Whitney Houston’s mother would have been ‘bothered’ if the star had been gay
Whitney Houston’s mother has revealed to Oprah Winfrey that had her daughter been gay, she would “absolutely” have had a problem with it.
The singer died in February 2012 at the age of 48 from a drugs overdose.
Cissy Houston, 79, was promoting her new book, Remembering Whitney, on Oprah’s Next Chapter show.
The book touches upon Whitney’s rumoured lesbian relationship with her best friend, Robyn Crawford, when the pair were younger.
During the interview, Oprah read the section of the book where Cissy Houston says: “I knew I didn’t want Robyn near my daughter and I told Nippy [the family’s pet name for Whitney] that.
“There wasn’t much I could do though. Nippy liked Robyn. She was passed the age where I could forbid her from seeing someone. Kids have a mind of their own when they get older. They want to experiment with all kinds of things. And I don’t know if it was more than that.’
Questioned by Oprah, Cissy Houston admitted she “didn’t really like” Crawford, saying she spoke “disrespectful”.
But she added: “She was alright. She turned out to be okay, I guess, because that was her friend.”
However, when Oprah asked if she would have been “bothered” if her daughter was a lesbian she replied: “Absolutely.”
“It would have bothered you?” Oprah asked.
‘Mmmm hmmmm,’ Cissy confirmed.
“You wouldn’t have liked that?”
‘Not at all.’
Rumours of gay relationships were denied by Houston, when she was alive.
She was married to Bobby Brown from 1992 to 2007.
Mr Tatchell met the star in 1991.
