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Whitney Houston's close friend and former romantic partner Robyn Crawford is opening up about the abuse the late singer allegedly suffered at the hands of husband Bobby Brown.
In her memoir, A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston, Crawford said she became aware of physical and emotional abuse in Houston's relationship with Brown. She wrote in excerpts obtained by People that after the couple's honeymoon, Houston came back with "a visible scar on the side of her face" that was "at least three inches, running in a straight line from the top of her cheek down to the jaw."
She wrote: "I asked [Whitney] to tell me what happened, and [she said]: ‘We had a disagreement. I threw a glass, the glass hit the wall, shattered, and that’s how the cut happened. Couples argue all the time and it’s never a big deal. Except when it’s me.'"
Crawford said she had doubts about Houston's explanation, and wrote that Houston became isolated during her marriage.
"I saw and heard him speak to her in ways that were demeaning and talk down to her," she wrote. "That [would] not make me feel good if someone was talking to me that way."
Though Brown denied being physically violent towards Houston in a 2018 interview, he has admitted to hitting her in a 2016 interview with Robin Roberts as well as in his 2016 memoir, Every Little Step.
Crawford's book also includes an account from Houston's longtime employee and assistant, Silvia Vejar, who claimed that she witnessed Brown spit in Houston's face as well as throw a glass at her, though he missed because Vejar pushed her out of the way.
Crawford's memoir also details her short-lived romantic relationship with the late singer, who she met in 1980 when they were both counselors at a summer camp in East Orange, New Jersey.
"She said if people find out about us, they would use this against us, and back in the ’80s that’s how it felt," Crawford said. "I kept it safe. I found comfort in my silence."
