Whitney Houston’s lesbian love affair & emotional split detailed in pop star’s new biography
The book ‘Holding Lightning’ affirms Houston’s deep & meaningful early relationship with Robyn Crawford & delves into what drove them apart.
Mark
With the recent loss of our dear Saint Dolly Parton, we’ve been thinking a lot about the late music icons we’ll always love, especially Whitney Houston who famously covered the country queen’s “I Will Always Love You,” turning it into one of the most successful songs of all time.
Like Parton, Houston was an unequivocal ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Not only did she give us some timeless dance-floor anthems, but she frequently spoke up and advocated for us long before many other major celebrities would.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Whether or not she could actually be considered “one of us” is less certain. There had long been rumors around Houston’s sexuality, and while she went on record to publicly deny them (even while, once again, affirming her allyship), questions lingered well after the icon’s untimely passing in 2012.
In 2019, Houston’s longtime friend and former creative director Robyn Crawford shocked the world when her memoir A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston revealed the pair did, indeed, have a romantic relationship in their younger years. And though it would fade as the singer focused on her skyrocketing career, Crawford remained a close part of her inner circle for many years, later parting ways amid Houston’s relationship with Bobby Brown and struggles with substance abuse.
Now, a new book not only confirms Crawford’s account of their relationship, but provides further details about the strength of their early connection—and what eventually tore them apart.
Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves And Art Of Whitney Houston from journalist Emily Lordi is said to be “the first major biography” about Houston, written after four years of research spent speaking with the late artist’s close friends, bandmates, neighbors and others who knew her personally.
Per The Telegraph, Lordi’s writing underscores how Crawford may have been the great love of Houston’s life. She details how they first met as schoolgirls when they were counselors at a summer camp together. The pair got very close, very fast and, apparently, before their first time getting intimate with one another—at Houston’s cousin’s apartment—the singer smoked weed, read from the Bible, and went on about “how cool Jesus was.” Hey, whatever gets you in the mood!
But It wouldn’t be long before Houston would sign her first record deal with Arista in 1983 at just 19 years old, and in the lead-up, she had reportedly told Crawford they couldn’t continue sleeping together. Around that point, they’d also agreed to quit smoking weed and using other substances, lest it get in the way of her career.
The biography’s account more or less aligns with how they were depicting in the 2022 biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. In the Kasi Lemmons-directed film, we see how a young Houston’s father John—her self-appointed manager at the time—specifically demanded she distance herself from Crawford, warning that she wouldn’t go far in the industry as a Black, lesbian singer.
Yet Houston was adamant that Crawford stay in her life as part of her creative team. While she put an end to their physical relationship, the artist reportedly presented her friend with a Bible where they “wrote promises to love each other unconditionally” on the back pages.
For years after that, Crawford was frequently seen in studio and on tour all over the world with Houston, helping with various production duties and making sure all in their orbit—from musicians to hair & makeup artists—were welcomed into the family.
However, things took a turn after Crawford began dating a backup dancer from one of the tour. Of course, Houston was already married to Bobby Brown and had other relationships before that, yet she was reportedly furious when she found out. So furious, in fact, that she fired the dancer and allegedly tore up the Bible pages with the vows they had written each other.
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Whether related or not, Lordi’s book also recalls the horrifying instance in 1995 when a man named Kevin Ammons told the National Enquirer that Houston’s father offered him $6,000 to break Crawford’s kneecaps “just to get rid of her.” The author notes that Houston angrily confronted her father about the claim, though he vehemently denied it. And thankfully no one ever took him up on the alleged offer.
Regardless, the frustrations that arose from Crawford’s new relationship seem to have been the beginning of the end of their friendship. This particular breaking point isn’t referenced in I Wanna Dance With Somebody, though the biopic does show them finally parting after an exhausted Houston—clearly in the throes of addiction—ignores her friend’s pleas to end her 1999 world and come home.
Even though Houston would continue working and fighting her demons in the years to come, there was plenty of heartbreak ahead, and on February 11, 2012, she was found unconscious in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton.
It’s not hard to imagine that, had times been different—had Houston been ably to freely love Crawford, and keep her by her side—the tragic ending could’ve been avoided. And it hurts to think what our world could be like if we still had her happy, healthy and with with us here today, using that voice of her to continue championing and inspiring our community.
While reading Emily Lordi’s Holding Lightning means reliving much of the pain & trauma, it’s also a reminder of what a generational talent she was, what a light she was in our lives, and how lucky we all were to share time with her. We’ll always love you, Whitney Houston!
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