Bobbi Kristina Brown: A Timeline of Her Life
Bobbi Kristina Brown has passed away at the age of 22. It was a tragic end to a six month journey which began with the young daughter of Whitney Houston being found face down and unconscious in her bathtub.
The incident is eerily similar to what happened to her mother, who was found unresponsive less than three years ago in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. While Houston's death was ultimately determined to have been in part due to her abuse of illegal drugs, it's unclear whether or not drugs played a part in what happened to Bobbi Kristina. Police have said that "there were no drugs out in the open" at her home when she was found.
This is not the first time tragedy has struck the young singer, who grew up under the glare of the spotlight. Here is a timeline of the life of Bobbi Kristina, a young woman cursed by fame and fortune.
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March 4, 1993: Whitney Houston gives birth to Bobbi Kristina via caesarian section at a hospital in New Jersey. She is the only child of the seven-time Grammy winner; her father is the equally famous Bobby Brown. Of the experience, Houston once said, "I could never do anything that could top that. There's been nothing more incredible in my life than having [Bobbi Kristina]."
February 7, 1994: Bobbi Kristina gets her first taste of the spotlight as Whitney Houston holds her onstage while accepting an American Music Award.
June 30, 2005: Being Bobby Brown debuts on Bravo. Brown and Houston are both shown high on drugs in the presence of their daughter, who is, at this point, only 12 years old.
April 24, 2007: After 14 years of tumultuous marriage, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's divorce is finalized. Houston is awarded sole custody of her daughter, telling the court that Brown is an unreliable father and an unfit guardian. "If he says he's going to come, sometimes he does," Houston tells the court. "Usually he doesn't."
May 1, 2008: The National Enquirer runs with an unconfirmed report that Bobbi Kristina — now 15 — tried to kill herself, but not before she also threatened her mother with a knife. According to the report, Bobbi was admitted to an Atlanta psych ward.
September 15, 2009: Whitney Houston gives her first interview in seven years, on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Houston describes, in gory detail, the gravity of her drug addiction. She admits that her drug use got heavier after the birth of Bobbi Kristina and that by 1996, "[doing drugs] was an everyday thing."
February 11, 2012:
Whitney Houston is found submerged in the bathtub in her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. She is rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead. Just days before her death, Houston and Bobbi Kristina were seen swimming together in the hotel pool.
February 12, 2012: Brown is rushed to a Los Angeles hospital. TMZ reports that it's her second trip to the hospital since her mother's death the day before and that she is "hysterical, exhausted, and inconsolable."
February 19, 2012: Further reports claim that Bobbi Kristina is not handling her mother's death well and has turned to drugs to help her cope. As reported by The Daily Beast, while the rest of Houston's family ate together at a restaurant in Newark ahead of her burial, Bobby Kristina was M.I.A. After the funeral, Bobbi was allegedly found in a hotel room "getting high," though a spokesperson for the Houston family has denied this. There is apparently some disagreement over whether Bobbi, now 18, should be sent to rehab immediately, or whether she should be allowed to wait until after her mother's burial.
March 2012: It is reported that Bobbi Kristina has no desire to continue any contact with Bobby Brown who, after divorcing Whitney Houston, remarried and had another child. Further reports claim that Bobbi is going so far as to change her name to Kristina Houston to remove any association with her father.
July 10, 2012: Bobbi Kristina once again becomes the object of tabloid speculation after she announces her engagement to Nick Gordon, a man who her mother had unofficially adopted and raised as Bobbi's brother since he was 12.
July 20, 2012: Bobbi Kristina makes her acting debut on an episode of Tyler Perry's TBS sitcom For Better or Worse. Though it was initially reported that Perry had offered Brown a recurring role, she only ever appears in one episode of the show. Perry denies claims that Bobbi walked off the set during filming. "Were there tough days for her? Yes of course. Not because of the actng [sic] or any job-related issues but because of the fact that she had just lost her mother," Perry writes on his blog. "PLEASE LEAVE THIS BABY ALONE!!!! AND SHE IS A BABY!!!"
