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  • 3
    May
    2012
    8:34am, EDT

    Bobby Brown 'will always be worried about' Bobbi Kristina's alleged drug use

    By Ree Hines

    In the first part of Bobby Brown's candid interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer, the R&B star discussed his past drug use and the role hard drugs played in the life (and ultimately the death) of his ex-wife, singer Whitney Houston -- drugs he claimed came into Houston's life long before he did. But of course, there's another person in Brown's life that's recently been the subject of drug-use allegations.

    In the second part of Brown's sit-down, he addressed reports that indicate drugs are now an issue for the next generation -- his and Houston's 19-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

    When asked if he was worried about his daughter having recently been seen smoking marijuana, and rumors of "other things," Brown insisted, "I will always be worried about that."

    Video: Star-studded sendoff for Whitney Houston

    But that doesn't mean that he currently believes that she's in any real danger. In fact, the 43-year-old insists he has a solid relationship with his daughter and that he would know if there was really a cause for concern.

    "I know what she is actually doing," Brown said. "I think people are, you know, making assumptions of what my daughter is and how strong she is. People tend to want to control strong-willed people. And that's what I see. … I am her father.  She talks to me about everything."


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    And he's not just Bobbi Kristina's father. Brown has four other children, and three of them joined him on TODAY to defend him from his "bad boy" reputation, especially in regards to his decision to walk out of Houston's funeral because he was unwilling to be separated from his alleged "entourage."

    "We were the entourage," daughter LaPrincia said, setting the record straight.

    "They sat us and you know, I saw someone talk to my dad," Brown's son, Landon, explained. "But I didn't know what they were saying -- until he tapped me and said, 'Let's go.'"

    Video: Details emerge about Houston's final days

    According to Brown, he only delivered that message after security approached him three times and asked him to seat his "entourage" elsewhere.

    "I decided that, you know, it'd be best if I just left," he said. "I kissed the casket, and me and my children left the building." 

    Since then, Brown hasn't been in touch with Houston's family, though he said he has attempted to reach out to the singer's mother, Cissy Houston, without success.

    After hearing from his children, and listening to what he has to say about daughter Bobbi Kristina, what do you think of Bobby Brown the family man? Discuss on Facebook.

    Follow @ReeHines

     

    Related content:

    • Bobby Brown: I still love Whitney Houston 'with everything that I am'
    • Bobby Brown on the death of Whitney Houston: 'I'm not the reason she's gone'
    • Whitney Houston slideshow
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  • 2
    May
    2012
    7:56am, EDT

    Bobby Brown: I still love Whitney Houston 'with everything that I am'

    By Randee Dawn

    Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston may no longer have been a couple when she died in February, but as he told TODAY's Matt Lauer in an interview that aired Wednesday morning -- his first interview since her death -- he still  misses her fiercely.

    "Our relationship was great," he said. "I had 14 beautiful, beautiful years with that woman." And it's not just his revisionist history, he insisted: "I can honestly say that -- I love that woman with -- with everything that I am. And I believe she loved me the same way."

    Speaking out for the first time since the death of ex-wife Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown tells TODAY's Matt Lauer about his last encounter with Houston, the moment he learned she had died, and whether he feels responsible for her addiction struggles.

    Still, Whitney and Bobby's relationship was, almost from the start, filled with conflict of one kind or the other. Brown says he never used hard drugs before meeting Houston, and said that she had used drugs before they were involved. "I worried about it when ... we first got together until I tried it," he said. "And when I tried it, for some reason, I have an addictive personality."

    He does have some regrets, wondering to Lauer whether "I coulda done something different, you know to -- ensure that she had a longer life. But ... you have to want it, you know?"

    The 2005 single-season reality show "Being Bobby Brown," which put an uncomfortable spotlight on their relationship and showed Houston's temper flaring, he says, was a "wake-up, because we were able to see what others were saying about us .... (to) see that our drug use had affected our relationship, had affected the love we felt for each other."


