Bobby Brown Insists 'I'm Not The Reason Whitney's Gone'

Bobby Brown has urged the public not to blame him for Whitney Houston's death. In an interview to be aired later this week on NBC's Today show, Bobby has insisted "I'm not the reason she's gone." Reuters reports today (May 1, 2012) that Brown claims to have been clean of drugs for seven years now and "was hurt to hear that Houston had been using cocaine." He told the show's host Matt Lauer "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."

Prior to her death earlier this year, Whitney Houston had endured a well-documented struggle with drug addiction. Bobby Brown has often been blamed for introducing Whitney to drugs, though he insists that this is not the case. In the interview, he claims that when they met in 1991 "I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn't the one that got Whitney on drugs at all." When asked if drugs were a part of Whitney's life prior to meeting him, he answered "Way, way before. Yeah ... 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."

Whitney Houston passed away on February 11, 2012. She was found face down in a bathtub in her Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room. The cause of death was recently confirmed as accidental drowning, caused by the combined effects of cocaine use and heart disease. Brown's Today show interview will be aired on Wednesday and Thursday this week.