Gawker: Meet Whitney Houston’s Rumored Lesbian Lover, Robyn Crawford
Most of the common theories surrounding Whitney Houston’s descent into drugs and eventual death have to do with the influence of her husband Bobby Brown. Now there’s a new interesting theory. Maybe it wasn’t her marriage to Bobby that turned her into an addict but breaking up with her lesbian lover, Robyn Crawford.
While everyone has been talking about Whitney’s private life in the past week, gay activist Peter Tatchell is first to say point blank that Whitney had a long-term relationship with her best friend and former assistant Robyn Crawford. Tatchell’s theory is that Houston had to break up with Crawford and marry Bobby Brown to quash the lesbian rumors, and it was the heartbreak from dumping her “one true love” that turned her into an addict, not Brown’s negative influence. This theory seems to dovetail nicely with the decades of rumors that Houston was, in fact, a lesbian (which Tricia Romano faithfully documented after Whitney passed).
Crawford met Houston when they were 16 at a summer job in East Orange, New Jersey, and they soon became inseparable. Robyn was the Gayle King to Whitney’s Oprah; whether or not the relationship was a platonic one is uncertain, but they had the closest of friendships. Crawford worked for many years as Houston’s assistant, an experience she talked about right after Whitney’s death. Crawford says this is the first time she talked about her relationship with Whitney, but she only discusses their professional entanglements, not the personal ones.
However, Whitney’s obituary includes this cryptic passage:
When people left her or were told to leave, they could never believe that Whitney would never call them – but she never did. She was working hard to keep herself together, and I think she felt that if she admitted any feeling of sadness or weakness she would crumble.
That certainly sounds like Crawford knows more about Whitney than she’s willing to say publicly, so until she writes a tell-all or shows up on 20/20, we’re going to have to keep guessing.
