The Hampton Script

Staff Writer: Jordan Sheppard

“A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston” is the title of Robyn Crawford’s memoir, released last month detailing her alleged intimate relationship with Grammy Award-winning singer Whitney Houston.

“I never envisioned speaking publicly about my life, and then I asked myself the question[s]: What would Whitney want? Would she understand you know the time is now?” Crawford said in an interview with NBC’s Today show.

Houston died in 2012.

For decades, there had been speculation the two women, who were once close friends, had a relationship with each other.

In a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, when asked about her feelings on the two potentially being involved in a relationship, did not hesitate to share her true thoughts.

“Not at all,” Cissy Houston said when asked if she would have condoned her daughter and Crawford having a relationship, adding that she would have been bothered.

In her Today show interview, Crawford spoke about how her intimate relationship with Whitney Houston ended when the singer was getting to record her first album.

“She said I don’t believe that we should be physical anymore,” Crawford said. “The music business was a world that we were learning, and we didn’t want anything to interfere with where she was going.”

After her interview, many critics, including many of Houston’s fans, began to attack Crawford, accusing her of trying to defame the singer’s character, destroy her legacy and wanting her 15 minutes of fame.

Crawford spoke highly of Whitney Houston in all her interviews and in her book, never once saying anything negative. So why are people upset?

“I think the only reason there’s backlash is because of homophobia,” Hampton University sophomore Rhyann Sampson said.

Speaking about the dead becomes a touchy subject, since the person cannot defend themselves.

 “It’s sad that people would rather hear about her being in a very toxic, abusive relationship than realize the fact that she was happy, and who she was happy was with a woman,” HU sophomore Tynesha Smith said.

Whitney’s end was tragic, and there were many moments during her life in which she was not in a good place, and the one time she was, people are trying to erase that moment from her legacy.

Crawford for years had to hold in this secret while people spoke badly about her. Now she felt it was her time to speak, and she had the right to speak out about their relationship.

The question should not be why did Robyn speak out about Whitney Houston, it should be, why are you upset that she did?

She also has the right to speak because she knew who the real Whitney was. Everyone else knew Whitney as the artist. Robyn knew Whitney as Whitney and loved her for her.