Whitney Houston's longtime best friend, Robyn Crawford, is ready to share the intimate details about their friendship, including their alleged love affair.
In her new memoir A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston, excerpted in People, Robyn opened up about her romantic relationship with the late singer as well as their decades-spanning friendship.
Seven years after Whitneyโs tragic passing, Robyn writes, โIโd 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.โ
She goes on to share, per People, their story, explaining how the two first met when she was 19 and Whitney was 17 and they were both counselors at an East Orange, New Jersey summer camp.
After vowing to always look out for Whitney, Robyn said they always "wanted to be together and that meant just us." However, Whitney ended the physical part of their relationship early on, soon after she signed a record deal with Clive Davis at Arista, People notes. Adding, "the singer broke the news by giving Robyn a gift of a slate blue Bible one day in 1982."
โShe said we shouldnโt be physical anymore,โ Robyn states, โbecause it would make our journey even more difficult [...] She said if people find out about us, they would use this against us, and back in the โ80s thatโs how it felt.โ
And so, she says, โI kept it safe. I found comfort in my silence.โ
โWhitney told me her mother said it wasnโt natural for two women to be that close,โ Robyn adds, โbut we were that close.โ
As fans know, the two's "closeness" led to endless speculation about Whitneyโs sexuality for years. โWe never talked about labels, like lesbian or gay,โ she continues. โWe just lived our lives and I hoped it could go on that way forever.โ
Robyn says that connection was just one part of her deep and lasting bond with Whitney as she was Whitneyโs gatekeeper, closest confidante, and most loyal protector. โWhitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me,โ she says. โWe really meant everything to each other. We vowed to stand by each other.โ
The now-family fitness trainer, who lives with her partner, Lisa Hintlemann, and their two children, explains that she hopes the book can set the record straight about who Whitney truly 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," says Robyn, per People.
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