Whitney Houston's best friend Robyn Crawford confirms sexual relationship with singer in 80s

"It was during that first summer that we met, was the first time our lips touched. And it wasn't anything planned, it just happened," Crawford said. "And it felt wonderful. And then, not long after that, we spent the night together. And that evening was the night that we touched"
UPDATED FEB 24, 2020
Whitney Houston (Source : Getty Images)
Whitney Houston (Source : Getty Images)

Robyn Crawford, Whitney Houston's closest confidante, appeared for the first time in a nationally televised interview and spoke about how she had a secret affair with the legendary singer. Seven years after the singer's sudden death at 48, Crawford, 58, ended speculations about her and Houston's friendship in an interview with Dateline NBC.

She admitted their relationship did eventually get physical. "It was during that first summer that we met, was the first time our lips touched. And it wasn't anything planned, it just happened," she said. "And it felt wonderful. And then, not long after that, we spent the night together. And that evening was the night that we touched. And that just brought us closer."

Her romantic relationship with the 'I Will Always Love You' songstress when they were teenagers in the early 1980s, is also documented in her yet-to-be-published memoir 'A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston.'

Singer Whitney Houston is seen performing on stage during the 2004 World Music Awards at the Thomas and Mack Center on September 15, 2004, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images)

"Our friendship was a deep friendship. In the early part of that friendship, it was physical," she added in the interview. She also added that she was not shocked on discovering their relationship was becoming physical.

"No, I wasn't surprised. I was in that moment. It was ours. She just came into my life all of a sudden," she said. "I didn't know how long it was going to last but I was just enjoying the moment. And that's what we did, we just enjoyed it."

People Magazine obtained an excerpt from Crawford's memoir, in which she wrote, "I'd come to the point where I felt the need to stand up for our friendship. And I felt an urgency to stand up and share the woman behind the incredible talent."

The two met while they were working as counselors at a summer camp in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1980. Crawford wrote in her memoir that Houston ended the physical part of their relationship one day in 1982. 

"She said we shouldn't be physical anymore because it would make our journey even more difficult," she wrote. "She said if people find out about us, they would use this against us, and back in the '80s that's how it felt." 

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