It's been 7 years since the tragic demise of Whitney Houston, and her long time best friend Robyn Crawford has finally decided to share the intimate details of their friendship. An excerpt from Robyn's new memoir A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston reads, "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." There have been years of speculation about just how close the two were, but there was never a confirmation of more, until now. From the moment Crawford first met Whitney in 1980, she told her, “I’m going to look out for you.”
The two were inseparable, more than best friends, they were lovers. “We wanted to be together,” says Crawford, “and that meant just us.”Crawford details how Whitney ended the physical part of their relationship in 1982 by giving her a Bible, a little after she signed her record deal.
“She said we shouldn’t be physical anymore,” writes Crawford, “because it would make our journey even more difficult.”
“She said if people find out about us, they would use this against us,” says Crawford, “and back in the ’80s that’s how it felt.” Which is why she says, “I kept it safe. I found comfort in my silence.”
Along with speculated backlash from the public, there was also pressure from Whitney’s family. Especially her religious mother Cissy Houston. “Whitney told me her mother said it wasn’t natural for two women to be that close,” says Crawford, “but we were that close.”
“We never talked about labels, like lesbian or gay,” writes Crawford. “We just lived our lives and I hoped it could go on that way forever.”
Crawford explains that their connection was just one part of her deep and lasting bond with Houston.
“Whitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me,” says Crawford. “We really meant everything to each other. We vowed to stand by each other.”
Crawford hopes her book gives the public a better understanding of who Whitney was. “I wanted to lift her legacy, give her respect and share the story of who she was before the fame, and in that, to embrace our friendship.”