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    But Houston declined to appear on a second season of the show, and the pair separated in 2006; they divorced the following year. Still, said Brown -- who told Lauer he would be getting remarried "soon" -- he still has a lot of room in his heart for his late former wife.

    "My fiancee knows how I felt about that woman," Brown said. "My kids know how I feel ... how I felt about Whitney. It's not a secret, you know? I was in love with her deeply."

    Did what Bobby Brown said change your opinion of him and his relationship with Whitney Houston? Discuss on Facebook.

    Related content:

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    • Bobby Brown avoids jail time with DUI plea deal
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  • 30
    Apr
    2012
    1:29pm, EDT

    Bobby Brown on the death of Whitney Houston: 'I'm not the reason she's gone'

    By Kurt Schlosser

    In his first interview since the death of Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown exclusively tells TODAY's Matt Lauer, "I'm not the reason she's gone."

    NBC

    In a candid sit-down set to air Wednesday, Brown, who says he’s "very much clean and sober from narcotics," talks to Lauer about the last time he saw Houston, how he found out about her death, and why he gets blamed for her drug use. He talks about his relationship with their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and addresses recent rumors and controversy surrounding her personal life. And Thursday, speaking publicly for the first time, three of Brown’s children and his fiancée tell TODAY how they feel about the media’s portrayal of Brown. 

    When asked about the last time he saw Houston, a week or so before she died, Brown says the iconic singer "had this glow about her that was just, you know, incredible. I'm saying to myself, you know, 'She must be ... she must be doing really well,' because she looked really well."

    Brown says Houston, to whom he was married for 15 years, "looked like she was in a good place."

    Video: Coroner says Houston took drugs before drowning

    Lauer asks Brown how he took the news that cocaine was a likely contributor to the death of Houston, 48, who was found in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills hotel on Feb. 11.

    "I was hurt. I was hurt ... because, you know, me being off of narcotics for the last seven years, I felt that she was, you know, I didn’t know she was struggling with it still. But at the same time, you know, listen, it's a hard fight.  It's a hard fight to, you know, maintain sobriety that way."

    Based on his own feelings and how she appeared when he last saw her, Brown theorizes that that one day of cocaine use -- not the effects of longterm use -- was enough to kill Houston. "It had to be that one, because that's all it takes," Brown said. "One hit, you know ... it could definitely take your life away from you. And, unfortunately, that was it."

    Lauer pressed the 43-year-old R&B star on the talk after Houston's death. "If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times, and I know you heard it too," Lauer said. "Fans, people who say they were close to Whitney, say her life went downhill when she met Bobby Brown. How does it make you feel when you hear it?"

    "It makes me feel terrible," Brown said. "But you know, I know differently. I think if anyone ever knew us, if anybody ever spent time around us instead of time lookin' through the bubble, they would know how we felt about each other. They would know how happy we were together."

    Video: Houston's hairstylist opens up about star's death

    Brown says the couple got a wakeup call from starring in the reality TV series "Being Bobby Brown." "We looked at the bubble and saw ourselves. We was able to see what other people were saying about us, you know? We was able to see that our drug use had affected our relationship, had affected the love that we felt for each other."

    But when asked by Lauer about the popular perception that he is the one responsible for getting Houston hooked on drugs, Brown says, "not true."

    "I didn't get high [on narcotics] before I met Whitney," Brown said. "I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn't the one that got Whitney on drugs at all." He says drugs were a part of the singer's life "way before" they got together.

    "It's just ... it's just unexplainable how one could, you know, [say that I] got her addicted to drugs. I'm not the reason she's gone," Brown said.

    NBC

    Video: Star-studded sendoff for Whitney Houston

    In the second part of Lauer's interview, which will air Thursday, the TODAY host talks with three of Brown's children -- Landon, Bobby Jr., and La’Princia -- and his fiancée, Alicia Etheridge.

