The Road Ahead for Bobbi Kristina
Despite her rich musical lineage, the path ahead for Bobbi Kristina Brown won't be easy.
For better or worse, the 18-year-old with musical aspirations of her own will undoubtedly be compared to her mother, the incomparable Whitney Houston.
"There is no way people are not going to compare her to her mother -- not to Rihanna, to her mother -- and if she doesn't sound on par with her mother or better, people are going to say horrible things," Billy Johnson Jr., a senior editor at Yahoo! Music, told ABCNews.com. "The public scrutiny is so great."
The only child of Houston and singer Bobby Brown had been in Los Angeles with her mother to attend pre-Grammy festivities and was staying at the Beverly Hilton Hotel when Houston was found dead Saturday night in the bathtub of her hotel room.
Whitney Houston's brother-in law, Billy Watson, told ABCNews.com that Bobbi Kristina was "doing OK" after she "broke down" over the weekend and had to be taken to the hospital twice for stress and anxiety.
Bobbi Kristina, along with much of her mother's family and entourage, returned to New Jersey Monday night in advance of Houston's funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday. Her father canceled his tour to be with his daughter and reportedly traveled to New Jersey as well.
"She ... is presently with my family, including her siblings," Bobby Brown told Access Hollywood, referring to his five other children from other relationships.
On the family's reality-TV show, "Being Bobby Brown," it was Brown who often acted more like the parent in the often-erratic relationship between her mother and father. Sources close to the family say that Houston's well-known battles with addiction were also a heavy burden for her daughter to bear.
"It's very common, when a parent has an addiction, for the child to be parentalized," Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of HLN's "Dr. Drew," told ABC News. "It's almost a survival mode to try and control and maintain that addictive parent safely, the child takes on the role of parent or parents."
When stories surfaced last year that Bobbi Kristina Brown might have started using drugs herself, it was her father who came to her defense with a strong denial, telling media outlets, "She doesn't do that."
Drew says Brown should be careful about how she handles the inevitable fallout from her mother's death.
"When people are stressed, when they turn to substances, is when they can turn the switch on for addiction," he said. "That is my greatest fear for Bobbi Kristina."
Mother and daughter had begun working together on songs in the recording studio, according to Us Weekly.
With Houston's death Saturday, the world is eager to see -- and hear -- more from Bobbi-Kris, as she is known to her family.
"She idolized Whitney," a source told US Weekly, and "wanted to be just like her mother."
Brown comes from a musical family. Her father is a former member of New Edition, her grandmother is gospel legend Cissy Houston and her cousin is 1960s pop icon Dionne Warwick.
"People want to know if she has the gift," Yahoo! Music's Johnson said.
Brown posted a video in September of her singing a capella Adele's "Someone Like You" on her Twitter page.
Johnson thought the aspiring singer had shown some improvement since the last time he heard her, performing alongside her mother on "Good Morning America" in 2009.
But Us Weekly's senior editor Ian Drew wasn't sure Brown had grown enough.
"She's not her mother, but she's not the worst singer either," he told ABCNews.com. "With the right songs and auto tuning anyone can be big.
"I would encourage her to take her time," Johnson said. "People said the same thing about Michael Jackson's children. She needs to sort out things in life a little bit more before rushing into this adult world.
"I think she's already dealing with a lot," he said, "and I hate to see her end up in a similar type of situation as her mother."
WHITNEY FORCES COKE-Y DAUGHTER BOBBI TO REHAB
A heartbroken WHITNEY HOUSTON will put her daughter BOBBI KRISTINA into rehab after The ENQUIRER published world exclusive photos in our print edition of the troubled teen snorting cocaine.
Crushed by our report that her daughter - known to friends as "Krissi" - is hopelessly addicted to cocaine and alcohol, Whitney begged her: "Don't let drugs ruin your life the way they ruined mine," sources say.
The Grammy-winning diva and her ex-husband, Krissi's father Bobby Brown, are blaming each other for their only child's problems, according to insiders.
"Whitney was devastated over the photos showing Krissi using cocaine, and The ENQUIRER story that quoted her telling friends, 'I'm just like my mother,'" a friend divulged.
"She called a family meeting and sobbed as she told Krissi, 'I don't want to lose you.'"
The singer, 47, also canceled plans to celebrate Krissi's 18th birthday on March 4 in Atlantis, the luxury resort in the Bahamas, the source revealed.
"Whitney called Bobby, and they agreed that Krissi needs rehab," the friend said. "They also agreed on a tough-love move to shake Krissi up, and Whitney returned a Lexus convertible that she'd bought for Krissi's birthday."
Despite her parents' decision, Krissi is fighting the idea of rehab, said the source.
"Krissi is denying that she has a problem. She says that she does cocaine for fun and isn't addicted," said the source.
Meanwhile, Whitney and Bobby - who have both battled serious drug habits - are blaming each other for Krissi's problems, sources say.
"Bobby reminded Whitney that she used to have drugs all over their house," a friend divulged.
"He also accused her of being 'coked up' in public, looking like a mess and setting a bad example all along to their daughter," the friend said.
But "The Bodyguard" star was quick to snap back at her bad boy ex, said the source.
"Whitney told Bobby that he did drugs too and got into more legal trouble than she ever did," the friend said.
Bobby, 42, has been arrested for DUI, possession of marijuana, driving without a license, probation violations and misdemeanor battery for slapping Whitney.
The former "New Edition" singer, who has five children with four different women, has also been dragged into court numerous times for failure to pay child support.
"Bobby and Whitney are pointing fingers at each other, but the truth is that they're both responsible. Krissi has been around while her parents and their friends were drinking and drugging ever since she was a little girl," said another pal.
Krissi was only 12 when she was photographed drinking from a wine glass as her parents looked on.
In 2008 she was admitted to a psychiatric ward after attempting to slash her wrists with a razor blade. As The ENQUIRER reported, Krissi's suicide bid came after she tried to stab her mother during a heated argument.
And she was just 17 when a former boyfriend - who dated her for 2 1/2 years - snapped the coke-snorting photos that appeared in The ENQUIRER. He also claimed that he saw Krissi smoke pot and guzzle beer and the potent grain alcohol Everclear.
After The ENQUIRER's explosive story hit newsstands, Krissi took to her Twitter account to blast her ex-boyfriend. But she admitted that it was her in the photos, and said her mother "comforted me to the max."
Now with Bobby's blessing, Whitney is planning to send Krissi to an outpatient rehab program, said the source.
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Sources: ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Daily Mail, National Enquirer, TMZ, Youtube, Google Maps
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