Hey, fam I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the Red Table Pop podcast, all your favorite episodes from the Facebook watch show in audio produced by Westbrook Audio and I Heart Radio. Please don't forget to rate and review on Apple podcasts on this Red Table talk. Hey Robbert. For twenty years, she was Whitney Houston's closest friend and confidante. You're like an urban myth. Now Robin Crawford is breaking her silence. This is the conversation I most wanted to do,
sharing the closely guarded truth about their relationship. We were intimate on all levels. The situation was out of control. There's always these stories about you and Bobby. Did you guys ever have a physical altercation? Now Robin Crawford is here at the Red Table to set the record straight about her life with the legendary Whitney Houston. Read your book and I was in from page one when you I don't want to cry when you said it's a love letter to Whitney, and that resonated as just so powerful.
It was so healing from me in so many different ways. You know, it's hard to love someone who you know has had a legacy at the level that she has had and then to lose them under tragic circumstances. Because I have a very similar situation. What made you decide that the time was now to tell your story in
regards to your relationship with Withney. Well, first of all, let me say that at I had great comfort in my silence, but over the years I began to feel my silence shake and everything I heard or read it wasn't accurate. But when Whitney's daughter Bobby Christina passed, that was the first time that I really felt the need to ask the question to Whitney, what would you want me to do? Yeah? What would you want me to do?
And that's when I felt the need to stand up, you know, to stand up for my friend's legacy, to lift it, because it seemed like your role in her life was that of a protector, so you had to be a warrior with Whitney. What were some of the things about and legacy did you felt was being tarnished Whitney? I felt a need to share who the person was behind the extraordinary talent. That's all I kept hearing. Well, she had this, she had that, then she just tossed it all the way like she was under so much
pressure all the time I was there. I felt it was necessary to talk about the Whitney that I know, who was thoughtful with her generosity. It's my duty to do that. You know a lot of times you hear stuff about you know, whatever that she had with different artists, what have you. And my interaction with Whitney, she was just one of the most down the earth, you know, loving. She didn't bring any of that to the table all.
She was just a lot of fun. I'm gonna go back a little bit when you guys first met as teenagers. You had two women who met each other, who had a connection whose intention wasn't necessarily to fall in love. We were we just were. Yeah, our friendship was deep, We were intimate on all levels. Yeah, there was no shame in the physical, absolute moments that we shared. There there was no shame. In Robin's book, she describes her
romantic relationship with Whitney. They bonded immediately and were inseparable. Soon they became physical and at a sexual relationship that lasted for two years. Whitney and I first met at the community Development center where we were summer counselors. I was nineteen and she was sixteen. Soon returned seventeen. One day after camp, we were just talking. There was something there that made us connect, and then at one moment we both just met and you know, our mouths touched,
and that was our first kiss. It was awesome. We weren't hiding the physical aspect of our friendship. We weren't hiding it, but we knew that. I mean, it was ours, it was ours, but Whitney's mom had to love. I call it fever about our closeness, and it was like, I need Robin here where I'm going. I need someone who knows me. Now. What do you think her mother's uncomfortability was? I called her Mrs Houston got it. She knows how I feel about her. I wrote her a
note after Whitney passed. Mr Houston knows I loved Whitney and Whitney loved me. But I always sensed a bitterness and her mom because I thought her daughter is so awesome, that there was so much to be joyful about. If anything, Whitney would listen to me, and that would bother Mrs Houston. But I think the only reason why Whitney listened to
me is because I listened to her. Just after Whitney signed her first record deal, she gave Robbing a Bible and told her they could no longer be physically intimate. She said, I have something for you, and she placed the Bible in my hands. She said, I don't believe that we should be physical any longer. That it would make our journey much harder if they found out about it. But she also said, living that kind of life, you
could go to hell. Her mom also had told Whitney that it was not natural for two women to be as close as we were. Even though they ended their physical relationship, their emotional connection continued. They used empty pages in their Bible to write goodbye love letters to each other. We in ribed our loyalty, our dedication, Oh thank you, and I care. Is that the actual Bible? Is it? Oh? Wow? Wow wow wow wow. So you guys wrote each other, we inscribed on the back of the book. Because God
was there too. I wasn't blindsided by her saying that we should not be physical anymore. What she chose her path to sing that was a gift that she was blessed with, and she wanted to serve and what she knew that she had to take that piece, that physical piece out so that it would not interfere with because of the times interfere with what she knew she was born to do. Knowing that she didn't have to lose you.
