for his
marriage, who has no respect for much
of anythingbut they're very wrong,"
she said of the rampant reports of her
husband's womanizing and partying.
"And they are playing on the fact that
Bobby and I, no matter what people think
or what the media will say, we're happy
together. And we like being together. ...
We love each other. "
In 1998, I again visited Whitney at

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her New Jersey estate, this time at an

adjacent house she had purchased and
transformed into a recording studio. She
was working on her My Lm'v s Your Low
CD, and Missy Elliott was there to write
and produce two songs. Whitney took a
break and whisked Missy next door to
meet Hobbi Kristina, who was starting
first grade the next morning, a 7 a.m.
event Whitney wouldn't hear of anyone
else handling.
She was wiser, tougher and sexier then.
Her acting skills maturing, her business
empire was expanding. And the spotlight
on her husband and their marriage was
wearing on her. She had enjoyed success
with the films Waiting to Exhale and
The Preacher's Wife, which also starred
Denzel Washington and Courtney B.
Vance. She had sold more than 100
million records, with The Hodyguanl on
its way to becoming one of the best-selling
albums of all time. She also had founded
Brownhouse Productions (run by Deba
Chase Martin), which produced Hndgcrs
S Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring
Brandy. Whitney dismissed rumors
that there was friction between her and
Mariah Carey when they recorded a
song for The Prince of Egypt soundtrack.
She acknowledged that she'd had more
miscarriages but still wan(ed a baliy boy.
And despite nonstop rumors and tabloid
stories, Whitney told me she and Bobby
were doingjust fine as husband and wife.
"We're good," she said. "[Six | years, and
we're still together. Some people said we
wouldn't make it for six months."
Well, they made it as husband and wife
for almost IS years, but by the time the
marriage ended in 2007, Whitney was far
from the person I had met in 19H.').
I am devastated, saddened and angered
by Whitney's death. It didn't have to
happen, not this soon and not this way.
As I sat through the homegoing service,
like millions of others, I shed a few
tears. The service was fit for a princess,
and she was lauded by the royidly ol
the entertainment world, including lier
second family, the Winanses.
Until the end, 1 had hoped Whitney
would overcome the demons and return
to us, that she would rid her life of the
excesses and the enablers who assisted
in her downward spiral. We might never
again have gotten the s|)ine-tingling
AeMyery o The Bodyguard'f>"\ Will Always
Love You" and her soulful 1991 Super Bowl
version of "The Star-Spangled Banner,"
but I would have just been happy to get
Whitney back.
She deserved better. And so did we. II