Source: Instagram

Yesterday, Bobbi Kristina quietly turned 20 years old. (Shocking right?) And in the above picture, which she posted on Instagram, she wrote a little note to her mother.

•• I pray I’m growing into thee phenomenal women you always knew I’d be mommy, I love you & miss you immensely ..& I always will. YOUaremyHEART• YOUaremyLIFE• YOUaremyEVERYTHING• YOUaremyMOTIVATION• YOUareME•IamYOU. WEareONE• forever&always• iLoveyouMYlady •• xO

I can’t imagine what she’s going through, losing a mother at such a young, fragile age. But hopefully, as she continues to deal with this loss, she’ll find the answers she needs from somewhere. Happy Belated Birthday Bobbi Kristina! We’re praying for your continued physical and spiritual growth and development.

Derrick Salters/WENN.com

From ESSENCE

Clive Davis’ 2012 Pre-Grammy Party will always be remembered as the event where the world lost a legend. Whitney Houston was found dead in her hotel room in the same venue where the party was to take place just a few hours later. This year, Cissy Houston says there’s no way she’d be able to attend Davis’ annual bash.

The music mogul extended a personal invitation for Houston to attend his affair, to which Houston politely declined.

“I got an invitation to the party, which is the most obscene thing. I don’t know why they would want me to come to the party in which she died, you know? Unheard of,” Houston told Access Hollywood. “I guess maybe he just sent me a copy for remembrance sake.”

Ms. Cissy is a classy woman but holds no punches. You know who did accept the invitation? Gary and Pat Houston. For more check out ESSENCE.

Do you think Clive Davis was just trying to be courteous and respectful by sending them invitations to his annual party?

D. Salters/WENN.com

For all the jokes everyone had about Cissy Houston “keeping it real” during her interview with Oprah on last week’s episode of Next Chapter, it seems one thing is absolutely true: she and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina  are not on the best of terms.

Last Thursday, Bobbi Kristina responded to Cissy’s comments about her having heard that BK didn’t like the idea of her writing the book but not having had the chance to speak to her directly. She took to Twitter:

Twitter

For those of you who aren’t well-versed in the abbreviated text of teenagers these days (as well as all of the added symbols from Twitter), Bobbi Kristina basically said that neither she nor her boyfriend Nick Gordon (yes, apparently they’re still together) had anything to do with the book and she will not be reading it. Further, it seems that she feels that putting out the book was disrespectful to her mom, Whitney Houston.

The unfortunate truth is that this is a family in shambles. There’s no way to know if they were in this bad of shape prior to Whitney’s death but with the reality show, book deals and interviews, it has certainly pulled them further apart.

Cissy recently did an interview with the Tom Joyner Morning Show to promote her book and according to Black America Web, when asked what she would say to Bobbi Kristina if she were listening, she replied, “Call your grandmother.”

Do you think if the Houstons pulled back from media outlets, they could have a chance to mourn and possibly come back together as a family?

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn, file

If you can believe it, we’re just a little over a month away from the anniversary of Whitney Houston’s death.

With that upon us, Lady O will be sitting down with Whitney’s mother, Cissy, in one of the few interviews she’s given since her daughter’s passing. Oprah interview Bobbi Kristina as well as Greg and Pat Houston, Whitney’s brother and sister-in law, respectively, not long after the passing of Whitney. While Cissy did participate in the Lifetime reality show, On Our Own, she hasn’t done much talking about what the last year has been like on her.

The date has not been released but it is expected to air within the first two weeks of February.

But that’s not all with OWN. Network president Erik Logan recently held a meeting with the media where he broke down the good progress OWN has made, primarily thanks to Oprah showing her face more on the channel with Next Chapter. They’ve also seen great strides in the ratings when new episodes of Master Class have aired.  According to Logan their 2012 year end numbers were in the double digits, as reported by the NY Daily News.

Oprahhas quite a few stars lined up for interviews such as LL Cool J, Susan Sarandon and Alicia Keys (we already know you’ll be tuned in for that one).  Sounds good!

Can you believe it’ll be one year since we lost Whitney? Will you be tuned in to Next Chapter featuring Cissy Houston?

If I had a dollar for every time a public figure confused their criticism in the media with the crucifixion of Christ, well, I still couldn’t buy my way into heaven, but I would be a very rich b***h. Putting oneself on the level of God, Jesus, and the entire Holy Trinity is hardly new in the entertainment business but what does appear to be somewhat novel now is this trend among uber sensitive celebrities to equate the mass criticism thrown their way with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ — you know, the man whom Christians believed died for their sins. I beg your pardon?

