Bobby Brown Sues Showtime & BBC Over Whitney Houston Doc, Per ‘Deadline’
According to Deadline, Bobby Brown has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against Showtime and BBC. The former R&B singer and reality star brought suit against the media powerhouses for using footage of himself, and late daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, without his consent.
“The film contains footage that Brown and [his late daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown] has never consented to have released. Brown and [his late daughter] appear in the film for a substantial period of time, in excess of thirty (30) minutes… Brown never signed or executed a release for the airing of the material that appears in the film,” the suit, filed in the Southern District of New York alleges, per Deadline. The document, filed yesterday, further alleges that the film used footage of Brown’s other children, and lists the estate of Bobbi Kristina Brown as a plaintiff.
The 2017 British-American documentary, as directed by Nick Broomfield, follows the aftermath of Houston’s untimely 2012 death. The film focuses on her rise to stardom, and decline of as much — due to heavy drug use by the singer. The film appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival in April of 2017, and was also shown on Showtime in North America, and on the BBC in the United Kingdom.
Whitney: Why Can’t I Be Me showed footage from Houston’s 1999 world tour, as well as interviews with friends and family members about the star’s personal life. One of the more shocking revelations in the documentary was issued as friends of Houston confessed, in the documentary, that the “I Will Always Love You” singer was bisexual — and that she had held an extended physical relationship with her close friend, Robyn Crawford.
“Robyn provided a safe place for her. Robyn loved her… In that, Whitney found safety and solace,” Houston’s stylist, Ellin Lavar, said in the film, per People.
Brown and Crawford clashed, as the footage portrays, and it caused major friction between the two — leaving Houston in the middle. Houston’s former bodyguard, Kevin Ammons, confessed in the film that the two were like “fire and ice.”
“They’d battle for her affections. Bobby and Robyn had some physical altercations and there were times he wasn’t always the winner,” People quoted Ammons as saying.
The documentary also focused heavily on Houston’s drug use, and how she tried multiple times to get sober for her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who would succumb to addiction herself only three years after her mother’s death.
“She wanted to be normal. She really didn’t care about fancy clothes and fancy cars. She would say to me, ‘I want to get off drugs so I can be a mother to my daughter,'” Houston’s former drug counselor, Carrie Starks, told the filmmakers, as People reported.
