Bobby Brown, 52, and his wife Alicia Etheredge, 47, have recently opened up about Brown’s drug addictions, controversies, and the tragic death of his son Bobby Brown Jr., who died in November 2020.
Bobby also revealed who is responsible for the deaths of ex-wife Whitney Houston and his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown.
On Wednesday’s episode of Red Table Talk, the Grammy award winner opened up to host Jada Pinkett Smith, 49, about his past struggles with alcoholism and the loss of two of his children as well as his ex-wife to drugs.
He said, “It’s my duty to remind people that it can kill you.”
On November 18, 2020, his son Brown Jr., 27, whom he shared with Kim Ward, died of an accidental overdose of cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol, according to PEOPLE. He was found dead at his home in Los Angeles.
His daughter Bobbi Kristina, who was 22 when she died on July 26, 2015, six months after she was found unresponsive in her Georgia townhouse. She also died due to drug-related lobar pneumonia after being in a coma for six months.
Ward said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that Brown Jr. “was not into drugs, but was often easily influenced.”
Brown said of his battle with alcohol, “I got to a point where I needed it. I wasn’t getting drunk anymore. I wasn’t getting a little tipsy anymore. I needed it to wake up. I needed it to stop the shakes and to function on a day-to-day basis. I caught myself in time. I look at it as I can’t get no worse than I was because I know my bottom.”
He revealed that he has been off narcotics for 19 years and sober from alcohol for nearly one year.
Talking about his children’s death, Brown said, “Losing [my son] was very, very unexpected, just like losing my daughter. We were just in the studio two nights before. It was something that hit me really, really hard.”
“He was a musician, played piano, played drums, he was a great writer,” he added. “He was a teacher and learner. He learned from everybody that he was around and he taught just as much as he learned.”
Brown continued, “He was someone that I just admired him as a young man and how he grew up. He just wanted to be a part of something that was going to be special. His smile, when he smiled, he just brightened up a room.”
The rapper also clarified that Brown Jr. “wasn’t a [drug] user. He would experiment with different things. It wasn’t like he was dependent on drugs like when I was in my situation. I depended, I needed it. He was a young man that tried the wrong stuff and it took him out of here.”
Brown continued, “My babies are gone. I’ve been through my time and my time played a part in my son feeling he can test something. I feel guilty about that.” To know more about what Brown said about his children and ex-wife’s death, visit PEOPLE.
