via LIFE
Crawford
With Whitney Houston buried, it's time for the media to dig up her skeletons! And if there is one persistent rumor the singer spent years fighting, it was that she was a lesbian—"I am a mother, not a lesbian. I am not gay," she said in a 2000 interview. Well, here it comes again. Peter Tatchell has taken to the Daily Mail to bring back the argument that Whitney's fall from grace wasn't caused by her marriage to Bobby Brown—it came with the self-repression she suffered by dropping her female lover for Brown.
Specifically, Tatchell names Houston's former assistant Robyn Crawford as her "female partner." Of the pair he recalls that in 1991, "They held hands in the back of the car like teenage sweethearts. Clearly more than just friends, they were a gorgeous couple and so happy together. To see their love was infectious and uplifting." To fight the rumors, Tatchell says Houston married Bobby Brown, something Brown himself acknowledged in his memoir: "I believe her agenda was to clean up her image... The media was accusing her of having a bisexual relationship with her assistant, Robyn Crawford...that didn’t go too well with her image. In Whitney’s situation, the only solution was to get married... [to] kill all speculation."
Tatchell then goes on to blame Whitney's well-chronicled troubles less on Brown, than on the difficulties in denying who you are:
Whitney’s life started going downhill soon afterwards. Previously wholesome and clean-living, she went on drink-and-drug binges—evidence of a troubled personal life and much unhappiness. It seems likely that the split with Robyn contributed to her substance abuse and decline.
There is a known correlation between denial of one’s sexuality and a propensity to self-destructive behaviour. Homophobia undoubtedly added to the pressures on Whitney and hastened her demise.
Crawford, for her part, has spoken publicly about her friendship and working relationship with Whitney. They met when they were 16, "She introduced herself as Whitney Elizabeth Houston, and I knew right away she was special. Not a lot of people introduced themselves with their middle names back then. She had peachy colored skin and she didn't look like anyone I'd ever met in East Orange, New Jersey." But she has not talked about the rumors.
So did Whitney love the ladies? Maybe. We certainly have heard it from reliable sources over the years. Does it matter? Not a bit. Lady just wanted to dance with somebody.