Mm hmm, that's powerful sacrifice, Okay, Knowing that she didn't have to lose you, that she could still have your strength, your friendship, your love, she said, love me unconditional. There it is. She was worth that. There's a lot of Whitney out there, and she just didn't let a lot of people know her. Yeah, And a lot of people have a difficult time understanding relationships of that manner because everybody thinks the highest grade of of relating is romantic
and sexual, and it's not. Even when we get into lifetime committed relationships, we start to realize those components aren't everything. Whitney and Robin continue to feel possessive towards each other. Years after they ended their physical relationship, Whitney grew suspicious that Robin had slept with a backup dancer and angrily confronted her. She was really upset and my bi, but I kept it over my bed and she just grabbed it and ripped out the back page, and she started
tearing it up, ripping it a little pieces. Did she ever explain why? Whitney wasn't an explainer. She didn't explain things. She went right for it and just ripped, just ripped it out, and I picked up the pieces and I put it in the envelope. Whitney was one of few words, although her mouth could go and you could not keep up with her. And she loved girl talking like she would love this, this red table. She'd be sitting in
the middle right there. She she would, she would, and it would have been great for her to be because she needed moments like that, just talking talking. I understood because of the complex relationship I've had with Pock and those moments of his who's that knowing? Damn well, there ain't nothing like that between us. Him feeling like you're the only stability I got. I can't afford for you to put that attention elsewhere. I need that stability. So for him, it was we were an anchor for each other.
So anytime he felt like that anchor was threatened. Oh my god. That's a good point because people will think, oh, she was jealous, or that's jealousy. No, it is possessive and protective because it's a process. It's a lot of things. I didn't understand why I was in it, you know what I mean. I mean we were young, yes, fearless, ready for the world, but we didn't. We couldn't have all the forces that were coming at once. It's overwhelming, and I don't think people understand that she was a baby.
We both were. On July, just weeks before twenty ninth birthday, Whitney Houston, the biggest pop star on the planet, married Bobby Brown, the notorious bad boy of R and B superstar, six years her junior. The lavish ceremony included a forty dollar gown with custom beaded headpiece, eighteen tier wedding cake, and white doves released as the couple sealed their vows with a kiss. Robin Ever, the loyal friend, stood by his Whitney's maid of honor, A sawt footage of you
at her wedding day as her maid of honor. Robin. When I saw you in that footage, my heart was just bleating all in my lap. Thinking back on that wedding, it was a crazy day. I bet there were people walking around. I mean, you had over eight hundred guests, and I was honored to be her maid of honor. Right, were you ready for her to be married, having her cement her life for the rest of her life with someone else. Yeah, if if, if that's what, if that's
what she wanted, I would be there for her. I wanted Whitney to have the life that she wanted for herself, her own family. I did. I remember looking in her eyes when when you're like face the face, and in my mind, she's about to submit her life with what someone else, you know, and I hoped that it would be fruitful for her. Did you have any feelings about her marry and Bobby? She told me she loved him. I had heard the rumors about him when she told me that he had asked her to marry him, and
I asked her, when you love him? She said, yeah, I do. I love him. And then she asked me, and I was not ready for this question, do you think he loves me? And I said, honestly, Nip, I really don't know him that well. There's always these stories about you and Bobby. Did you guys ever have a
physical altercation? There were no ever last shorts and gloves ever he did get my face a couple of times, like something foolish, and he never came to me and asked me anything about concerning my past with with me. I know that when she came back from her honeymoon and she had that gash on her face, Yep, did you ever explain to you how that got there? I asked her. She said, I threw a glass against the wall and it shattered and I got cut right. But the cut was like from here to there, it's about
