Bobbi Kristina Brown dead at 22
DULUTH, Ga. -- Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown died Sunday at a hospice, her family confirmed, several months after being found unresponsive in a bathtub.
"Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away Sunday, July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family," her family said in a statement released Sunday evening. "She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."
She was rushed to a hospital in Roswell, Georgia, on Jan. 31, police said.
Nick Gordon, whom Brown called her husband, and a friend discovered her in a bathtub inside a townhouse in the Atlanta suburb. Police said the friend called 911, while Gordon performed CPR because they didn't think she was breathing, said Officer Lisa Holland, a Roswell Police Department spokeswoman. A police report said officers arrived at the home in reference to a drowning.
In the days following, the family released statements, asking for privacy and giving health updates, noting that she was "fighting for her life" as she remained in a medically induced coma. In February, Brown underwent surgery to replace her breathing tube with a tracheostomy tube, and as the months wore on, family members periodically gave updates on her condition. At one point, it came out that Brown had irreversible brain damage. By June 2015, Brown's aunt, Pat Houston, revealed she had been moved to hospice care at because of her worsening health condition. She was admitted to Peachtree Christian Center in Duluth, Georgia, a 16-bed inpatient facility which focuses on providing care 24 hours a day. She died there Sunday evening.
Brown's death comes three years after her Grammy-winning mom was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Feb. 11, 2012, in Beverly Hills, California -- a night before the Grammy Awards. The eerie similarities of their situations inside the bathtub captured the media and public's attention for months.
Born on March 3, 1993 in Livingston, New Jersey, Brown was a reality TV personality and an aspiring actress and singer. Her Twitter account bio described her as "Daughter of Queen WH," "Entertainer/Actress" with William Morris & Co., and "LAST of a dying breed."
She grew up alongside famous parents whose lives were in the public spotlight and whose relationship (and all of its ups and downs) was chronicled in the Bravo TV series, "Being Bobby Brown." From addiction to domestic violence, the couple, who wed in 1992 and welcomed Brown a year later, had a rocky relationship that often became the subject of tabloid fodder.
Houston spoke with ET in 1993 about the bond she had with her daughter, saying, "She brings me a lot of joy. She brings both Bobby and I a lot of joy. It's a different thing when you become a mother. It changes your whole perspective on life. You really don't live for you anymore. You're living for your children."
Houston and Bobby Brown's marriage ended in divorce in 2007 when their daughter was 14 years old. Houston subsequently received custody of Brown, who was often spotted alongside her mom in public, joining her onstage at the 1994 American Music Awards. She more recently appeared on the 2012 red carpet of Houston's posthumously released final film, "Sparkle."
In 2012 -- following Houston's death -- Brown announced that she was engaged to Gordon, who joined the Houston household as an orphan at the age of 12. The news was revealed in previews for the Houston family's Lifetime reality series, "The Houstons: On Our Own."
The engagement announcement followed reports that Brown had called Gordon her brother. Around the time of the engagement she took to Facebook to clear things up, writing: "I'm tired of hearing people say 'Eww you're engaged to your brother' or 'If Whitney was still alive would we be together' or 'Would she approve of this.' Let me clear up something, we aren't even real brother and sister nor is he my adoptive brother. My mom never adopted him. In fact, mommy was the one who even said she knew that we were going to start dating."
In January 2014, Brown tweeted that she and Gordon had exchanged vows: "@nickgordon! #HappilyMarried. SO #Inlove. If you didn't get it the first time that is."
Though following her hospitalization in 2015, an attorney for Bobby Brown said his daughter and Gordon never officially married. In the months following Brown's hospitalization, a lot of drama unfolded among the family members and Gordon. Gordon slammed Bobby Brown publicly, saying he was barred from visiting the hospital, which was at odds with a statement from the New Edition singer's attorney, which said, ""Mr. Gordon was offered an opportunity to potentially visit Bobbi Kristina and he declined to meet the terms of any possible visit."
In June, Bedilia Hargrove, a court-appointed conservator for Brown, filed a lawsuit against Gordon, accusing him of being physically and emotionally abusive toward Brown. The suit sought at least $10 million in damages.
Prior to January's hospitalization, Brown's family appeared upbeat about the aspiring singer-actress. Just last September, Houston's sister-in-law Pat Houston told The Associated Press that Brown was doing well, and that she was proud of her.
"Bobbi's a 21-year-old. She's doing good," she said, adding, "I always tell the kids -- not only her -- but the other nieces and nephews, 'You think you're grown. Just because you're 21, out of the house, you think you're grown. I mean, they make their decisions, they keep moving, you can only advise them and keep it moving, and that's what I do. But she's good. I'm very proud of Krissy."
Brown had been active on Twitter shortly before being admitted to the hospital. On Jan. 26, she simply wrote: "On my own."
Three days later, she caught a creative bug, tweeting: "Hiworld :)(: yes I am a night owl, this is when my creative side come's out. ALLTHETIME! I need2be in the studio RITENOW! #SOONverySOON!"
On Jan. 29, in what would be her final tweet, Brown addressed her career: "Let's start this career up&&moving OUT to TO YOU ALLLL quick shall we !?!???!"
Brown had also been active on Instagram in the days before her hospitalization:
She was hospitalized less than two weeks after Lifetime aired the Angela Bassett-directed unauthorized biopic, "Whitney," a film slammed by the Houston family. "If you watch this movie, watch it knowing that Lifetime is notorious for making bad biopics of deceased celebrities and brace yourself for the worst," Houston's sister-in-law, Pat Houston, wrote around the time of its release.
Houston, the Grammy-winning singer who died at age 48, had battled drug addiction for years. Authorities found prescription drug bottles in the hotel suite and concluded that she had accidentally drowned - just before the 2012 Grammy Awards. Heart disease and cocaine use were listed as contributing factors her death.
Brown paid tribute to her late mother by getting a wrist tattoo featuring Houston's initials on what would have been the singer's 49th birthday.
Houston left her entire estate to her daughter.
An autopsy will be needed to evaluate what led to her death, authorities said Monday.
