On Wednesday, the family of the comatose Bobbi Kristina Brown announced that they were moving her into hospice care.“Despite the great medical care at numerous facilities, Bobbi Kristina Brown’s condition has continued to deteriorate. As of today, she has been moved into hospice care,” read their statement. “We thank everyone for their support and prayers. She is in God’s hands now.”
The same day, the conservator of Bobbi Kristina, the daughter of the late music legend Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown, filed a $10 million civil suit in Fulton County, Georgia, against Bobbi Kristina’s ex, Nick Gordon.
Bedelia C. Hargrove, the court-appointed conservator “and next friend” of Bobbi Kristina, alleges that Gordon’s “tortious conduct caused, among other things, substantial bodily harm” to Bobbi Kristina. The suit claims that prior to 2012, Gordon “held himself out to be Brown’s surrogate ‘brother,’” and then, after she became the sole beneficiary of the Houston estate following her mother’s tragic death, he “assumed the position of Brown’s boyfriend.” Then, around January 9, 2014, Gordon allegedly “perpetuated the fraud that he had married Brown, though in fact he never did so.”
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Brown, the suit alleges, used this fake designation of “husband” to “control Brown and limit with whom she could interact,” including answering Brown’s personal cellphone, clearing her appointments, and “manipulating her bank relationship so that he could access her money” as part of a “a scheme to benefit from her wealth.” Gordon allegedly would routinely transfer “a large portion of Brown’s funds into an account controlled solely by him, without the consent or authorization of Brown.”
According to the suit, things escalated from there. Gordon “began questioning Brown’s access to trust assets and threatening one of the trustees with guns and other violent weapons.” Then, on April 14, 2014, Fulton County Superior Court issued a restraining order against Gordon “relating to his stalking” of Bobbi Kristina. At or around this time, the suit alleges, Gordon “began to commit domestic violence on Brown, including punching her in the face, knocking out a front tooth, and dragging her upstairs by her hair.”
The most shocking allegation in the suit concerns the day Bobbi Kristina was found unconscious in her bathtub—January 31, 2015. Just prior to that day, the suit alleges that Bobbi Kristina had “confided to someone” that Gordon was “not the man she thought he was” and wished to set up a time on January 31, 2015, to meet with them to discuss it.“Brown, however, never made it to the meeting,” the suit alleges. “Instead, on the morning of January 31, 2015, Brown became embroiled in a loud argument with [Gordon] at her townhome. The loud argument ended and Brown was later found unresponsive and unconscious, face down in a bathtub, with her mouth swollen and another tooth knocked out.”
Then, after Brown was placed in a medically induced coma, the suit alleges that Gordon “accessed Brown’s bank account(s) and stole in excess of $11,000.” The suit says Brown’s family had tried to recover the allegedly stolen funds from Gordon and notified him of the discovery, and that Gordon “failed to return Brown’s assets.”The suit demands at least $10 million in punitive damages from Gordon on seven counts: assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conversion, quantum meruit/unjust enrichment, attorney’s fees, and punitive damages.
In a scene echoing her iconic mother’s untimely death, Brown was found facedown and unconscious in a bathtub inside her Roswell, Georgia, townhouse by Gordon and a male friend. Gordon, Bobbi Kristina’s on-again off-again boyfriend who was adopted by the Houston family when he was 12, called 911 and attempted to perform CPR until officers arrived on the scene. Brown was alive and breathing when officers took over, but was later found to have suffered significant brain damage and was placed in a medically induced coma.
In addition to the allegations laid out in the suit, police were called to Bobbi Kristina’s home for a reported fight eight days prior to her being found unconscious, on January 23, but no one was home when they arrived.
A visibly unstable and inebriated Gordon was the subject of a highly publicized “intervention” from Dr. Phil on his eponymous daytime program on March 11. Gordon claimed he was suicidal before being ushered off to Dr. Phil-mandated rehab.Police in Fulton County say they’re treating Bobbi Kristina’s case as an ongoing criminal investigation that’s being handled by the Fulton County district attorney’s office, who will determine if any criminal charges will be filed.