three four inches long. Flying glass doesn't do that. So but I never pressed her. I was like, you love this man, and it's not right to stand by someone and then think ill of it. That wasn't me. But the more I saw and heard, and the messier it got, I thought she get tired of it. I mean, Whitney had a lot of pride and a strong will, But every time I thought that would be it, it wasn't. As Whitney and Bobby's to Ultra's relationship continued, headlines and
drama followed. Their marriage went from rocky to explosive. Whitney went to surprise Bobby in Atlanta after knocking on his door several times. Outcomes Bobby in a rage, saying I don't want you here, and he's spit in her face. She ran down the hall and Bobby picked up a glass and threw it, and Whitney picked up the phone to call her father. That's when Bobby snatched the phone
from her and head over the head with it. I still had the keep, and when I would go up to the house, they would be in the back in her room. I wouldn't see them. I could be up there like for hours and I wouldn't see it. He had her to himself. She was isolated, but there was an aspect of you that thought that she she could hand to herself. Oh yeah, Like Whitney did not like come intation. But if you backed her up against the wall, she let you know. That's how she was, like, you know,
did I ask you? I think that's an important point. When our loved ones pass on because of tragic circumstances, sometimes those of us who are left behind, who love them people tend to put more responsibility on us than remembering that that person made choices. It's a painful thing to have to confront that we all make choices that get us to certain places, and we look back and go, well, if you had done that, if you had stayed, if you did it it, maybe things would have been different.
But at the end of the day, Whitney there were certain choices that she was making, and she lived the life of our choices. If you're talking about the self abuse or addiction, I believe that Whitney was stuck. She didn't like feeling pitiful. I mean, that was a tough If you were annoying, she kept you away, got it, she want to be bothered with you. After twenty years side by side, Robin Crawford made the painful decision to stop working with Whitney. After an argument with Whitney and Bobby,
Robin had had enough. We went out to Los Angeles. It was just cancelation after cancelation, the firing at the Oscars, and Bobby was traveling with us, and which never makes it easy. I went to Fred Segal and I purchased George Michael a button down black shirt since we had run him around for a while, we had canceled three sessions with him. Just a kind gesture and Bobby erupted with Bobby screaming in my face at all that stress and worry about with me. I was at a breaking point.
It wasn't just Bobby, there was everything. When you made the decision that it was time for you to walk away, And I can only I know mm hmm, and know the depths of that struggle, you know, having had to do what I'm as well. You know, did you have any hope then in you making the decision to walk away that it would change something? And what do you think needed to change in order for you to remain? When I made that decision, I never once thought or
believed that I was leaving with me. Wow, okay, okay. I needed her to stop and think about herself and look at where we were, and her world looked like what it was. So many people she wasn't paying attention. The situation was out of control, and I felt like I had done all that I could do in the
current climate of what Nippy Ink was at that time. Now, Robin, that's a big clear up right there, because a lot of us, and they think a lot of us thought you've left for a much different reason that I left because of Bobby, And that's that's not true. Bobby was annoying. He was very annoying, and you never knew when he would just here we go again, and he would get jealous, and there was too many people around, and Whitney had lost focus. You know the rumor that I gave her
an ultimatum. You don't give Whitney ultimatum. No, you don't do that. And I didn't have to. She knew how I felt, and she knew I would tell her. I never once believed that she would fall. Wow, swimming is what she loved to do. I mean, girl could swim. She loved the water. And that's why passing in the water just so so crazy, like hard for me to wrap my heart and head around. On February eleven, the world was heartbroken to discover that Whitney Houston had tragically died.
