'I'm not the reason Whitney's gone': Bobby Brown

Bobby Brown

He has been widely derided by many fans being responsible for introducing his former wife, the late Whitney Houston, to the drugs which played a part in her untimely death. But now, Bobby Brown has hit back at the claims in his first interview since the singer passed away back in February. 

'I didn't get high [on narcotics] before I met Whitney,' Brown tells The Today Show's Matt Lauer. 'I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn't the one that got Whitney on drugs at all.'

He says drugs were a part of the singer's life 'way way before' they got together. They married in 1993 and had daughter Bobbi Kristina, now 19-years-old, before divorcing in 2007. Brown adds: 'It's just unexplainable how one could, [say that I] got her addicted to drugs. I'm not the reason she's gone.'

In the candid sit-down interview which will air in the U.S. this Wednesday, Brown, who says he is 'very much clean and sober' from narcotics,' tells host Matt Lauer that he was 'hurt' when he heard the news of Whitney's death at just 48-years-old. 

'I was hurt because me being off of narcotics for the last seven years, I felt that she was... I didn’t know she was struggling with it still,' says Brown, who looks studious in a pink sweater over a checked shirt. 

'But at the same time, listen, it's a hard fight. It's a hard fight to maintain sobriety that way.' Lauer then presses home the media speculation to the 43-year-old R&B star, saying: 'If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times, and I know you heard it too. Fans, people who say they were close to Whitney, say her life went downhill when she met Bobby Brown.

How does it make you feel when you hear it?' 'It makes me feel terrible,' Brown responds. 'But I know differently. I think if anyone ever knew us, if anybody ever spent time around us instead of time looking through the bubble, they would know how we felt about each other. They would know how happy we were together.' 

Brown also recalls the last time he saw Houston - about a week before she died. 'She had this glow about her that was just incredible,' he says. 'I'm saying to myself, "She must be doing really well," because she looked really well. She looked like she was in a good place.' 

Houston, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11 from what authorities called accidental drowning brought on by cocaine use and heart disease. White powder and drug paraphernalia were found in the bathroom where she died. 

The second part of Brown's interview with Lauer airs on Thursday on U.S. network NBC and features interviews with three of the singer's children Landon, Bobby Jr, and La’Princia - and his fiancée, Alicia Etheridge. 

It has not been smooth sailing for Brown since Houston's death. Brown turned up for Houston's funeral in New Jersey but left before the service started saying he felt unwanted and disrespected.
And six weeks after Houston died, Brown was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with drunk driving and driving on a suspended license. Brown has pleaded not guilty.  DailyNews UK