    The children all say the public perception of their father is not the right one.

    "I honestly feel like my dad's a great person," daughter La'Princia said. "He's been my best friend, like, my whole life. If I ever have a problem with anything, I know I can always go to him. Likewise, if he ever needs to talk to somebody, he knows he can always call me and I'll be there for him."

    Son Landon says people confuse his father's stage persona with the real man. "I feel like my father's always had the bad boy image. So, you know, they just keep followin' that. Anything that they can take a negative from the situation, they blow it out of proportion and blame him."


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    Video: Details emerge about Houston's final days

    La'Princia says everyone makes mistakes.

    "They don't see the good part of him that we see every single day. Everyone goes through their ups and downs. You can't be judged forever about one event in your life or just the bad decisions you've made, you can't always be judged just by that."

    How do you feel about Bobby Brown's view of Whitney Houston and his take on people's perception of him? Discuss on Facebook.

    Related content:

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  • 30
    Apr
    2012
    1:12pm, EDT

    Did Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston have a brief romance?

    Reuters, AP

    By Courtney Garcia, TODAY.com contributor

    The star-crossed and much-scrutinized lives of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston may have been intertwined beyond public knowledge, as a bodyguard for Jackson is now saying the two pop enigmas had a brief romantic affair in the early '90s.

    Determined to prove he is the biological father of Jackson’s youngest child, Blanket, former bodyguard Matt Fiddes made a number of striking claims to UK’s The Sun, including the suggestion that the pop superstars had a two-week fling at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in 1991, and that Jackson never quite recovered from it.

    "They met because they were two of the biggest recording artists on the planet and mixing in the same circles. They instantly connected as kindred spirits because they understood each other’s massive fame,” Fiddes told the Sun on April 29. “Whitney practically moved into Michael’s ranch and they had a fling like any other young couple. But Michael said later he had always hoped the relationship had gone further, and I know he dreamed of marrying her."

    In March, there was speculation that Houston was romantically linked to Jackson’s older brother, Jermaine. The Sun also reported that the affair took place while Jermaine was married to Hazel Gordy, daughter of Motown founder, Berry Gordy. Jackson’s sister, La Toya confirmed the rumor on March 5 when she appeared on the "The Talk," saying, "He [Jermaine] has admitted that they had an affair."

    Fiddes further elaborated to the Sun, commenting that Michael "was furious when he heard she had also slept with Jermaine, but this didn’t stop him holding a candle for her his whole life."

    The 32-year-old British martial arts expert and fitness instructor met Jackson in 1998, and soon became his bodyguard and confidant until his passing in 2009.  Fiddes insists that Jackson asked him for a sperm donation in 2001 because he wanted to "create an athletic child," and that 10-year-old Blanket (real name Prince Michael II) was the result of his endowment. Though not seeking custody of the boy, Fiddes is aiming to bring the paternity issue to court in order to have DNA testing carried out and obtain visitation rights.

    As further testament to his close ties with the late superstar, Fiddes has made a number of other allegations about the singer, including that he was "anorexic" and "impotent" due to heavy use of drugs and alcohol. He claims Jackson’s body was riddled with needle marks, and that he was ashamed of his balding head and had a closet containing more than hundred wigs.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    Added Liddes, the last days of the pop icon were sullen. "If he couldn’t get drugs, he would drink. When he announced the 'This Is It' concerts at the O2 in London in 2009, he had downed half a bottle of whisky to cope with the pressure. He was also wearing a bullet-proof vest, petrified he would be assassinated due to the child abuse allegations that haunted him until his dying day."

    Though he asserts he spoke to Jackson just three days before his death on June 25, 2009, Liddes was banned from the Jackson family circle following the singer’s passing.

    What do you make of Fiddes claims? Share your thoughts on Facebook.