I let it slide the first time Bobbi Kristina Twittled her thumbs on Twitter to express such a sentiment. The 19-year-old wasn’t taking too well to the backlash that arose shortly after clips of The Houstons’ Lifetime reality show hit the net, and so she said:

“They judged & talked about #Jesus. Crucified him to be exact … Struck back 100xanointed. You can NEVER take away your #Spirit. Xxxo We shall, we will, we are forever going to #Prosper !

But today, she dished out another round of blessed are the poor in spirit sentiments because she received a healthy dose of criticism after it was reported she was involved in a car crash after her breakup with Nick Gordon:

“#LETMELIVE without YOUppl crucifying me?! OH, yes now I remember .. YOUppl did the SAME DAMN THING2 JESUS.& he overcame you ALL. #NOWWATCH.”

Of course many Christians take comfort in the trials Jesus endured, believing if he could overcome such obstacles, we can as well. However, Jesus was hardly fighting for the right to drink underage, be under the influence of illegal drugs, or be engaged to a play brother. He was crucified as a result of bringing a message of hope to people that went against everything they stood for at the time. There is nothing Holy (or necessarily unholy) about the motivation behind Bobbi Kristina’s participation in a reality show, let alone the lifestyle she is portraying. I’m sure there are plenty of people being downright cruel toward Bobbi, and that is by no means appropriate, but please don’t act like the path to destruction you are willingly traveling is comparable to Jesus on the road to Gethsemane. Oh, and did anyone else catch damn and Jesus in the same sentence? Enough said.

Bobby Kris isn’t the only overly sensitive blasphemer in the entertainment industry however. Many didn’t take too well to Kanye West wearing a crown of thorns, as Jesus did on the cross, as the artwork for a 2006 cover of Rolling Stone, but the rapper has only gotten further into character since that time. Just this year in his remix of Chief Keef’s song “Don’t like,” he said:

“The media crucify me like they did Christ, they want to find me not breathing like they did Mike.”

I’m just barely able to stomach the Michael Jackson reference, but Jesus Christ? Someone please point out one instance where the criticism Kanye has received has ever been unwarranted? Just one. I will say I wasn’t mad at Kanye when he said George Bush doesn’t care about black people. I’ll even give him a pass as being somewhat Christ-like in the sense of decrying social ills. But you don’t get to throw tantrums all the day long, have drunk moments at award shows where you embarrass teenage girls, and rap about a girl meeting you in the bathroom stall to get broke off and act like you have #LordandSaviorJesusChristProblems. I guarantee you the son of God did not come down from heaven for all of that.

To tell you the truth, I’d prefer it if we could just get back to the days when celebrities only brought up God and Jesus when they were on stage accepting an award for musical contributions that God and Jesus probably had very little to do with. I’m sure the originator of this notion, whoever that self-absorbed individual may be, likely thought he was being clever comparing his present-day “crucifixion” to the experience of Jesus in his last days. But now it’s clear celebrities aren’t merely making a comparison, they really believe their struggle is equal, because in some way they believe the right to live life the way they choose is some righteous cause, and that they are in fact on the level of these Holy beings. To that I say, you know there are people who are fighting for the right to practice their religion, go to school, earn a fair wage and all that stuff in other countries right? If women who can be shot in the head without a second thought for speaking out against injustices or stoned to death for assumed infidelities don’t consider themselves to be experiencing a crucifixion, I openly invite all of these self-important characters to have a seat, preferably in a Bible college somewhere.

While I mostly find these allusions of grandeur obnoxious, there’s also a hilarious aspect that these individuals who claim to be so big, bad, and almighty can’t take a little tongue-in-cheek humor, tough love, or backlash as a result of their actions. You don’t get to proclaim that you’re human and have feelings like everyone else and in the next breath claim to be a God when you’re turnt up and performing. I mean Jesus had nails hammered into his hands and feet and was beaten before the masses. You mean to tell me you can’t take a few rumors and a snide tweet? Perhaps you should call on some of that Jesus power you think you have access to to do better so people don’t have so much to say about your poor life choices.

At the end of the day, or days perhaps, these wannabe larger than life individuals are going to have to account to God, the real one, for their word choices and not us. But until that day comes, let’s stop with the Jesus Christ posturing and the accusation that everyone who isn’t a fan is Pontius Pilate. Nobody really even cares enough about these people, in a negative or positive way, to go through the trouble of symbolically crucifying them anyway.

