Their marriage was one of the most tumultuous in the industry, filled with abuse, infidelity, and addiction.
When two humans bind their souls together, they give it a name, marriage. Two people who love each other dearly, take this big step to cement their relationship forever in front of their family, friends, and the almighty in the hopes of growing old together. But sometimes, the most beautiful day later turns into the worst decision in life.
Whitney Houston was America's daughter when she found love in Bobby Brown. The media went into a frenzy when they got the whiff of the unlikely couple. According to My Lifetime, the two met at the Soul Train Awards in 1989. The Princess of Pop was impressed by the moves of R&B bad boy and invited him over for her 26th birthday party.
The duo got married in 1992 in an elaborate and lavish ceremony with 800 guests on the pop star's lawn decorated with purple flowers, under a giant gazebo. Even the guests were encouraged to wear something in the singer's favorite hue, purple. The wedding was so grand that white doves were released after the love birds exchanged vow. The very next day the duo left for their honeymoon completely unaware of the fact these happy times and the beginning of their life together would later lead to the music industry's most tumultuous relationship ever.
Soon problems started surfacing in their happy "passionate, loving, crazy relationship" and the root was the ongoing news of drug addiction, infidelity, and abuse which was everywhere in the tabloids. Brown had entered Houston's life when she was on cloud nine, floating over the fame she had got from the success of her film The Bodyguard and her career as a singer. Brown, who was still nowhere near her wife's stature in the industry, felt overshadowed.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009, Houston said, "After The Bodyguard, 1993, 1994, 1995 were filled with The Bodyguard years. That album lasted me. It went for a long ways. I was on a whirlwind by that point in time. I was going everywhere. That record was so huge. So I had my baby."
"I had my baby in my hands, and I had the man of my life that I loved so very much who I was crazy for with me. And he had just put everything aside of his own, and just said: 'I'll go with you. Don't worry about it. Go do this thing,'" she said and continued, "I think somewhere inside something happens to a man when a woman has that much control or has that much fame. ... If he doesn't have his own."
Donna Houston, her sister-in-law, told People, “Bobby was jealous and he couldn’t recognize that emotion. For him, in a black man’s mind, it was tearing him up.” The marriage became harder to keep up with when reports of Brown's infidelity started surfacing. Opening about her feelings to Oprah, Houston revealed, "I just knew. I was like, 'You don't smell right. You don't look right. Something's going on.' And then all this other stuff started coming out about him being with this one or that one or being too promiscuous. Dragging dirt into my home."
The personal problems that the two were facing worsened their addictions. While Houston went down the drugs road, Brown went for alcoholism. Houston divulged, "I wasn't a drinker. The alcoholism, that's an ugly thing. Either you're going to be a really nice alcoholic or a really mean one. He was really mean."
The I Will Always Love You singer recalled one incident where Brown drowned himself in alcohol and it turned ugly. She said, "I just remember this moment. It was his birthday... he drank a lot... so when we got back to the house—he's going to hate that I say this—but he spit on me. And my daughter was coming down the stairs, and she saw it. That was pretty intense. Because I didn't grow up with that, and I didn't understand why that occurred. But he had such a hate in his eyes for me."
When she decided to move out, Brown slapped Houston right across her face. Explaining the incident she said, "I was little by little starting to take pieces of myself out of the home. And I even asked him to leave. And he said, 'No, you leave.' I said, 'It's my house.' ... And that was the time where he slapped me. But he was on probation for traffic violations. And he'd forgotten."
The two were clearly toxic for each other and their marriage did no good to either of them. The pair got divorced in 2007. In 2012, Houston was found dead in her home due to drowning. Three years later her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found dead in the same manner, She was just 22.
Brown in his 2008 autobiography, Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But… admitted to his infidelities and wrote, “Women are always throwing themselves at you. I’m only human, so I would make the mistake and bite the hook sometimes. I let the testosterone take over.” But he denied all allegations of physical or verbal abuse. He also disregarded allegations that he was responsible for Houston's descent into drugs.
References:
https://www.mylifetime.com/she-did-that/july-18-1992-whitney-houston-married-bobby-brown
https://www.oprah.com/entertainment/oprahs-exclusive-interview-with-whitney-houston/all
https://people.com/music/whitney-houston-bobby-brown-rocky-marriage/