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    • Video: Houston's daughter opens up to Oprah
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  • 26
    Apr
    2012
    8:28am, EDT

    Rosie compares Lohan's plight to Whitney Houston's downward spiral

    By Randee Dawn

    Rosie O'Donnell wasn't looking to start a fight when she made comments on Tuesday about Lindsay Lohan, but that's just what she got -- with Lohan firing back that O'Donnell, who joined TODAY's Professionals as a guest on Tuesday, didn't really know her.

    Back to O'Donnell, who sat down with TODAY's Ann Curry and Matt Lauer on Thursday, just before her planned return to the Professionals panel, to better explain what she meant:

    "I (was) watching Whitney Houston's funeral, and I remember thinking why didn't more people say what they knew?" asked O'Donnell. "We all knew, when she would not show up to do this show, not show up to do my show, we watched 'Being Bobby Brown' and it was like watching Sid and Nancy, they were people who were in the throes of addiction. But all that anyone cared about was that the show was getting ratings, not that this woman, this talented individual, this human being, this mother, this daughter, was worth saving... To look at Lindsay Lohan you can't help but feel for her. I don't think she's untalented, I think she's quite talented."


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    Not that she expects this to be the end of it; O'Donnell joked at the end of her segment, "(Now) there's going to be a whole other controversy. Barbara Eden, I'm coming after you!"

    Related content:

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  • 23
    Apr
    2012
    7:44am, EDT

    Bobby Brown pleads not guilty to driving drunk

    Joe Giblin / AP

    Bobby Brown

    By Jill Serjeant, Reuters

    Whitney Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown pleaded not guilty on Monday to a charge of drunk driving and driving on a suspended license in Los Angeles last month.

    Brown, 43, a singer with the 1980s boy band New Edition, did not appear in court for Monday's hearing and his plea was entered by his lawyer. A pre-trial hearing was set for May 16.

    The singer was arrested on March 26, about six weeks after the sudden death of Houston, when police pulled him over for talking on his cellphone while driving. He then failed a sobriety test, police said.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    Brown has a string of arrests over the years for battery, drunk driving and parole violations. He was married to Houston for almost 15 years, and their relationship was marked by what the "I Will Always Love You" singer later described as heavy cocaine use and bizarre behavior.

    Houston drowned in a hotel bathtub on February 11 in an accident triggered by cocaine use and heart disease, a Los Angeles coroner's report said.

    Related content:

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  • 19
    Apr
    2012
    12:44pm, EDT

    Why dead celebs make us nostalgic

    By Rita Rubin

    Once again, a popular celebrity in the music industry has died, and once again Americans are awash in bittersweet nostalgia.

    On Wednesday, it was 82-year-old Dick Clark, who, after being in ill health for years following a stroke, succumbed to a heart attack. In February, it was Whitney Houston and Davey Jones, the cute Monkee, who both died unexpectedly.

    On the news of his passing, Twitter came alive with tributes.  “Dick Clark, you remain a part of us all,” an Atlanta man tweeted Thursday. “Thank you for the memories and the smiles.”

    It doesn’t matter that most of the masses never met him, the grief is still real, experts say.  “The weird thing with famous people is if we follow their careers, we feel some sort of connection, even though they don’t know who we are,” North Dakota State University psychologist Clay Routledge tells msnbc.com.

    Their deaths remind us of how quickly the years have passed and of our own mortality. “Dick Clark's top 40 countdown was a part of my history,” reality TV star Bethenny Frankel tweeted. “My head & heart are filled with memories. New year's will never be the same.”

    Related link: Dick Clark dead at 82

    Like Frankel, you might remember those Rockin’ New Year’s Eves fondly but feel a bit of despair at the thought of never again experiencing them with Clark at the helm, says Frederick Barrett. Barrett, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of California, Davis, specializes in music-evoked nostalgia.

    It stands to reason that people feel nostalgic when celebrities die, he says. Nostalgia not only pays homage to the late great’s memory but also helps fans cope with their feelings, Barrett says.