Brande Victorian is the deputy editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

Source: WENN

In the wake of Whitney Houston’s tragic and untimely death, rumors swirled that her only daughter that she shared with Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina had been dating her god-brother, Nick Gordon. For a while the murmurs were nothing but mere rumors, but they were made valid after the two were spotted out together over and over again. Their chemistry made it clear that the two were an item and this was even further confirmed when the two announced their engagement during an episode of  The Houstons: On Our Own. 

The Houston family made it clear that they were disapproving of Bobbi Kristina’s relationship with Nick because Whitney had raised Nick as her own son and the two were like brother and sister, although an episode of the show reveals that Nick and Bobbi Kristina actually met in high school, became best friends, and Whitney took him in after his mother kicked him out. Either way, I’m sure the Houston family is leaping for joy as news that the two have gone their separate ways broke this week.

Nick Gordon took to his Twitter page to confirm that he and Bobbi Kristina are no longer an item.

“@REALbkBrown and I are not engaged or dating. Just close like we have always been.”

Bobbi Kristina also used her Twitter page to confirm the break up; however in a more roundabout way through cryptic and subliminal tweets.

“Who do I trust in this world? Pfft well that’s easy beezie, #Myself, No1 will kno’s me like ME&They’d rather not take thtchance2knoME, &2me.”

“That’s incredibly fine .. Because you’d be missing out on a #REALperson Xxo #armyofme #onmywon #goingtomakeit#determined”

“I guess it’s time 4me2stop depending on anymore. It’s my time2follow what Mom&The Lord put out on this path for me. #Thankful. Mom xxo.”

Many speculated that Nick was simply using Krissy for what she could give him and while that can’t exactly be proven, it certainly makes sense. The details surrounding this entire relationship seem super sketchy and über messy and it is probably best these two have chosen to throw in the towel.

Do you think it’s good Bobbi Kristina ended her relationship with Nick Gordon?

Jazmine Denise is a writer living in New York. Follow her on Twitter @jazminedenise

Source: WENN

Though Madame Noire isn’t too sold on the concept of Lifetime’s newest reality show following Whitney Houston’s family, plenty of other people are, as evidenced by the ratings for the show’s premiere episodes.

According to The Examiner, “The premiere of the Houston family series, ‘The Houstons: On Our Own,’ was strong for Lifetime Wednesday.” The Futon Critic puts the 9pm debut at 1.333 million viewers and the second episode at 9:30pm came in just under that with 1.313 views. I’m assuming either some people didn’t realize there were two back-to-back half-hour episodes or a couple hundred thousand people decided not to keep watching the train wreck that is the Houston family.

The show immediately came under criticism as being exploitative of Whitney Houston’s death and her daughter, Bobbi Kristina’s, obvious struggle to cope. But the leading voice of the family, Pat Houston, shut those accusations down about this show coming too soon after the singer’s passing, saying:

“I don’t know when would be the right time. When would be the right time? You don’t know. You just continue what you always do and that is try to live. Taking one day, living one day at a time. And that`s all we are doing.”

It appears some 1 million viewers agree with her. Did you catch the first two episodes of “The Houstons?” What did you think?

When I first heard rumors that the Houston family had been offered a reality show, just weeks after Whitney Houston passed, I was disgusted at the opportunistic nature of these producers. I mean, was this really the time to be running up behind a grieving family to make money for your network? It seemed tacky to say the least. But I soothed myself with the notion that they, the Houston family, would never accept such a sleazy offer. But alas, I was wrong. Just a few weeks ago, we got a sneak peek of what to expect from the show. To my shock and surprise everybody in the family, from Whitney’s sister-in-law, to her brother, to her mother, Cissy was featured in the preview. And not in the most flattering light, specifically daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

There are several shots where we see that Bobbi is not coping well. It’s unclear whether she’s self medicating or not, but whatever she’s doing, it’s certainly not healthy. Then, as if that weren’t enough, there’s the whole issue of whether or not Bobbi and Nick should get married. And to top all of that off Mama Cissy is in the mix as well, talking about someone, presumably Bobbi, doesn’t like her.