It was the day before the Grammys, and Whitney was bathing in her hotel room. She slipped under the water. The final Corner's report confirmed that Whitney had been a victim of an accidental drowning brought on by heart disease and longtime cocaine abuse. When Whitney passed, it was I was flooded with emotions. I was angry. Yeah, I just had to get myself together. It made me sad when
Whitney passed and you said she should have never been alone. Yeah, it made me really sad because I was like, there was a time she wasn't. You know, she had an event right that day, she had the big event, but she also had two other on camera things that she was doing before that, a whole list of things to do. You've got people working for you. Where the hell are they after that faithful day? You know, my life was filled with strangers walking up to me feeling like had
I been there, she'd still be here. Of course, that's a lot to even pull in, but what I do know is that she would not have been alone. It pains me that she's not here physically. That's kind of selfish, but she and Chrissy have each other. Nearly three years to the day of her mother's death, Whitney's only child, Bobby Christina Brown, was found unresponsive underwater in a bathtub. Just like her mother. She never begainn business and died
six months later. The manner of death is officially undetermined, but the medical examiner found a toxic combination of drugs and alcohol in her system. When Chrissie left us, I felt for her without her mom, because I had witnessed the bond that they shared in the studio on stage. She loved that child and that little girl loved her mother. So when her mom left, I knew she was lonely, but I honestly believed that she would be okay. I
wanted to believe that her hand was being held. But Sylvia Vahar, who was Whitney's personal assistant, she kept calling me and she said that little girl needs help. I didn't think for one second that you know, I call it, you know, let her hand go. Was that message that you received. You talk about that in the book where she Whitney would call over the years and leave messages. This was the wee hours. It was like about close
to four in the morning. I checked my messages. I just heard this voice and I heard my name, and it was like robbin in that way that would get my attention, right. I thought she'd called back. The numbers restricted, it's always restricted. I can't call back. But I wish I would have just taking the necessary steps to reach her. But I heard that voice and you knew and speaking for me. I feel like I was waiting for her and she was waiting for me. And time just don't wait.
I understand that one don't wait. You know, no one ever really dies. We keep them with us, the truth. I tell people all the time. I'm like, and you don't get over it. You just learn how to cope without having them here. If you had a chance that I could disappear right now and Whitney would take my place, and all these cameras were shut off and Mr just you and her in the room, what would you want to say to her? I would want to say, you know that you know I love you and I got you.
I will represent I love that girl like yesterday, and she's with me all the time. I understand. After Robin stopped working with Whitney, she married Lisa Hendelman, a publicist she met during the body Guard. They have two children. Early on, they came to an understanding that when Whitney called or showed up at the door, they would welcome her. Hi. Hello.
I really wanted to have a moment to talk to you, because I know when Robin had said to you that if Whitney calls, we've got to leave the door open. What was it that made you open to that? You know, Robin had committed to me um that she was going to focus on our life Whitney. When she was still alive, people would call, Robin, did you hear that this happened?
Or did you read the Whitney did this? And you know my line was, you know, she goes to the bathroom and someone calls you to tell you, and you know that was you know, it was frustrating, but I knew how important they were to each other. We met because of Whitney. Then I also felt for Whitney. I felt for her her troubles and her struggles, and I firsthand how supportive Robin can be and how strong she can be. So I understood that that's what she was
for Whitney. So if she called, of course we would have welcomed her. When Robin first told you that she wanted to write this book, what were your thoughts? I totally understood and agreed with Robin's desire to kind of clear the air of misperceptions and more importantly, to to
lift with me. And you know, I had I was well aware of her greatness and also saddened by how people were presenting her, and I really felt that doing that might sort of complete things for her and allow her to fully, you know, enjoy the rest of her life as beautiful and even in my own situation is deeply healing. We have a very relatable circumstance and that, you know, So this was good for me and it's really nice to see the two of you here together
too and actually feel the connection. So thank you, thank you for being here with us. I appreciate that's Red Table Table Talk, real talk. Hey r t T family, Join our Red Table Talk group on Facebook has become part of the conversation and be sure to follow the show page to catch up on all our episodes. Yea perfect thank you. All right, Hey, I'm here with Robin Crawford. We had a beautiful conversation today about her book A Song for You My Life with Whitney Houston swife Clock.
It's a good one to join the Red Table Talk family and become a part of the conversation. Follow us at Facebook dot com lash red Table Talk. Thanks for listening to this episode of Red Table Talk podcast produced by Facebook Watch, Westbrook Audio, and I Heart Radio.