Whitney Houston’s longtime friend Robyn Crawford is opening up about her relationship with the superstar, including the summer when they fell in love and shared their first kiss.
Robyn, 55, wrote about her time with the late singer in her new memoir, A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston. In the book, Robyn confessed that she fell in love with Whitney, who died in 2012 at the age of 48, when they met in the summer of 1980. They were both counselors at a summer camp in East Orange, New Jersey. Robyn was 19 and Whitney was about to turn 17.
“We wanted to be together and it was just us,” Robyn told People.
“The physical part of our friendship happened along the way and it was just as beautiful,” she explained. “We were on a journey together and we were connected.” Their first kiss happened that summer when the “I Will Always Love You” singer invited Robyn over to her house.
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“We talked and talked,” Robyn wrote in the excerpt of the book published by People. “And then all of a sudden, we were face to face. The first kiss was long and slow, like honey. As we eased out of it, my nerves shot up and my heart beat furiously. Something was happening between us.”
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Soon after, they had sex for the first time, spending the night at a friend’s home.
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“At the apartment we took off our clothes, and for the first time, we touched each other,” Robyn wrote. “Caressing her and loving her felt like a dream.”
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Two years later, they ended the physical aspect of their relationship. Robyn said in the book that the “How Will I Know” singer wanted to stop after signing a record deal with Clive Davis in 1982.
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“She said we shouldn’t be physical anymore because it would make our journey even more difficult,” Robyn 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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Robyn also said that the “Higher Love” singer’s family, especially her mom,
Cissy, were homophobic toward them. She recounted that Cissy told them, “It wasn’t natural for two women to be that close.”
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“But we were that close,” she wrote. She said she ultimately “found comfort in my silence,” and that they “never talked about labels, like lesbian or gay.”
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“We just lived our lives and I hoped it could go on that way forever,” Robyn wrote. “Whitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me. We really meant everything to each other. We vowed to stand by each other.”
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Photo credit: INSTARImages
Robyn worked as Whitney’s assistant for years, but the pair eventually became estranged later in life.
Rumors that they had a secret relationship followed them both for years. The “So Emotional” singer never confirmed the rumors.
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Photo credit: Gary Gershoff/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
Whitney married
Bobby Brown in 1992. They divorced in 2007.
“We talked and talked,” Robyn wrote in the excerpt of the book published by People. “And then all of a sudden, we were face to face. The first kiss was long and slow, like honey. As we eased out of it, my nerves shot up and my heart beat furiously. Something was happening between us.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Soon after, they had sex for the first time, spending the night at a friend’s home.
Photo credit: McBride/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
“At the apartment we took off our clothes, and for the first time, we touched each other,” Robyn wrote. “Caressing her and loving her felt like a dream.”
Photo credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Two years later, they ended the physical aspect of their relationship. Robyn said in the book that the “How Will I Know” singer wanted to stop after signing a record deal with Clive Davis in 1982.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“She said we shouldn’t be physical anymore because it would make our journey even more difficult,” Robyn 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.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Robyn also said that the “Higher Love” singer’s family, especially her mom,
Cissy, were homophobic toward them. She recounted that Cissy told them, “It wasn’t natural for two women to be that close.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“But we were that close,” she wrote. She said she ultimately “found comfort in my silence,” and that they “never talked about labels, like lesbian or gay.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“We just lived our lives and I hoped it could go on that way forever,” Robyn wrote. “Whitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me. We really meant everything to each other. We vowed to stand by each other.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Robyn worked as Whitney’s assistant for years, but the pair eventually became estranged later in life.
Rumors that they had a secret relationship followed them both for years. The “So Emotional” singer never confirmed the rumors.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Whitney married
Bobby Brown in 1992. They divorced in 2007.
Photo credit: Gary Gershoff/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
