Things That Don't Make Sense About Whitney Houston's Death

Whitney Houston was one of the most adored singers of her era. Her remarkable body of work set the high watermark for generations of female vocalists who have risen to prominence since. In 1992, her fame became stratospheric when she released the song "I Will Always Love You." It's the feature song in the Houston-starring movie "The Bodyguard," which came out the same year. The tune became one of the biggest selling singles in music history, while "The Bodyguard" was an enormous box office success.

But despite her achievements, Houston's time in the public eye was also dominated by her substance use issues, and she became tabloid fodder as they came to overshadow her achievements. Though she made attempts at sobriety, her life ended tragically. On February 11, 2012, on the eve of the Grammy Awards and what was billed as a major comeback moment for the star, Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hilton hotel room. She was 48. The autopsy revealed that she had several drugs in her system — cocaine, as well as several prescribed drugs including Xanax — that contributed to her death by drowning in her hotel bathtub.

Houston's death became a front page news story. Gossip outlet TMZ published leaked photos of the room in which she lost her life, showing a chaotic scene with evidence of alcohol use. But though her death was later deemed an accident, fans have continued to ask questions about the strange circumstances surrounding it.

Whitney Houston dealt with an often painful personal life when she was offstage. Reports have emerged that Houston's father, John, who became her manager, stole money from the superstar singer, and that her husband, Bobby Brown, was abusive toward her. It has also been alleged that members of her family assisted in supplying her with drugs throughout her career, exacerbating her addiction.

However, apart from Houston's beloved daughter, Bobbi Brown, there was another person in her life who remained a bastion of strength for her: Her mother, Cissy. A talented soul and gospel singer, Cissy maintained a close relationship with her daughter until the end. In fact, Cissy was the last person Houston spoke to on the phone before taking the bath that killed her. 

One strange detail about Houston's last moments apparently came from Cissy, who reportedly spoke with her daughter just 30 minutes before her death. Surprisingly, Cissy has allegedly claimed that Houston sounded normal. A source close to the family told The Daily Telegraph: "There was nothing that indicated Whitney was high or doing anything wrong. Just normal mother-daughter, casual chit-chat stuff."

Despite Cissy Houston's alleged belief that her daughter seemed sober just 30 minutes before her death, other reports have suggested that her final days were troubled. Clive Davis, the music mogul who helped bring Whitney Houston to stardom, was scheduled to throw a pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton where she was staying — the evening of the day she died. She was reportedly scheduled to perform and had been rehearsing for the event. According to The Daily Telegraph, a witness said she smelled strongly of alcohol and tobacco during practice and appeared "dishevelled."

When the shocking news of Houston's death filtered through to party organizers, the natural thing to do would be to cancel the event. But Davis made the stunning decision to push on with the event, reframing it as a memorial to Houston. Meanwhile, the body was still in the hotel room, and police only removed it after midnight, Inside Edition reported. In a statement on the night, Davis claimed that Houston had not been scheduled to perform after all, which contrasts with other reports, including the Daily Telegraph's.

Shortly after news of Whitney Houston's tragic death broke, TMZ published an audio clip allegedly of the 911 call that took place between an operator and a Beverly Hilton security guard, who said that a guest had been found in their bathroom and they were not breathing. The hotel employee explained that he had received a call from someone connected to the woman requesting paramedics. The caller was allegedly "irate" and kept hanging up the phone when security attempted to call again.

It was later found that the woman in question was Houston's assistant, who had been out shopping before discovering the singer lifeless in the bathtub at 5:36 p.m. Seven minutes passed before the security guard made the call to 911. It later emerged that before the assistant dialed security, she first called Houston's bodyguard.

It is difficult to dissect the motivations of people in the moments after suffering a horrifying shock, just as the assistant had in discovering her employer's body. Nevertheless, that she failed to call 911 herself has certainly raised eyebrows among Houston's fans, as has the fact that she repeatedly hung up the phone. Some have speculated that the assistant may have been trying to cover something up — possibly the presence of more drugs than were found at the scene.

Major celebrity deaths — particularly those as shocking as Whitney Houston's — sometimes have a tendency to metastasize into material for conspiracy theories. Houston's death was no exception. In the weeks and months following her passing, fans rifled through the details of the scene, such as her last meal, as well as a great deal of biographical information to speculate who might be responsible for what many refused to believe was a tragic accident.

Houston's assistant, Mary Jones, has been vocal in her belief that someone was at the scene before the alarm was raised, noting that the floor was covered in water when the singer's body was discovered. "Somebody was in the room with her, had given her these drugs, and had found her drowned in the bath, switched off the taps and left the room," she said in the documentary "Whitney," per the Daily Mail. In 2022, Houston's bodyguard Ray Watson spoke to the Mirror and recalled his desperate efforts to revive the singer, which involved him removing her from the bathtub — perhaps this is where the water on the floor came from.

Nevertheless, theories concerning potential foul play abound. Even Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, aired his own beliefs about the identity of a potential murderer. Such speculation became so widespread that it formed the basis of a podcast, "Why Killed Whitney?" which was published over 11 episodes in 2021 and 2022.

Sadly, Whitney Houston's death wouldn't be the last tragedy the family had to face in the 2010s. Three years after the "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" star was found dead, her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown lost her life in eerily similar circumstances.

Bobbi had a close but tumultuous relationship with her famous mother, and she reportedly had to be hospitalized after breaking down at the hotel when police refused to let her see Houston's body. She was treated for stress and anxiety, but her mother's death continued to affect her. Tragically, she was found, like her mother, unconscious in the bathtub just three years after Houston's death, and died six months later. She was 22.

How Bobbi found herself following in Houston's tragic footsteps so quickly after her mother died has become a point of contention in the media. Many believe that the young woman required a greater amount of support and guidance as she dealt with her grief than she received from her family and guardians. Ray Watson, who was close to both women, has admitted he feels profoundly guilty over Bobbi Kristina Brown's death.