Whitney Houston’s Female Best Friend Speaks About Their Secret Romance

Rumors have swirled for years that Grammy-winning singer Whitney Houston was in a romantic relationship with her best friend.

Now Houston’s best friend of 30 years, Robyn Crawford, has finally revealed all about their relationship. Crawford claims she ended their early romantic relationship to protect the singer’s budding career.

The 58-year-old broke her silence about their brief secret romance for the first time this week. It comes seven years after Houston’s tragic death at 48. 

In an exclusive interview on The TODAY Show, Crawford described her “physical relationship” with Craig Melvin.

She says it began when they met as teenagers at a summer camp in 1980. 

“Our friendship was a deep friendship. In the early part of that friendship, it was physical,” Crawford told TODAY’s Craig Melvin.  

She said no one knew about the physical aspect of their relationship, because “it was ours.”

But Houston’s career soon began to skyrocket. Crawford claims the “Saving All My Love” singer soon ended their romance. 

Crawford recounted how Whitney came to her one day in 1982 after she signed a record deal with Clive Davis.

Houston allegedly told Crawford: “I don’t think we should be physical anymore.”

‘The music business was a world we were learning,’ Crawford said. “We didn’t want anything to interfere with where she was going.”

Asked whether she was angry about Houston’s decision, Crawford said no. 

“I just felt that I wouldn’t be losing much. I still loved her the same and she loved me,” she said, adding: “We were intimate on many levels.”

Crawford explained that she’s opening up about the romance nearly four decades to show the world a complete picture of the superstar.

“I watched [Houston] rise to the top of her game and I felt compelled to share who that woman was behind all the fame,” she said. 

“I never envisioned speaking publicly about my life and then I asked myself the question: ‘What would Whitney want? Would she understand you know, the time is now?'”

Melvin asked whether Crawford is worried that people will speculate that she made the story up.

But Crawford was nonchalant about the accusations. “Some people may feel that way. Hopefully they won’t.”

The interview came ahead of Crawford’s hour-long NBC Dateline special, A Song for Whitney airing Saturday night. 

Crawford has also recounted the more than three decades she spent by Houston’s side in her forthcoming memoir A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston.