Source: Michael Becker / Michael Becker
For the past few weeks, Robyn Crawford has been doing several interviews speaking about her new memoir A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston. Today, “Red Table Talk,” released her sit down conversation with Jada Pinkett Smith, who like Crawford, can relate to having a close friendship with an iconic figure who met a tragic end. Check out the highlights from their conversation and the full video below.
Their relationship
We were intimate on all levels. There was no shame in the physical moments that we shared. There was no shame. We weren’t hiding the physical aspect of our friendship. But it was ours. Whitney’s mother had—I call it feverishness about our closeness.
Cissy Houston
I always sensed a bitterness in her mom. Because I thought her daughter was so awesome, there was so much to be joyful about. If anything, Whitney would listen to me and that would bother Mrs. Houston. But Whitney listened to me because I listened to her.
Ending their physical relationship
She placed the Bible in my hands. I don’t believe we should be physical any longer. It would make our journey much harder if they found out about it. But living that life, you could go to hell. We inscribed our loyalty. Our dedication. We inscribed on the back of the book because God was there too. I wasn’t blindsided by her saying we should not be physical anymore. what she chose her path, to sing that was a gift that she was blessed with and she wanted to serve.
Jada: And she knew that she had to take the physical piece out so that it would not interfere with—because of the times—what she knew she was born to do. Knowing that she didn’t have to lose you. She could still have your strength, your friendship, your love.
Robyn: She said love me unconditional. She was worth that.
Jada: A lot of people have a difficult time understanding relationships of that manner. Because we think the highest grade of relating is romantic and sexual. Even when we get into lifetime committed relationships, we start to realize those components aren’t everything.
Jada: Did you have any hope that in you making the decision to walk away that it would change anything?
Robyn: When I made that decision, I never once thought or believed that I was leaving Whitney. I needed her to stop and think about herself and look at where we were. It was so many people. She wasn’t paying attention. The situation was out of control and I felt like I had done all that I could do in the climate of what Nippy Inc was at that time.
Jada: A lot of us thought you left for a much different reason.
Robyn: They thought that I left because of Bobby. Bobby was annoying. He was very annoying. And he would get jealous. It was too many people around and Whitney had lost focus. The rumor that I gave Whitney an ultimatum. You don’t give Whitney an ultimatum. I never once believed that she would fall. Swimming is what she loved to do. I mean girl could swim. She loved the water. And that’s why passing in the water is just so crazy. Like hard for me to wrap my heart and head around.
When Whitney passed. I was flooded with emotions. I was angry.
Jada: It made me really angry when Whitney passed and you said, ‘She should have never been alone.’ It made me really sad because I was like there was a time when she wasn’t.
Robyn: You got people working for you, where the hell are they? After that fateful day, my life was filled with strangers walking up to me feeling like had I been there, she would still be here. Of course, that’s a lot to even pull in. But what I do know is that she would not have been alone. It pains me that she’s not here physically. That’s kind of selfish. But she and Krissi have each other.
[re: Whitney] I feel like I was waiting for her and she was waiting for me and time just don’t wait. No one ever really dies, we keep them with us.
