UPDATE-Bobbi Kristina opened up to Oprah about her mother Whitney Houston’s last day before her untimely death in the first portion of the intense 90 minute interview. The remaining hour was spent with Houston’s manager, sister-in-law and longtime friend Patricia Houston and later her husband and Whitney’s brother Gary Houston.
Pat’s interview was riveting, eye-opening and believable. As a friend who could tell Whitney the truth, she spoke eloquently, respectfully, yet unabashedly about her friend.
Though she admitted to where she saw Whitney trying to dim her light for ex-husband Bobby Brown, she cleared up any misunderstanding that he had introduced her to drugs.
“I don’t think that’s true,” says Pat. “There was always so much outside interference,” she said, making it difficult for them to have a good relationship. “You’re talking about two people who started out in the business very, very young.”
“Did you try to get her help for the drugs?” asks Oprah.
“Without a doubt,” says Pat. “In 2003, 2004, I had spoken to Bobby’s mother” and other family members to intervene. “We were always trying, but the choice was always theirs, and hers.”
But did she think drugs would be Whitney’s finality?
“The handwriting was kind of on the wall. I would be kidding myself to say otherwise. I saw her chasing a dream…Looking for love in all the young places.”
Oprah took her back to the club scene, just two nights before her death.
“I was concerned. I knew she wanted to have a good time. I wanted to make sure she was going to be OK.”
Pat said she felt uneasy about her going out and went as a sister-protector, to keep an eye on her.
Was the confrontation true?
“And there was a confrontation” with X Factor finalist Stacy Francis. She didn’t name her, but the media had dropped her name several times before. “There was no physical fighting.”
So, was Whitney happy?
“She was happy about the fact that she was getting her daughter secure. She loved Krissy with everything that she had. Everything that she had. She was happy with the decisions she was making as it relates to her.”
Winfrey takes her back to the actual day hours before Clive’s annual pre-Grammy dinner. The day Whitney died.
“I was working in my room and decided I needed to go pick up something pertaining to the party. Mary (Whitney’s aunt and assistant) checked on her before we left.”
“She’d been asking for me all morning. … She called my phone twice. She hadn’t seen my face. Usually I go up and see her and that was one day I didn’t.”
As she returned from getting some items for the evening, she was making her way to Whitney’s room.
“I hear screams. I kept walking very slowly. A woman opened her door and said, ‘Is everything all right?’ I said ‘Dial 911.'” Though Pat hadn’t been told anything was wrong or was aware of the situation.
“I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know what. I was just numb. I walked,” says Pat. She and Oprah are both beginning to cry. “As I got closer,” says Pat, “and I turn the corner, Mary’s at the door and she’s screaming, ‘Oh my God.’ I told her to stop. ‘Calm down, please.’ ”
She enters the room.
“I saw my brother, Ray, trying to revive her to the point of exhaustion. The paramedics were coming in at that point. I said, ‘Ray, let it go.’ He was so out of breath. I felt so badly for him.”
Pat starts to cry. “I’m sorry,” she tells Oprah to which Oprah said, she, too, was sorry.
“Then I saw her. She had a peaceful look on her face. She had a peaceful look.”
“I know they had to pull her out of (the tub).” Whitney was found unresponsive by Mary.
The paramedics asked Pat to leave. “I just couldn’t do it. I said, ‘Don’t touch me, please.’ I couldn’t leave her. I could not leave her. I saw them cover her up and I knew that was it. I knew that that was it. Looking at her and watching that, I still could not believe it. I could not believe it.”
Pat says Bobbi Kristina was down the hall at the time. “I just had to keep my calm. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but I had to do it.”
The interview finished up with Gary joining his wife and Oprah. He spoke about being a protective brother from their childhood and up until “the stakes got higher.” After speaking briefly about Cissy Houston, he and Whitney’s mother, and clearing up any negativity surrounding Bobby Brown from the family’s perspective, he sang “I Look To You” and broke down at the end, which prompted enough tears for everyone in the room to which Oprah called it a wrap.
What did you think of Oprah’s interview with the Houston family? Did you learn anything new, surprising about Whitney?
Update: The numbers are in and as expected Bobbi Kristina’s interview with Oprah was a ratings hit! According to Yahoo’s The Wrap, Oprah reach racked up 3.5 million total viewers. That’s a record high number of viewers for the struggling network who’s previous record holder Joel Osteen’s Jan. 8 interview which pulled 1.6 million total viewers.
