Bobby Brown Believes Whitney Houston Would Still Be Alive If They Never Split

Bobby Brown thinks he would have helped Whitney Houston out before her death in 2012.

Ahead of Bobby Brown’s A&E documentary Biography: Bobby Brown premiering on May 30, he shares his thoughts with PEOPLE. Earlier this week, we reported that he has recurring dreams of his two children, Bobby Jr. and Bobbi Kristina, that died from substance abuse. Now, he is opening up about Whitney’s death. 

He says, “I think we could have helped each other out.” 

In the early 90s, the couple turned for the worse struggling with an abusive relationship with drugs and becoming addicted. Brown’s bad-boy image convinced the world that he turned the bright pop star to drugs, but since her death, loved ones and those close reveal that Houston actually strongly influenced Brown to drugs. The 14-year relationship ended in 2007, just five years before her death. 

Brown reveals that he actually was clean a couple of years before their split. 

“It was really rough because I was so addicted. I had to be put into medical detox first,” he says of kicking narcotics while he was incarcerated in 2000. “And then the Bible got me through. It was about becoming healthier for my daughter [Bobbi Kristina] and for the rest of my kids.” 

Much of their hectic relationship was on their reality tv show, “Being Bobby Brown.” 

Brown reveals that Houston did not quit drugs when he did, so the relationship was on the rocks. However, he didn’t want to divorce, but Whitney did, which came from her team and family, he believes. To this day, he thinks the divorce negatively impacted her. 

“I think we could have helped each other out,” he states in the documentary. “I think she’d still be here if we hadn’t divorced.”

Houston died in her Beverly Hills hotel tub after an accidental drug overdose in February 2012. Brown thought she was getting better before learning of her death. “I thought she was getting herself together. I didn’t think she would turn back.” 

Though he quit hard drugs, Brown struggled with alcohol abuse and was in a treatment facility in 2020. 

“I work hard at staying sober every day of my life, and it’s going to be that way for the rest of my life, and I know that.”