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Whitney Houston has only been in the ground a few hours, and the rumor mill is already grinding up daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown and spitting her out. They're saying the teenager disappeared after her mom's star-studded funeral in Newark yesterday. When she was found, Bobbi Kristina was allegedly abusing drugs. Attention media: this should be just the warning you need to back up ... now.
This poor kid -- and I do mean kid -- has been through more in the past week than most teenagers deal with in a lifetime. First her mother dies, then she lands in the hospital herself, and then the entire thing becomes a media circus. Hiding out with an illegal substance was pretty much bound to happen.
Perhaps I'm too forgiving, but it's from a mother's perspective that I approached the entire tragic story of Whitney's demise. Bobbi Kristina is an 18-year-old kid who has had to bury her mom. There is no rule book that explains how to make sense of that.
It would be tough on any kid. But this kid also has to deal with her mother's reputation being ripped to shreds by everyone and their brother. She's had to share her mom with thousands of people who watched the funeral in an online and all-day event on CNN.
And now people are tracking her every move. At 18. A week after her mother died. True or not -- and I'm hoping it's not -- if Bobbi Kristina was hiding out from the world doing a little self-medicating to dull the pain, it's hardly surprising. I've never touched an illegal drug in my life, but in those shoes, I know I'd be mighty tempted!
Bobbi Kristina, on the other hand, has a history of going to rehab. She may well have inherited the addictive personality that made Whitney's life so rough. And if people don't leave her alone, don't take the pressure off, this poor kid could easily go down the wrong road.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We can step back. We can give her back a little privacy. Whitney chose the spotlight, but she didn't. She deserves a chance to just be a kid grieving her mom. And when the dust settles, hopefully Bobbi Kristina will be able to take the advice of her mom's dear friend, Kevin Costner, from his touching eulogy:
To you, Bobbi Kristina, and to all those young girls who are dreaming that dream, thinking that maybe they aren’t good enough, I think Whitney would tell you, guard your bodies. And guard the precious miracle of your own life. Then sing your hearts out.
If everyone would just step back and give Bobbi Kristina the time to re-group, maybe she'd have a chance to take his words to heart, don't you think?
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