“There Was No Shame.” Robyn Crawford opens up about her relationship with Whitney Houston

Robyn Crawford, longtime friend, confidant and lover of the late Whitney Houston, is promoting her new memoir, A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston, and opening up about her relationship with the singer.

She stopped by Jada Pinkett Smith‘s talk show, Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch, to speak more clarifications to the relationship that has long generated speculation and rumor.

“I felt it was necessary to talk about the Whitney that I know who was thoughtful with her generosity,” Crawford told Pinkett Smith. “It’s my duty to do that.”

Crawford and Houston originally met as teenagers, while serving as counselors at the same summer camp. According to Crawford, the two immediately fell in love, much to the shock of both. That relationship became intimate “on all levels.”

“There was no shame,” Crawford says.

Their physical relationship lasted two years before Whitney broke things off. She gifted Robyn a Bible, telling her that if they maintained their physical intimacy, they could go to Hell. Whitney also worried that if people knew of their love, it could hurt her career.

Crawford thinks that Whitney’s mom, Cissy Houston, was the cause of the break-up. Cissy called the relationship between Robyn and Whitney unnatural.

“Mrs. Houston knows I loved Whitney and Whitney loved me,” Crawford opines. “But I always sensed a bitterness in her mom. Her daughter was so awesome. There was so much to be joyful about. If anything, Whitney would listen to me. That would bother Mrs. Houston.”

Even after the break-up, Robyn and Whitney maintained an emotional relationship with one another, sending each other love letters for years. That love persisted even after Whitney married singer Bobby Brown. Robyn and Bobby immediately ran afoul with one another, at times even getting into physical fights. Crawford also claims Brown physically abused Houston.

Crawford goes on to discuss the explosive marriage between Bobby and Whitney, Houston’s issues with addiction and Crawford’s own ultimate choice to disconnect from Whitney. She also recalls learning of the singer’s death, as well as that of her daughter with Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina. It is a powerful, raw conversation and a moving memorial to a fallen icon.

It streams exclusively on Facebook Watch.