'We were lovers': girlfriend Whitney Houston frankly spoke about the life and love of the singer
'19.11.2019'
Source: Air force
Since childhood, Robin Crawford was the best friend of the singer Whitney Houston, later becoming her assistant and impresario. For some time they were in a romantic relationship.
For many years, their relationship has been the subject of rumors and speculation. Two films about the singer's life - "Whitney: Can I be myself?" and approved by the Houston relatives "Whitney" - pretty much turned the history of their relationship, hinting that Crawford was Whitney's only true love. Writes about it Air force.
Robin Crawford has consistently refused to talk about her relationship with the singer, and archival filming was used in these films. However, after a lot of speculation about the nature of their relationship, Crawford decided to share her version.
"Why now?" - she asks herself a question in the introduction to her memoirs, recently published and entitled "A Song for You."
“Believe me, I did my best to remain in the shadows, but now I believe that it is my duty to protect the honor of my friend and clarify many inaccuracies about me and who Whitney was,” she writes.
On the subject: “Wasn’t my life instructive?”: The story of Whitney Houston
In the book, Crawford first confirmed her romantic relationship with Houston, which began when they were both teenagers, and lasted two years.
“It wasn't just about physical intimacy,” she emphasizes in the book. - We could trust each other with our secrets, feelings and all the most intimate. We were friends, lovers. We were everything to each other. We didn't fall in love. We just were. Were at each other. We were one ”.
Houston broke off their connection as soon as she signed a contract for the recording of the album, and at the same time handed Crawford a Bible, saying that she was afraid of publicizing their relationship.
At the same time, Crawford remained a friend and support of the singer. In the book, she openly describes how they took drugs together and how helplessly watched her best friend slip into an abyss of addiction.
“Regardless of all the rules we worked out together to handle drug abuse responsibly, she kept breaking them,” says Crawford.
By the time Robin Crawford left Whitney’s team in 2000, the singer had already reached the point of canceling her performances and skipping studio sessions. Robin suspected that Whitney was also abused by her husband Bobby Brown.
The story of Robin Crawford herself is not much happier: she was raised by a single mother, who left her husband because of domestic violence. Two of her close relatives died of AIDS in her arms.
However, her memoirs are not hopeless. After she fell out of Whitney’s orbit, Robin slowly rebuilt her life and now lives in a happy marriage and brings up two adopted children.
She was a journalist, interviewed famous actresses such as Jessica Beale and Kristen Bell, and now works as a fitness instructor.
The purpose of her memoir is to obscure the tragic death of Whitney, who drowned in her own bath in 2012 on the eve of the Grammy awards, in public memory, and remind the world that she was generous, unselfish, funny and phenomenally talented.
“I want to exalt her. I want to put her on a pedestal so that she can shine with her artistic heritage, ”- this is how Crawford explained in an interview with the BBC the reason for the appearance of her memoir.
On the subject: The Whitney Houston family confessed that in their childhood their older sister raped her for two years
BBC: How did you feel about recalling all this?
Robin Crawford: I've spent the last two and a half years reliving over and over what happened in the 1980s and 90s - to the point where my son once remarked, “I'll be happy when Mom finally finishes her book. and will play with me again ”.
Writing a book caused me a flurry of emotions. The beginning of the book, when we were so enthusiastic, fearless, waiting for adventure; then these wild years, when we went to all those goals that we talked about so much; then my own family and all the difficulties that arose in her.
So there were tears of joy and tears of sadness, when the nerves were at the limit.
BBC: What was it like to listen to Whitney singing in everyday life, at home or in the car?
RK: I called it “pre-concert”! We had this house in New Jersey and there was a dome in the living room. She went there and just sang - gospel, jazz, Al Jarreau - whatever she wanted at the time, because the acoustics there were amazing.
I remember how one evening she sang Fly Me To The Moon in this room and it was so light, airy - as if she really flew.
BBC: People are interested to know about your romantic relationship with Whitney. You describe them very touchingly and tenderly, but at the same time - not as something out of the ordinary. You write that you have "never been labeled" about this.
RK: People define this as a "relationship", but we just got to know each other and made friends, coincided with each other. Our friendship grew on the fact that we were open and honest with each other about everything in the world. She told me that she was going to sign a contract [with a record company] and then she would take me with her around the world. And we have always had a very close, on a physical level, love-friendship apart from our own friendship. It was love, very open and honest.
BBC: Whitney broke this connection shortly after signing the contract, telling you that "it will complicate the joint path." Was it difficult to leave all these feelings and just be friends?
RK: We were friends, we knew each other very well. We always had in mind the main goal, and nothing could prevent this. Whitney believed that if people find out about our relationship, then they use it against us. These were 80. You were either this or that. And women were treated in such a way that they were enemies, not comrades. So it was not easy, and we were still quite young. We were young and fearless.
BBC: In a way, you were protecting each other.
R.K .: It was very important. Whitney said, “I want you to be there. You know me. You knew me even before we got what we wanted. ” So we were a team. She knew me and trusted me.
BBC: I was amazed [described in the book] by your mother's first meeting with Whitney and her words: "You look like an angel, but I know you are not." And then, a few days later, Whitney lets you try marijuana for the first time.
R.K .: My mom got it through! This angelic glow emanated from Whitney, and then she took a cigarette from her breast pocket, as if to say: "And this is what I'm fond of, okay?"
BBC: You often used drugs together, but in the end you tried to convince her to quit this habit. Has she ever tried to do this for real?
RK: We never thought that cocaine is something good, and at first she told me: “This cannot continue”. So I'm pretty sure Whitney knew she needed help and wanted to go to her. I write about this in the book, that she called one person and asked for help.
BBC: Yes, it was in 2001 - she called the doctor to discuss how she can get treatment for drug addiction.
RK: Yes, to Dr. Richard Francis. She called him herself. And then she said that she was not going to die. She wants to live. She really thought so.
BBC: But the public believes that things turned for the worse when Bobby Brown appeared in her life. It was like a watershed - both in her life and in her career.
RK: I think that such an impression was formed because all the major tabloids constantly wrote about their relationship, which is why all this was inflated in the public mind.
BBC: But do you agree with that?
R.K .: I was still in the team then. And there were, of course, a lot of “distractions,” let's just say. But Whitney was still working and accomplishing a lot at the time. That is, she had filming….
BBC: While she was with Bobby, she starred in the films "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Breathe Out."
R.K .: Yes. But I want to say that then she was completely exhausted.
BBC: This is also true of you. While you were working with Whitney, you were still caring for two relatives with AIDS. Do you have time for yourself?
RK: No, you do not exist, you cease to exist ... I really simply did not remember who I was. Therefore, when it was all over, I had to rediscover myself - I write about it in the book.
BBC: Shortly before Whitney's death, you distributed some trinkets related to the time you were together. I wonder what you gave away, but what did you decide to keep for yourself?
RK: I donated a lot of gold and platinum discs to the Whitney Houston Academy of Performing Arts, that is, to the special school she attended. But I kept a tablet in memory of her performance at the Super Bowl [when Whitney sang the American anthem] and her first single, You Give Good Love. And I also kept letters from all over the world, from heads of state such as Nelson Mandela. I kept all my diaries that I kept during the tour, different notes. And I also left the Bible that Whitney gave me.
BBC: Are you still listening to her songs?
RK: After I left her company, I didn't listen to her for a while. And then I suddenly heard Exhale, which was my mom's favorite song. And then I played The Greatest Love Of All for my daughter, she really liked it. I even later found her in her room, she listened to her through Alexa (Amazon's voice assistant - approx. BBC). And just recently I listened to a couple of my favorite songs, including Preacher's Wife.
