Robyn Crawford, longtime friend and sometime girlfriend of the late Whitney Houston, has finally opened up about their relationship.
People obtained an exclusive excerpt from Crawford’s new memoir, A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston. In it, Crawford confirms that the two had a long romantic relationship that lasted throughout most of the 1980s–something which had been long rumored, even during Houston’s lifetime.
“We wanted to be together,” writes Crawford, “and that meant just us.” The pair met in 1980 and had an immediate attraction. Then Houston signed a record contract with producer Clive Davis in 1982. That’s when Whitney decided to end the sexual portion of their relationship.
Related: Whitney Houston’s ex-girlfriend Robyn Crawford to release tell-all
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“She said we shouldn’t be physical anymore,” Crawford writes, “because it would make our journey even more difficult. She said if people find out about us, they would use this against us, and back in the ’80s that’s how it felt.”
“I kept it safe,” Crawford confesses. “I found comfort in my silence.”
Crawford also confirms that Whitney’s mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, railed against their relationship. “Whitney told me her mother said it wasn’t natural for two women to be that close,” writes Crawford, “but we were that close.”
Whitney Houston died of a drug overdose in 2012 at age 48, leaving behind one child–Bobbi Kristina–from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown, and a glittering musical legacy. Bobbi Kristina died of an overdose in 2015.
In the years since Houston’s death, numerous friends and relatives have discussed her bisexuality, her relationship with Crawford, as well as her drug use. Crawford’s discussion of their relationship adds something of a capstone to years of innuendo and speculation.
“Whitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me,” says Crawford. “We really meant everything to each other.” A Song For You goes on sale this Friday.
Smith David
Wild, wild, wild.
Cam
Hiding her true self may have been one of the things leading to Houston’s drug use. Poor woman.
mykelb
Whitney obviously suppressed a lot of feelings and love for this woman and it led her to a life of unhappiness and drugs and finally her death. This is the price you pay for the closet.
MISTERJETT
just to be correct, both Whitney and her daughter died from drowning because of their drugged induced state. neither one of them died from an overdose.
jayceecook
But there is a difference between cause of death, COD, and manner of death, MOD.
My father drowned and that is listed as his COD. However his MOD lists alcohol intoxication. He was a alcoholic and it was his excessive drinking that day that lead to his death.
My brother died by suicide. His COD is listed as interoral gunshot wound. His MOD is listed as suicide.
Now the public doesn’t know what is exactly listed as her COD but we all know it was drowning. We also don’t know what her MOD is listed as but we tend to agree it was an overdose of cocaine. Rumor has it that drowning, heart disease, and drug use, specifically cocaine, are listed somewhere in that DC. Bobby Brown has been very vocal about “wanting justice for Whitney” by having the part about drugs and cocaine removed from the DC. He says it’s not true, she didn’t overdose, and that cocaine or any other drug had anything to do with it.
If you want to get technical, yes she didn’t die of an overdose. However, people don’t die of an overdose specifically. They die from complications related to an overdose. For example, heart attack, suffocation, or even something like drowning. So yes, her COD is probably listed as drowning but I’d bet money that her MOD has overdose listed as well. It makes sense if you think about it, if she hadn’t overdosed on, most likely cocaine, she wouldn’t have fallen unconscious and drowned.
richard 14
So Whitney chose a career over being her true self? I’ve lost a lot of respect for her after reading this.
jayceecook
Whitney isn’t here to give her side of the story so we don’t know what she chose. Maybe she chose her family and her very religious beliefs. Maybe she chose her dream of being a successful singer. Maybe she was a very young woman who was raised in a church and in a family who held a lot of power over her. Maybe she chose the what she believed to be the easier route. None of us have the answers except Whitney but she is no longer hear. Maybe you should choose the harder route, like you wanted her to do, and show some compassion, sympathy, and empathy instead of taking the easy road straight to the negative.
Brian
How old are you? The early 80s was a VERY different time for gay people. You can’t judge by today’s standards. We are talking about a black teenage girl, raised in the church, figuring out her sexuality at the same time AIDS was quickly becoming an epidemic and much of the country was terrified of gay people. You are really going to simply that to “chose her career over being her true self”? You need to open a book and learn a few things about history.
Rock-N-RollHS
Oh, please, stop with the self-help speak. Life ain’t that simple.
What the hell is a “true self” anyway??
Bob LaBlah
It has been rumored for years that a fight broke out between Bobby Brown and Robin at a famous celebrity eatery and Bobby Brown, to put it mildly, came out the LOSER of that fight. I saw a documentary on Whitney that had Robin in it and trust me, girl is a rough one who looks the type that will gladly go a few rounds with anyone that crossed her the wrong way. She was no doubt paid to shut up and she did not attend Whitneys funeral either. So much for lasting love in my opinion.
Brian
Or maybe she loved her enough that she knew her presence would cause problems for the family, so she stayed away and stayed quiet for Whitney’s sake. You don’t need to be at the funeral to mourn somebody’s loss.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
She had such a dynamic unique powerful voice. Listen to her rendition of the national anthem at the Super bowl……
Such a shame she had to hide her sexuality. If you are forced to play a role that portrays your true self you find ways to escape that fictional character….
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Brian
The self inflicted destruction of Whitney’s voice is one of the most tragic things to ever happen in the music industry. She really was peerless before that.
Donston
We don’t really know what would have been the best path for Houston, what her life would have been like with total freedom, what her sense of self was, or where she was on the romantic, sexual, affection, emotional, relationship spectrum. We do know that she likely had secrets and struggles that ate at her and that she chose her superstar status and staying good with her family above all else. We also know Clive’s manipulative queer ass did her dirty and cared about nothing but album sells.
Bob LaBlah
As to be expected not a single one of you are willing to admit that you too tried drugs during the 1980’s and didn’t find them such a bad thing when it came to sex and partying. Trust me, several times my friends and I had to drag each other into meetings to get things back on track and those of us left have ZERO problem with admitting that we too fell into that trap called addiction. We can all get on here and go on and on about what her intentions and reasonings were/weren’t but god forbid lets not admit that we too walked the walk and having lived back then knew the consequences of telling people what you preferred to sleep with. Most of you have NO room to talk and you know it regardless of whether yay or nay as for Whitneys shortcomings. In my opinion she made the correct choice. She cared a lot for Robin obvious but it might be possible that she was beginning to see Robin and her aggressive nature as being more trouble than help as far as her career and decided Robin had to go on the back burner, love be damned. Ask several out lesbian celebrities if they haven’t had a time or two where they’ve looked back and wished they had kept their mouths shut about their sexuality once they split from “honey bunch” and had to keep honey bunch’s mouth shut.
Donston
It’s a bit presumptuous to pin things on Robin’s supposed aggression. Whitney kept her in her life till the very end. She could have just paid Robin off decades ago if she simply wanted her to keep her mouth shut. Whitney not only kept Robin in her life she involved her in a lot of her personal and business decisions, and she kept pulling Robin back in. While if there was drama a decent amount of that drama is on Whitney. She was no whittling flower herself. And you can’t get married yet stay close to someone who has strong protective, romantic, sexual, emotional, relationship passions and interests towards you. Tension is inevitable in that scenario.
I don’t judge Whitney. A lot of her issues and struggles are fairly commonplace stuff. It’s just that she was a superstar. Her being such a big pop (and black) icon is why people remain so intrigued by her life and difficulties.
catbells
Whitney is not here to speak for herself .. but her mother should have let her be who she wanted to be and not smothered by colour or religion..maybe she would be alive now !!