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Bobby Brown blames Nick Gordon for Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina's deaths

Bobby Brown opened up about the string of tragedies he's experienced — the deaths of son Bobby Brown Jr., daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown and ex-wife Whitney Houston — as well as his addiction on Wednesday's Red Table Talk.

The 52-year-old singer said he "definitely" believes Nick Gordon was responsible for the deaths of Houston and Bobbi Kristina, who died amid eerily similar circumstances in 2012 and 2015, respectively. He thinks Gordon, who was found liable for Bobbi Kristina's death, supplied mother and daughter with drugs, noting he was with each woman when they drowned. Gordon died of a heroin overdose in 2020.

The New Edition star said there was "definitely" foul play related to Bobbi K.'s death and thinks Gordon "definitely" drugged her. She had several narcotics and prescription drugs in her body when she went under water in a bathtub, which led to brain damage that put her in a coma for nearly six months before she died.

"He was the only one there with both situations — with my ex-wife and with my daughter — and they both died the same way," Bobby said.

RTT's Willow Smith asked if he meant Gordon was to blame for Houston's death too, Bobby said, "I believe so," of that bathtub drowning, with effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors, at the Beverly Hilton. "This is my opinion of who I think this young man was," Bobby continued. "Being around my daughter and being around my ex-wife, I think he was more so a provider of party favors."

Singer Whitney Houston, singer Bobby Brown and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown attend the Fourth Annual International Achievement in Arts Awards on October 11, 1998 at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Bobby with Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown in 1998. (Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

Gordon was never charged criminally for Bobbi Kristina's death. There were no charges filed in Houston's death either.

Bobby said he was never able to confront Gordon, noting he was in rehab to treat his alcoholism when Gordon died in a Florida hotel room. He said Bobbi, who died at age 22, was in an abusive relationship and dealing with drug addiction at the time of her death — and was generally in a bad place feeling lost without her mother. One of Bobbi and Gordon's roommates at their Atlanta home testified in Gordon's trial that Gordon kicked Bobbi days before she died, knocking out one of her teeth. He said his daughter didn't confide in him about abuse, but he thinks she may have. Bobbi had booked a flight to see him in L.A. and it was scheduled for two days after she was found in the tub.

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 22:  Bobbi Kristina Brown and Nick Gordon attends
Bobbi Kristina Brown and Nick Gordon, in 2012, grew up together and later had a romantic relationship. They were engaged, off and on, but the romance was toxic. (Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)

Bobby also spoke about the death of son Bobby Brown Jr., who died in November at age 28. The autopsy revealed he overdosed on fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. Bobby said Bobby Jr.'s situation was different than Bobbi's because, "He wasn't a user. He would experiment with different things. It wasn't like he was dependent on drugs — like my situation," as Bobby has been sober from drugs for 19 years. "I depended on it, I needed it. He was a young man that tried the wrong stuff and it took him out of here."

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 29:  (L-R) Landon Brown, Bobby Brown Jr., and Bobby Brown arrive at the premiere screening of
HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 29: (L-R) Landon Brown, Bobby Brown Jr., and Bobby Brown arrive at the premiere screening of "The Bobby Brown Story" presented by BET and Totota at Paramount Theater on the Paramount Studios lot on August 29, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Maury Phillips/Getty Images for BET)

Bobby acknowledged the role his addictions contributed to the deaths of his "babies." He talked about his own upbringing, the son of alcoholic parents, seeing people drink and use drugs around him. His marriage to Houston, from 1992 to 2007, mirrored that in a pattern of generational abuse.

He said his long history with drugs and alcohol abuse led Bobby Jr., whose mom was Bobby's ex-girlfriend Kim Ward, to feel like he "could test" substances," admitting, "I feel guilty about that." Ditto Bobbi, who he said "saw first-hand things that were wrong" as he and Houston famously battled their dependencies. "It confused things and ultimately she was stuck in an abusive with a man — a boy, I should say — [who] basically controlled her to the point where her life was taken," he said.

He also spoke about his volatile marriage to Houston, acknowledging there was alcohol and substance abuse, which he said resulted in verbal abuse.

"We fought hard verbally — and we loved even harder," he said of their marriage. "Our love was strong for each other... We just got caught up and that had nothing to do with how we felt about each other. The love was always there. We tried so hard. We struggled really hard as a couple to get clean for ourselves. I got clean a long time before she did. We were already divorced. She was a strong woman. She was fighting really hard to save her own life. I had strength enough for myself at that time. Being an addict, I had to save myself.... Unfortunately, we grew apart while I was trying to find myself."

It was reiterated that he didn't introduce Houston to drugs, as he's long been blamed for. Houston's brother Michael has said he did, and Bobby first saw Houston use cocaine on their wedding day.

"I don't look at pointing the finger," he said. "We did it together. It's not that I started her or she started me. Drugs is a bad thing. You get caught up in it. Once you're caught up in it, there's no stopping it."

While Bobby stopped using drugs 19 years ago, he kept drinking and it caught up with him in 2019.

"I started losing bodily function," he said. "My body started shutting down." He said he no longer got intoxicated consuming alcohol, it became a situation where "I needed it to wake up. I needed it to stop the shakes, to function on a day-to-day basis."

He added, "I couldn't accept going to the bathroom on myself," noting that he had done so in front of the young kids he shares with wife Alicia Etheredge-Brown. Devoted to the 12 Steps program, "I go to sleep now, I don't pass out... My whole feeling about life has changed."

Bobby — now a grandfather of two — said he realized, "If I don't break this cycle" of generational abuse, "who is? I have to give them the reason to live clean. If I'm not right, nothing else is going to go right."

He admitted, "I got second, third and fourth chances at life."

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