Bobby Brown, ex-husband to Whitney Houston and former boy band star, broke down in tears Saturday night upon hearing news of the singer's death.
"I love you, Whitney," Brown said as he prepared to perform in Southaven, Miss. "The hardest thing for me to do is to come on this stage."
Brown, who had once been accused of physical abuse against the platinum-selling diva, was on a reunion tour of New Edition and began calling relatives as soon as he found out about the death, 'People' magazine said.
"He could hardly get the words out when he called me," a relative told the magazine. "He was sobbing, and by the end of the call, I was sobbing, too. He's beside himself right now."
Brown and Houston married in 1993. He was often blamed for corrupting her, turning her onto crack, pills and alcohol that eventually sidelined her career.
"He was my drug," Houston was quoted as saying. Her assertions that he never physically harmed her were undermined in 2003 when he was arrested in Georgia for threatening to "beat her a*s". The couple separated in 2006 among rumors that Brown was unfaithful, and in 2008 they were divorced.
Source: nydailynews.com