Now, I can’t judge people who decide to participate in reality shows. I’ve never been presented with those type of checks, so I don’t know how hard it is to turn them down. As an outsider looking in though, it would seem that the Houston family needed more time. They needed more time to deal with the fact that their family member, their mother, daughter and sister, was gone. The passing of any close family member has the potential to shake the foundation of a family. The passing of a family member and international icon visibly took a toll on this family. And perhaps I’m old school, but I always believed in handling family business and dealing with family turmoil, privately, within the family. Not that other people can’t learn from that struggle; but make sure you get the lesson yourself before you try to teach it to others. It seemed that filming for the show started shortly after Whitney was buried, before the family even got settled into life without her. And subsequently, no one knew how the family, and specifically Bobbi Kristina, was going to grieve her mother. There are images of Bobbi K. throwing up and being carried out, wrapped up in a blanket. None of it seems like a good look.

If you remember, this is not the first time the Houston family tried their hand at a reality tv show. We all remember the madness that was “Being Bobby Brown.” Though, Bobbi K. was much younger at the time, I still clearly remember her looking and expressing that she the fact that she was “so over” her parents’ antics. From the trailer, Bobbi K is going to be on some of that too. In one of her confessional interviews, she told the camera that her family is rooting for she and Nick’s relationship to fail but they’re going to prove them wrong. We’ll see. However the cookie crumbles for the Houston family, particularly Bobbi, I hope that she doesn’t look back on this decision to participate in this reality show business, at this trying time in her life, with regret and resentment.

Bobbi Kristina and the family are just weeks away from debuting their new reality show on Lifetime, “The Houstons: On Our Own.” The show follows the family of the late, great Whitney Houston, including her daughter Bobbi Kris, of course, her boyfriend Nick Gordon, Pat Houston and her family, and the matriarch of the clan, Cissy.

Though the show was originally pegged as a series showing how the family is getting on after Whitney’s passing, from the clips that have been released it appears the focus of the show is on Bobbi and Nick’s relationship. At one point the family clearly tells Nick they never expected him to go from a Godson to a boyfriend, all of which is eclipsed by Bobbi Kristna’s shocking confession at dinner one night:

“We’re engaged.”

Rumors have circulated for months that the pair had taken that next step and this reality show appears to confirm those stories. What remains to be seen is whether their relationship will continue to tear the family apart as it is now. It also appears we’ll gain insight into Bobbi’s estranged relationship with her father, Bobby Brown, and whether she really is spiraling out of control, and “grieving the wrong way,” as her aunt Pat worries.

“The Houstons: On Our Own” is set to debut Wednesday, October 24 on Lifetime. Check out the clips below and tell us what you think. Will you tune in?

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Bobbi Kristina at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Sparkle’ in August. Image: Apega/WENN.com

Sadly, we’ve seen a couple of recent examples of famous families — Whitney Houston’s and Michael Jackson’s — torn apart by the money that’s left behind in a trust. It got us to wondering just how a trust is set up.

A trust is “a document that spells out the rules that you want followed for property held in trust for your beneficiaries,” according to Dummies.com. It turns out setting up a trust fund is a good idea…and it´s not only for the rich. “Middle class citizens have the ability to set up trust funds too,” reports Investopedia.

“You can place cash, stock, real estate or other valuable assets in your trust,” says Investopedia. “You meet with an attorney and decide on the beneficiaries and set stipulations. Maybe you say that the beneficiaries receive a monthly payment, can only use the funds for education expenses, expenses due to an injury or disability, or the purchase of a first home. It’s your money so you get to decide.”

But beware, once you set up a trust, you can not change your mind. It is irrevocable. Assets placed into trust are no longer your assets. If you don’t want to set up a trust for your relatives, then a will is the other option. You can set up a will yourself, according to WikiHow.com, but first, check with your state on the validity of do-it-yourself wills and the procedure. If you have the green light, WikiHow suggests putting your full name and address, birthday and social security number on paper with a line indicating that you are of sound mind and body. You must include that this is your last will and testament; that any others should be voided.

Next, decide who will be the executor or personal representative of your will and make a note that you empower the executor to “pay all of your just debts, funeral expenses, taxes and estate administration expenses. This allows your heirs to take their shares without later deductions or complications,” explains WikiHow.com. In another paragraph, give permission for the executor to sell any real estate you may own.

Next, make a list of personal items that will be going to specific people. Also state how your assets should be divided and “include provisions which will clearly explain who gets a beneficiary’s gift if that person dies before you,” WikiHow.com explains. Initial each page, sign in front of a witness (or witnesses) , who also signs and you’re done.

It’s not always pleasant, but you must be prepared for the worst. Check out our piece “Things You Must Do Before You Do: A Financial Bucket List.”

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