Bobbi Kristina Brown almost had it all. The only child of one of the best singers of her generation, she was born into privilege and wealth to a mother who adored her. But what should have been a fairytale existence for Whitney Houston’s daughter ended in tragedy with her death on July 26. Now the 22-year-old has been buried alongside her beloved mother in New Jersey.
Among the messages tweeted in the wake of her death was one from singer Missy Elliott, a family friend, who wrote, “My heart is truly heavy. May u rest in peace with your mommy.”
Bobbi Kristina – Whitney’s daughter with rapper Bobby Brown – was devastated when her mother was found dead in a hotel bathtub in 2012. The coroner ruled that Whitney had accidentally drowned, but said that heart disease and cocaine use had contributed to her death. Nearly three years later, Bobbi Kristina was discovered unconscious in the bath of her Georgia home. She had suffered brain damage and was put in a medically induced coma, while her family was told it would be a miracle if she recovered. Eventually, the family agreed to stop her medication and after six months in a coma, she died.
Her father Bobby – who called his daughter “Krissy” – said his loss was “unimaginable”. “Krissy was and is an angel. I am completely numb at this time,” he said in a statement. “My family must find a way to live with her in spirit and honour her memory.”
A family friend says Bobby is holding it together better than people expected. “He knew it was coming. He’s taking comfort in the fact that she’s with her mother and that there will be no more sadness or pain.”
The cause of Bobbi Kristina’s death is a still a mystery and an autopsy has been carried out. According to the police, there was no evidence the incident was caused by drugs or alcohol. They are now looking into why she was found with bruises on her face and body, swollen lips and a missing tooth.
According to website TMZ, authorities are planning to treat the incident as a murder investigation, and one of the first people they want to speak to is her partner, Nick Gordon (25). Bobbi Kristina and Nick were brought up as siblings after Whitney unofficially adopted Nick when he was nine and Bobbi Kristina was six. There was a furore when their romance was later revealed and confusion over whether they had married or not.
The couple apparently had big rows in the days before Bobbi Kristina died. Nick was banned from visiting her in hospital by members of Whitney’s family. A friend says he was devastated not only by her death, but also because he didn’t get to see her before she died.
“Nick is on suicide watch,” says a source. “He keeps saying that if only Bobbi Kristina had heard his voice, things would have been different. She may have lived.”
Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed by Bobbi Kristina’s court-appointed lawyer, claiming Nick beat her up on the day she was found, knocking her out and causing the brain damage that eventually led to her death. While the mystery of her death is being investigated, family friends say it is not completely unexpected that tragedy would befall Bobbi Kristina at some stage in her life.
While her parents clearly loved her, they were also both drug addicts and not thought of as good role models. A chauffeur once claimed that Whitney and Bobby, who divorced when their daughter was 14, smoked crack cocaine in front of her.
“Throughout her entire life, Bobbi has been surrounded by drugs,” says a family friend. “During her parents’ 14-year relationship, she saw first-hand their battles against addiction. The path Bobbi was shown during her life was not the one any child should have to be shown by their parents.”
By her teens, Bobbi Kristina was considered a problem child and a “party animal”, according to one report. An unauthorised, tell-all book claims that when she was 15, she tried to stab her mother before attempting to slit her own wrists. She was later admitted to a psychiatric ward. Three years later, she was caught on video snorting what appeared to be cocaine.
When Whitney died, Bobbi Kristina was so distraught, she had to be hospitalised. “She wasn’t only a mother, she was a best friend,” she told Oprah Winfrey in an emotional interview. Days after the first anniversary of Whitney’s death, Bobbi Kristina was taken from her Los Angeles home on a stretcher and hospitalised after mixing alcohol with a sedative.
As police and medical staff work to determine why Bobbi Kristina died, her family are preparing for the possibility of a legal battle. Bobbi Kristina was due to receive the bulk of her mother’s almost $30m in instalments up to the age of 30, but her death means the money is now likely to go to Whitney’s mother Cissy and two brothers. However, as Bobbi Kristina’s next of kin, Bobby Brown may also try to claim some of Whitney’s assets. And if Bobbi Kristina and Nick Gordon were married, as she claimed, he may have a right to some of the money.