Bobby Brown claims Houston smoked pot with her daughter
NEW YORK -- In a book filled with explicit stories of sex, drugs and violence, Bobby Brown's memoir includes allegations about the late Whitney Houston ranging from smoking pot with their then-teenage daughter to having an affair with Tupac Shakur.
In "Every Little Step," Brown describes in detail his tumultuous years with Houston and the estrangement from their daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, after their divorce. He disputes reports that he was responsible for Houston's drug problems and harshly criticizes her family and others around her for keeping him from their daughter.
Houston died in 2012, and Bobbi Kristina died last year.
"Every Little Step" comes out June 13. The Associated Press bought a copy Wednesday.
The 322-page book follows Brown's life from growing up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and his rise as a child star with New Edition to such platinum-selling solo albums as "Don't Be Cruel" and his time with Houston and his current wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown. The book includes testimonials from family members and such professional colleagues as Ralph Tresvant of New Edition and "Don't Be Cruel" co-producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.
Brown, 47, writes in detail about his "bad boy" behavior: his many sexual affairs, with Janet Jackson and Madonna among his alleged partners; about his drug problems, which he says are now behind him, and his encounters with the law. But he also pushes back against allegations that he was a corrupting influence on Houston. He writes that she was using cocaine before he was and continued to use drugs after he had cleaned up. He contends that she did her "share of cheating" with "quite a few of the producers and artists" she worked with, and names one ex-lover, the late Tupac Shakur.
Brown's daughter from his relationship with Kim Ward, LaPrincia Brown, alleges in the book that she was in a car with Houston, Bobbi Kristina and Nick Gordon, Bobbi's boyfriend at the time; when "things got real strange."
"They all started smoking pot together," she recalled. "Yes, she (Houston) was smoking with them."
Brown has feuded with Houston's mother, singer Cissy Houston, and other in-laws, and alleges a public "orchestration" designed to keep him from Bobbi Kristina and seal his "nefarious" reputation. Responding to "the offensive, pointing fingers" at him, he writes, "Both Whitney and Kristi had been tragically lost on their watch, not mine."