    “One of the big triggers of nostalgia is negative emotion: sadness, a sense of loss, uncertainty,” Routledge says. “For the diehard fans, especially in the case of Whitney, their sudden demise is disrupting to our sense of a continuous, sort of predictable world.” So, he says, “people cling to the past, where they get a sense of warmth.”

    Nostalgia bolsters one’s sense of social connectedness, says Timothy Wildschut, a University of Southampton, England, psychology professor who’s collaborated with Routledge.

    “I would imagine that the news of Dick Clark’s passing evokes powerful nostalgic memories of New Year’s celebrations spent with close others,” Wildschut said in an email, “and that these nostalgic memories imbue one’s life with meaning.”

    And nostalgia, apparently, does wonders for the bottom line. Sales of Houston’s, Michael Jackson’s and Amy Winehouse’s music soared posthumously.  “The Dark Knight,” the 2008 Batman movie that featured actor Heath Ledger, who suddenly died shortly before it opened, set a number of box office records.

    Maybe publicity about the star’s death spurred people to take another look at their work, Routledge says, but it’s probably more than that.

    “I think there’s this very existential component,” he says. People bought the music or saw the movie  to try to keep a part of the late star’s identity alive, Routledge says. “The part of them that was important, their legacy, lives on.”

    Tributes are pouring in for Dick Clark, the music legend and television icon who brought the country "American Bandstand" and rang in the New Year from Times Square for nearly 40 years. NBC's Chris Jansing reports.

    Related TODAY.com content:

    • Clark, 'Bandstand' had a pretty good beat
    • Celebrities remember Dick Clark
    • 5 great Dick Clark moments
    • Video from 2004: Clark suffers a mild stroke
    • Video from 1989: Clark retires from 'American Bandstand'
    • Video from 1982: Clark donates 'Bandstand' podium to Smithsonian

    5 comments

    Nostolgia is'nt what it used to be :)

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    Explore related topics: featured, whitney-houston, grief, dick-clark, notalgia
  • 11
    Apr
    2012
    5:44pm, EDT

    Whitney Houston 911 call: 'Irate' woman 'kept hanging up' on hotel security

    Mario Anzuoni / Reuters file

    Whitney Houston in 2007.

    By Natalie Finn, E! Online

    Whitney Houston's assistant was the one who discovered the pop icon lying face down in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11, but it's unclear whether she was the "irate" woman who called hotel security and "kept hanging up" before they could get the whole story, according to a recording of the 911 call made by a hotel staffer and released to the public today.

    "Apparently I've got a 46-year-old female found in the bathroom," the caller, who identified himself as "security from the Beverly Hilton," told the operator. "That's all I've got right now, but they're requesting paramedics."

    Then there was some confusion as to how dire the situation was.

    MORE: Whitney Houston Death--Beverly Hills Police Close Investigation, No Charges Filed

    "She fell or was in the bathroom with the water," the staffer said, identifying the room as 464 before correcting himself and providing the correct suite number, 434.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    When asked if Houston (who remained unidentified throughout the conversation--and she was 48, not 46) was conscious or breathing, the caller said, "Apparently she wasn't breathing."

    "But she's breathing now?" the operator asked, to which he said, "I don't know."

    A few seconds later, however, he added, "The person who called me was irate and I couldn't get much out of her," and replied, "Yes, that's correct," when the operator asked again if the woman was still not breathing.

    MORE: Whitney Houston Funeral: New Jersey Residents Outraged by Cost to Taxpayers

    The security team member then said that he was headed to the room. The operator offered to stay on the line to give CPR instructions and asked whether or not anyone had tried CPR, to which the caller said, "No, she kept hanging up on us."

    The operator then promised to get the paramedics to the hotel right away.

    Listen to the 911 call

    Houston, who was discovered in her room at around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 11, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:55 p.m. after resuscitation attempts failed.

    An autopsy determined the cause of death to be accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use cited as contributing factors. Investigators found a "white powdery substance" in the bathroom, according to the final coroner's report.