October 24, 2012: Bobbi Kristina makes her second foray into reality television, appearing on The Houstons: On Our Own on Lifetime. The entire family is criticized for filming a reality show just months after Whitney Houston's death. Bobbi Kristina is frequently drunk while on the show.
January 9, 2013: Bobbi Kristina, now 20, tweets that she and Nick Gordon have gotten married. Speaking about their marriage a couple days later, Bobbi and Nick claim to have gotten the blessing of Cissy Houston, Bobbi's grandmother, who called their union "incestuous" in 2012.
June 16, 2014: Bobbi Kristina appears to have reconciled with her father, posting a picture of herself and Bobby Brown on Twitter.
July 1, 2014: Bobbi goes on a rant on Twitter after Yaya DaCosta is cast to play Whitney Houston in a Lifetime biopic to be directed by Angela Bassett. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bassett admits she didn't consider Bobbi for the role because, "she's not an actress. I know she's acted here and there. I know she's been on their family's reality show, but she's not an actress and acting is a craft." "When I win my first Grammy or Oscar, hmm whichever comes first, I'll be sure to should your name out bitch," Bobbi writes in response. She continues by calling Bassett a man, then deletes the tweets.
August 7, 2014:
Bobbi Kristina posts a photo of herself posing with a tattoo of her mother that Nick Gordon has just gotten on his forearm. "Thank you SOOOOOOOO much !! This is touching !! Thee tribute to YOU mommy , we love you so much my lady," reads the caption.
August 28, 2014: Nick Gordon is arrested for DUI after crashing his car into a fire hydrant. Bobbi Kristina is not in the car at the time of the crash and, fortunately, no one was injured. It's not his first run-in with the law. Earlier in the year, Bobbi Kristina's aunt, Pat Houston, obtained a restraining order against Gordon after he made threatening comments and posted photos of guns on social media.
January 17, 2015: Lifetime's Whitney Houston biopic debuts. The Houston family is not pleased with the film. Bobbi, however, is completely silent on social media.
January 19, 2015: Bobbi Kristina is photographed leaving a Roswell, Georgia, CVS with her husband. When asked if she’d seen the Lifetime biopic about her mother, she declines to answer. The couple then gets into a Lexus — badly battered from yet another car accident — and drives away. It was the last time she was seen in public before being found unresponsive in her own bathtub.
January 23, 2015: Police officers are called to the Roswell home Bobbi Kristina and Nick share in response to a reported fight, but find that no one is home when they arrive on the scene.
January 31, 2015: Bobbi Kristina posts the above photo on Instagram with the caption, "Rednesssssz."
Later that day: Nick Gordon and a friend find Bobbi Kristina face down and unresponsive in her bathtub at their home around 10:20 a.m. They immediately begin CPR and call an ambulance. Bobbi is taken to the hospital alive and breathing, but is placed into a medically induced coma once there. Just weeks away from her 22nd birthday, it is reported that Bobbi Kristina has very little brain function and that the prognosis for her recovery is not good. In a statement, Bobby Brown said, “Please allow for my family to deal with this matter and give my daughter the love and support she needs at this time.” He is reportedly at her bedside in Atlanta, along with Tyler Perry.
February 3, 2015: It is revealed that Nick Gordon and Bobbi Kristina were never actually married. Several days later, police looking into Bobbi Kristina's injuries announce that they are treating it as a criminal investigation; they are reportedly looking into Gordon.
February 25, 2015: After her doctors attempted to remove her from a medically induced coma, Bobbi Kristina suffers several seizures and is placed back on her medicine. The Brown family, devastated, asks for prayers.
March, 21 2015: Bobbi Kristina is moved from Emory University hospital to a rehab center in Atlanta, though she remains unresponsive.
June 24, 2015: Nearly five months after she was first placed in the coma, the Houston family makes the difficult decision to move Bobbi Kristina into hospice care as her condition continues to deteriorate. "We thank everyone for their support and prayers. She is in God's hands now," Pat Houston says in a statement.
July 26, 2015: Almost six months after she was discovered in her bathtub, Bobbi Kristina passes away at the age of 22. The Associated Press reports that she was surrounded by her family and a representative for the Houston family says, "She is finally at peace in the arms of God."
(Originally published on Monday, February 2 at 4:12 p.m. PT.)