Entertainment

The Houstons’ Crazy Year Since Whitney’s Death (PHOTOS)

FAMILY SAGA

From the lawsuit to the reality show, Jean Trinh on what the family’s been up to since Whitney Houston’s death.

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A year has passed since Whitney Houston’s death. From ex Bobby Brown’s funeral walkout to daughter Bobbi Kristina’s engagement to her adopted brother to mom Cissy’s new memoir, see what the family’s been up to since then. A year has passed since Houston was found dead in a hotel bathtub during Grammys weekend. Since then, her family’s drama has only increased. See what the clan’s been up to since the pop diva’s passing.

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On Feb. 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, just hours before she was to attend mentor and music industry mogul Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party. But Davis decided to go ahead with his party, saying Houston “would have wanted the music to go on” and changing the theme to a tribute to Houston, even as the police were investigating her death and her body was still in the building. Davis caught quite a bit of flack for not canceling the event, especially from singer Chaka Khan, who in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan said: “I thought that was complete insanity. And knowing Whitney, I don’t believe that she would have said, ‘The show must go on.’ She’s the kind of woman that would’ve said, ‘Stop everything! Uh-uh. I’m not going to be there.’”

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A day after the singer’s death, her then-18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was rushed to Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. She was released later that day. ABC News and Us Weekly reported Brown was suffering from anxiety and stress. TMZ reported that it was the teen’s second trip to the hospital in the 24 hours since her mother’s passing.

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Houston’s family held a funeral for the singer on Feb. 18, 2012, in Newark, N.J., and the memorial was televised as a live broadcast on CNN and BET, among other networks. Bodyguard costar Kevin Costner paid tribute with a speech, and Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, and R. Kelly performed. But the pop diva’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown, left the service abruptly after making a brief appearance. In a statement Brown released to E! News, he mentioned that he had been invited to the funeral, but was asked by security to move three times. “Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi Kristina,” he griped.

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Just days after the memorial service, the National Enquirer published a front-page image of the singer lying in an open casket in the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J. Although it was rumored that a family member had leaked the image, the tabloid declined to say who took the photo, noting only that Houston was wearing her favorite purple dress, gold shoes, and jewelry worth $500,000.

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Houston’s 19-page last will and testament was released on March 7, 2012, and gave her only daughter all her “money, furniture, clothing, personal effects, jewelry, and cars,” as Inside Edition reported. The singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, was named executor of the will, and her brother Gary Houston and sister-in-law Marion (Patricia) Houston were designated as trustees.

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On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles coroner released a 42-page autopsy report for the singer, stating that Houston had died from accidental drowning due to “the effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.”

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Things took a dark turn for the family in October 2012, when Cissy and Patricia Houston challenged the singer’s will in court, petitioning to restructure the inheritance payments to Bobbi Kristina Brown. The inheritance was scheduled in three payments for Brown: “10% when she turns 21, just under 20% at age 25 ... and the balance when she’s 30,” TMZ reported. According to the court documents, Cissy Houston said Brown “is a highly visible target for those who would exert undue influence over her inheritance and/or seek to benefit from respondent’s resources and celebrity.” Just weeks later, the family reached an agreement and decided leave the inheritance structure unadjusted, according to TMZ.

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The Houstons: On Our Own, a Lifetime reality show focused on Patricia Houston caring for rebellious Bobbi Kristina Brown, premiered on Oct. 24, 2012. It showed the 19-year-old drinking wine and announcing her engagement to her informally adopted brother, Nick Gordon, 22, who had been taken into Houston’s family when he was young and raised alongside Brown as a sibling. How does Brown’s aunt feel about the engagement? “She had just lost her mother, and she’s 19 years old,” said Houston in an interview with E! News. “So I didn’t take the engagement very serious, not at all, because I understood the dynamics of what’s happening as it relates to that relationship. He looks out for her. He really and truly does.”

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In November 2012, Nick Gordon announced his “breakup” with Brown in a tweet saying, “[Bobbi Kristina Brown] and I are not engaged or dating. Just close like we have always been.” A few days later, Brown allegedly lost control of her Chevy Camaro while making a left turn and crashed the vehicle down an embankment, the New York Daily News reported. Hours later Gordon was arrested for reckless driving, according to TMZ. As of Feb. 10, Brown is back to calling herself “Partner of @ndgordon 4life.”

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At the end of January, Cissy Houston published Remembering Whitney, a memoir about her life with her daughter. Houston described her daughter’s humble beginnings and her growing addiction to drugs as her career soared. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Jan. 28, Houston also talked about the singer’s marriage to Bobby Brown. The memoir and show appearance met with a furious response from Bobbi Kristina Brown, who tweeted, “I find it 2B Disrespect 2 MY MOTHER & me being HER DAUGHTER won’t tolerate it.”

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