    GALLERY: Whitney Houston: A Life

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  • 11
    Apr
    2012
    4:20pm, EDT

    No charges filed in Whitney Houston death as police close investigation

    Rick Diamond / WireImage

    Whitney Houston in 2009.

    By Josh Grossberg, E! Online

    Whitney Houston can finally rest in peace. Beverly Hills police have closed their investigation into her death--the last piece of lingering red tape from her Feb. 11 passing.

    And despite drugs playing a key part in her death, the cops have declined to file any charges.

    MORE: Get the details on the coroner's report here

    The department cited the coroner's final determination that the music legend accidentally drowned in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with traces of cocaine in her system. Coroner officials did say that investigators found traces of a powdery substance in the room, but there was apparently no indication it belonged to anyone other than Houston.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    According to its own report, Beverly Hills police determined that Houston may have been "possibly overdosed on a narcotic substance, prescription medications, over the counter medications and alcohol."

    "Based on the findings of our investigation and our review of the Coroner's Report we have determined that this is not a criminal matter. The BHPD investigation has been officially closed," the department said in a statement, which also extended its condolences to Whitney's family, friends and fans.

    GALLERY: Whitney Houston: A Life

    Was this the right decision? Tell us on Facebook.

    Related content:

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  • 11
    Apr
    2012
    11:43am, EDT

    Kevin Costner: I tried to help Whitney Houston through letters

    By Courtney Garcia, TODAY.com contributor

    Evan Agostini / Evan Agostini / AP

    Whitney Houston in 2009.

    In an upcoming interview with Anderson Cooper, Kevin Costner tells the talk-show host he twice wrote letters to his "Bodyguard" co-star Whitney Houston to try and encourage her to conquer her addictions.

    “There are some people that really love Whitney, and a couple times during the last seven, eight years, (they) asked me, would I write her a letter?” recalls the actor, who spoke at the singer's February funeral. “She would always be close to me, she would always be somebody I appreciated.”

    “When someone says, will you write a letter to someone who you know is having trouble … I did.” he adds. “I don’t know if those letters were ever read.”

    Costner spoke to Cooper on the host's daytime talk show, “Anderson,” for an episode that will air in May. The actor is currently promoting his new mini-series, “Hatfields & McCoys,” which premieres on the History Channel on May 28.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    Cooper asked Costner about the toxicology report on Houston, which revealed chronic and long-term usage of cocaine by the singer.

    “Was she going through those struggles when she was doing 'The Bodyguard'?” Cooper asked Costner.

    “Not that I know of, no,” he replied. “I elected to let Whitney have her life after 'The Bodyguard.'”

    At Houston's funeral, Costner described the "Whitney that I knew” as someone who lacked self-confidence and always questioned her own abilities. He observed how such scrutiny both helped her to advance, and ultimately, led to her decline.

    Costner told Cooper on his show, “I know I have this level of celebrity, of fame, international, national, whatever you want to call it, but it’s a pretty surreal thing to think sometimes that you’re in the middle of another famous person’s life and you think to yourself, ‘How the hell did I get famous? What is this some weird club that we’re in?’”

    Costner also said that he had spoken to the the late Princess Diana about the possibility of her starring in a second "Bodyguard" movie. "I told her I would take of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney."

    While it may sound like a pipe dream -- the famous former royal in a Hollywood film -- Costner told Cooper the princess was serious about it. ""She wanted me to write it for her," he said. "I said 'I'll tailor it for you if you're interested.' She goes, 'I am interested.'"

    Like the first film, Costner would play a bodyguard who protects a famous woman from paparazzi and stalkers and then becomes romantically involved with her. He told Cooper he received a draft of the script for the proposed sequel on Aug. 31, 1997, the day before Diana's fatal Paris car crash.

    video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

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    18 comments

    It sure seems as if Mr. Costner is trying to inject himself into the late Ms. Houston's death story as well as HRH Princess Diana's.

