“Like mother, like daughter” has been the theme of many reports regarding alleged drug use by Bobbi Kristina Brown, the 18-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Since photos of Bobbi Kristina that appear to show her snorting cocaine surfaced in the National Enquirer this month, along with allegations that the teen has a major drug problem, the media has been relentless.
It’s no secret that both Houston and Brown have battled drugs. To promote her album I Look To You, Houston even sat down with Oprah Winfrey in the fall of 2009 to discuss her life with Bobby Brown and her drug use, among other issues. Now it seems that daughter Bobbi Kristina has picked up the worst traits from her parents. Unfortunately, if Bobbi Kristina is indeed using drugs, it’s not a surprising development. There were warning signs.
Back in 2008, the National Enquirer also reported on an alleged suicide attempt by Bobbi Kristina, then 15, that reportedly resulted in a stint in a psychiatric ward. On the heels of reports from MediaTakeOut.com and other sites specializing in black gossip, the National Enquirer also ran a story. about Bobbi Kristina’s alleged out-of-control drinking this past December.
The once-shunned tabloid best known for reporting outlandish claims of UFO sightings has gained some legitimacy in recent years by breaking news of Eric Benét affair when he was married to Halle Berry and, of course, then presidential hopeful John Edwards’s affair and love child. Now they have set their sights on Bobbi Kristina and that’s not good at all.
Growing up is already difficult enough for any teen but, for Bobbi Kristina, that difficulty has been magnified. When her dad’s reality show, Being Bobby Brown, aired on Bravo, her mother’s legions of fans got the first inkling that Clive Davis’s pop princess was far from the person marketing campaigns painted her to be. Although, in industry circles, there had long been rumblings that Houston had used drugs for years, Being Bobby Brown offered proof. It also helped to explain Houston’s extremely emaciated appearance in 2001 during a televised tribute to Michael Jackson. Being told what the deal may be and actually watching evidence of it is two different things.
After the reality show, Houston did seek help. Also, she and Bobby Brown eventually split. Brown, for his part, has been reportedly sober for some time now and has slowly been working to reboot his once-thriving music career, recently touring with Heads of State, a trio that also includes New Edition’s Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant. New Edition is what placed a teenage Brown in the spotlight in the first place.
Brown, backed into a corner for a statement as he promoted his upcoming May album Masterpiece on ABC News Now “What’s The Buzz,” denied his daughter’s drug use. “My daughter, she doesn’t, she doesn’t do that,” he said when asked about the Enquirer photos. Now, it’s easy to assume that Brown is in denial and perhaps he may be. But, given that Bobbi Kristina took to her Twitter page a day after the photos to claim that “a former very dear person to me did this,” could he just be a parent trying to show support for his child? According to Bobbi Kristina, via Twitter, she is indeed pictured in the photos but claims that her friend “set me up to make it look exactly what it looks like.”
With her family’s track record and her own record of past troubles, Bobbi Kristina’s explanation is highly suspect but no parent, even a model one, wants to accept that a child, especially at such an early age, has ventured off the right path. After all, it took a minute for Billy Ray Cyrus to acknowledge that his megastar daughter Miley Cyrus might be in trouble. With both Brown and Houston, there’s the added element of parental guilt, no doubt prompted by their less than stellar parenting. For example, why haven’t questions been raised about Bobbi Kristina’s education? In her early teenage years, she was seen with her mother constantly, making it doubtful that she had been attending school. That contributes to behavior such as this.
Drugs are a vicious cycle and, though they have long been a mainstay among those in the entertainment business, its destructive elements are only being fully exposed now in the Internet age. Perhaps some good can come of the media’s exploitation of Brown’s and Houston’s troubles. Because of the glare of the cameras, let’s just hope that this is indeed a wake-up call and that reports that Houston may be enabling her daughter’s alleged drug habit are false.
As crazy as it sounds, the media might be leading an intervention. The fact that Bobbi Kristina felt compelled to respond is a good sign, even if we don’t believe her. It at least indicates that she sees such allegations as serious and is not brushing them off. Whether she is fully coming to terms with them is another story but everything is a process.
Considering her family history, Bobbi Kristina’s alleged drug use was inevitable. Let’s just hope, if true, that catching it early will make for a better outcome than her parents have known. At the end of the day, Bobbi Kristina, regardless of her famous parents, is no different than any other young child out there. She is full of potential and has much life ahead of her. Instead of dooming her to the worst, let’s pray for the best.