Whitney Houston Addicted to Crack Cocaine

Whitney Houston's sister-in-law, Tina Brown, has alleged that Houston is addicted to crack cocaine and is living in squalor. Brown claims that she knows this because she has used crack cocaine with Whitney.

The British tabloid The Sun has reportedly received photographs of Whitney Houston, depicting drug paraphernalia including a crack pipe, rolling papers and cocaine-covered spoons in the singer's bathroom.

Tina Brown, sister to Whitney Houston's husband Bobby Brown, was quoted by The Sun as saying "The truth needs to come out. Whitney won't stay off the drugs. It's every single day. It's so ugly. Everyone is so scared she is going to overdose."

The addiction is reported to have become so bad, Houston will hallucinate. Sky Showbiz reports that "Tina claims drugs have made Whitney so paranoid that she sees demons everywhere and once made a hole in the bathroom wall as a spy hole." Elaboration came from a quote on The Sun from Tina, which says "She'll point to the floor and say, 'See that demon. I'm telling you somebody's messing with Bobby'. She always thinks it's something to do with Bobby. But it's her, hitting herself."

The reports also claim that Whitney Houston is completely ignoring her own personal hygiene, is using copious amounts of crack cocaine at a time, and is using sex toys to pleasure herself. Houston is reported to have used an entire 8-ball (1/8 of an ounce) of crack at once, by emptying out a cigar, and filling it with the crack rock and marijuana. Habitual users will regularly break an 8-ball into several smaller pieces, using smaller doses at a time.

Reports also claim that Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy, had forced her to go to rehab clinics in March of 2004. It's reported that Whitney used crack in the car en route to the rehab session. Once at the clinic, she would do her best to dodge drug tests. The New York Daily News says she would tell workers at the clinic, "I'm not giving you no pee today. I don't have none right now."

The New York Daily News also reports " Whitney allegedly loses her $6,000 set of false teeth when she's high and once appeared toothless, scaring the kids at her niece's school.". As well, " In 2004, a drug dealer called Bobby Brown and ordered him to remove the paranoid and out-of-control Whitney from his crack house. "Come get your wife. I'm sick of this b----," the dealer reportedly complained"

Other instances of how her addiction is ruining her life include The Sun's report of how "Whitney was also rushed to hospital in 2003 with blood gushing from her nose - and emerged with a bizarre bandage on it. A source said: 'Everyone wondered what happened to Whitney's nose.'".

All of this is a drastic departure from the Whitney Houston the world has seen in the past. Houston started singing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. She cut her first record deal with Arista in 1983. Her first album was released February 14th, 1985 and was self-titled. Songs like "You Give Good Love" and "Greatest Love of All" gave the album the strength to sell 24 million copies worldwide. Her follow-up album, entitled Whitney, launched on June 29th, 1987. #1 hits like "I Want to Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have it All" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" help the album to sell 19 million copies. I'm Your Baby Tonight, her 1990 album, did fewer sales, only selling 12 million copies worldwide, but her next album would be spectacular.

Whitney Houston would take the lead role in the movie The Bodyguard along with Kevin Costner. The commercial success of the movie wouldn't compare to the soundtrack, which exclusively featured Whitney. Songs like "I'm Every Woman" and "I Have Nothing" would do alright, but, based on the massively popular "I Will Always Love You", the album would sell an unprecedented 37 million albums worldwide. Houston would do two more soundtracks, for the movies Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher's Wife, combining for 17 million albums sold worldwide. My Love Is Your Love would manufacture 13 million more album sales. Her subsequent albums would not enjoy the same success as her earlier ones would.

It is rumored that the money she made from selling 100 million plus albums has most been squandered to her drug habit. Having apparently forgotten about her Diane Sawyer interview on ABC, where she stated "Crack is Whack!", concern for her well-being is the motivating factor behind the publicizing of her addiction. Tina Brown said, "I understand what she is going through. Addiction is a disease. Maybe this interview will help save her life."

[Additional Sources: The Sun, Sky Showbiz, New York Daily News]