Spilling Tea

Robyn Crawford, girlfriend of Whitney Houston, opens up about their love: “We were not ashamed.”

Robyn Crawford, longtime friend, confidant and lover of the late Whitney Houston, has finally broken her silence regarding her relationship with the singer.

To help promote her new memoir A Song For You, Crawford stopped by Jada Pinkett Smith‘s talk show Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch to break her silence. The relationship between Crawford and Houston has long generated speculation and rumor, and Crawford has long resisted sharing intimate details. Until now.

“I felt it was necessary to talk about the Whitney that I know who was thoughtful with her generosity,” Crawford told Pinkett Smith. “It’s my duty to do that.”

Related: Robyn Crawford, girlfriend of Whitney Houston, finally speaks

Crawford and Houston originally met as teenagers, while serving as counselors at the same summer camp. According to Crawford, the two immediately fell in love, much to the shock of both. That relationship became intimate “on all levels.”

“There was no shame,” Crawford says.

Their physical relationship lasted two years before Whitney broke things off. She gifted Robyn a Bible, telling her that if they maintained their physical intimacy, they could go to Hell. Whitney also worried that if people knew of their love, it could hurt her career.

Crawford thinks that Whitney’s mom, Cissy Houston, was the cause of the break-up. Cissy called the relationship between Robyn & Whitney unnatural.

“Mrs. Houston knows I loved Whitney and Whitney loved me,” Crawford opines. “But I always sensed a bitterness in her mom. Her daughter was so awesome. There was so much to be joyful about. If anything, Whitney would listen to me. That would bother Mrs. Houston.”

Even after the break-up, Robyn & Whitney maintained an emotional relationship with one another, sending each other love letters for years. That love persisted even after Whitney married singer Bobby Brown. Robyn and Bobby immediately ran afoul with one another, at times even getting into physical fights. Crawford also claims Brown physically abused Houston.

Crawford goes on to discuss the explosive marriage between Bobby & Whitney, Houston’s issues with addiction and Crawford’s own ultimate choice to disconnect from Whitney. She also recalls learning of the singer’s death, as well as that of her daughter with Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina. It’s a powerful, raw conversation and a moving memorial to a fallen icon.

It streams exclusively on Facebook Watch.

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