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  • 9
    Apr
    2012
    7:47am, EDT

    Whitney Houston's funeral costs anger hometown residents

    Carlo Allegri / REUTERS

    New Jersey fans wave at Whitney Houston's hearse as it proceeds to the cemetery in New Jersey on Feb. 19.

    By Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter

    Whitney Houston’s funeral cost her hometown of Newark, New Jersey, $187,000 in police overtime, and some residents aren’t happy about footing the bill.

    Local authorities staffed nearly 200 police officers at the New Baptist Church, where the funeral took place, as well as at the funeral home and a private gathering for friends and family. The nearly $200,000 bill represents about 5 percent of the department's $4 million annual budget, CBS New York reports.

    PHOTOS: Iconic singer Whitney Houston's life and career in pictures

    Newark councilwoman Mildred Crump said the police protection and barricades were necessary to hold back the thousands of people who swarmed the area surrounding the funeral.

     “If they had not been there someone may have been trampled, seriously hurt,” Crump said.


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    However, some residents of Newark said the barrier between the public and the funeral was part of their frustration. Those residents are asking why taxpayers foot the bill for the police protection if they were not given access to the funeral.

    “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous when you have people who are unemployed and homeless, people walking up and down the streets,” said Quincy Ruffin, a Newark resident.

    PHOTOS: Hollywood's notable deaths of 2012

    Ruffin thought the Houston family should have paid for its own security.

    The funeral for the late singer was covered live by several cable networks, and featured tributes from Houston’s "The Bodyguard" co-star Kevin Costner, producer Clive Davis and Tyler Perry. Last week, new details emerged about the cause of Houston’s death, which was ruled an accidental drowning. Narcotics found in Houston’s system are believed to have played a role in her drowning.

    Should Newark residents have to pay for funeral-related expenses? Tell us on Facebook.

    Related content:

    • Dr. Drew still thinks foul play could be a factor in Houston's death
    • Coroner: Houston was face-down in tub
    • Whitney Houston's mom: My daughter did not die broke
    • Houston shines in exclusive clip from final film 'Sparkle'
    • Report: Cocaine found inside Houston's hotel room
    • More on Whitney Houston in TODAY entertainment
    Show more
    Explore related topics: music, whitney-houston
  • 6
    Apr
    2012
    11:09am, EDT

    Reader: Ryan Gosling's good deed doesn't make him a hero

    Katy Winn / AP file

    Ryan Gosling

    Our readers continue to contribute some funny, smart and incisive comments to our Today Entertainment Facebook page. Every Friday, we'll highlight those that really stood out. If you see a great comment throughout the week, click the “Like” button underneath it to draw it to our attention.

    On "Ryan Gosling saves writer's life"
    Teresa DeLisi Juers: "Oh for God's sake, he did a good deed. I respect him for what he did but calling him a "hero" is a bit much. I have seen him in interviews and he seems like a humble guy. I would think that this type of attention would make him uncomfortable. Let's not draw so much attention to him and just let him feel good for his actions."


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    On "Kanye West admits he fell in love with Kim Kardashian"
    Melissa D. Preece: "LOL, with her, or fell in love with her media attention?"

    On "Dr. Drew still thinks foul play could be involved in Whitney Houston's death"
    Pat Ed Melaragno: "You have to wonder. None of this story made sense to me from the very beginning. Dr. Drew is sharing his professional opinion. I thank him for that. Will we ever know what happened in that bathroom? Probably not. Rest in Peace you beautiful lady. Right now, her daughter needs our prayers."

    On "Josh Brolin's night out puts emphasis on 'bro'"
    Nick DeStefano: "Is he renting friends? They all look 10-15 years younger than him."

    Show more
    Explore related topics: featured, kim-kardashian, kanye-west, whitney-houston, ryan-gosling, josh-brolin, comment-of-the-week
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