Bobbi Kristina Brown Dies at 22

Image courtesy of www.billboard.com

Source: www.billboard.com

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died on Sunday, July 26, at Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth, Ga., according to ET. She was 22.

"She is finally at peace in the arms of God," the Houston family said in a statement released to Billboard. "We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."

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She had been in a medically induced coma since she was found unconscious in a bathtub at her Roswell, Ga., home on Jan. 31 and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Bobbi Kristina was the only child of Houston and Brown, who divorced when she was a teenager. She was also part of a long dynasty of performers: Her maternal grandmother was the gospel singer Cissy Houston, and Whitney Houston was the cousin of Dionne Warwick. Brown shared her relatives' musical aspirations, duetting with her mother many times before Houston's death, including on the album One Wish: The Holiday Album and during a televised concert in Central Park. She also appeared on the Lifetime reality show The Houstons: On Our Own.

In 2014, Brown claimed to have married Nick Gordon, a longtime friend who had lived with the Houstons as a child and whom Brown had referred to as a "big brother" previously. After the media speculated about the nature of their union, and if Gordon had been adopted by Houston, Brown retorted on her Facebook, page, saying, "My mom never adopted him. In fact, mommy was the one who even said that she knew that we were going to start dating. My mom knows me better than any of you."

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Brown's untimely death shares a tragic similarity with her mother's passing: Just as Bobbi Kristina was discovered unconscious in a bathtub back in January, Whitney Houston was found dead in a tub on Feb. 11, 2012, at age 48. The death was caused by accidental drowning, heart disease and cocaine use.

After Brown was found in her bathtub, her cousin YF Kennedy told E! News that the family wasn't sure why she had been found unresponsive. "Krissi doesn't do drugs," he said. "She hasn't been drinking or doing drugs and she's cut down on cigarettes. She's been trying to get her music together and keep her voice clean. Her voice is so beautiful."

He added that Bobbi Kristina had struggled with the upcoming anniversary of her mother's death. "She's still been going through the grieving stages but is trying to keep her spirits up," he said. "She's been going to the gym every day with her husband and trying to be happy. She swims a lot.. It's a rough time lately with the anniversary… This is a blow to the family."

In the days prior to being found in the bathtub, Bobbi Kristina was active on social media, referencing her late mother as well as her career ambitions on Twitter.

Since she was admitted to the hospital, Bobbi Kristina's health has been the subject of great public interest, with news outlets reporting on every piece of news -- and there has been plenty.

Unconfirmed reports suggested an ongoing battle between the Houston and Brown families over whether to remove Bobbi Kristina from life ­support -- framed as a clash over religious values and the sanctity of life. As well, scrutiny around Whitney Houston's fortune fed further interest in the affairs, as Bobbi Kristina was the late singer's only living heir. 

Bobby Brown had been feuding with Gordon too, stating that Gordon and Bobbi Kristina were never actually legally married and denying him rights to visit her, unless certain private conditions were met.

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After rumors began circulating that Gordon might be somehow responsible for Bobbi Kristina's condition, in March he gave a distraught, attention-grabbing interview on Dr. Phil. In it, he broke down completely, with The Daily Beast calling it "despicable, exploitative television."

In May, Bobby Brown and Bobbi Kristina's aunt Pat Houston were named Bobbi Kristina's co-guardians. And despite trying to present a unified front, conflicting reports of her condition continued to trickle out, suggesting the sides were still in disagreement. While the Brown family continued to state her condition was improving, the Houstons persisted it was not. 

On Wednesday, June 24, Pat Houston shared an update on her niece's status, announcing she had been moved to hospice care and telling Billboard in a statement that Bobbi Kristina's health has "continued to deteriorate."