While admitting that she did drugs, the late Whitney Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown explained that "The drugs wasn't her" during an interview with Robert Roberts to be aired on ABC.

In his new memoir, Every Little Step, 47-year-old singer shared his doomed love story with Houston and how drugs led them towards a downward spiral.

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Brown narrates that he first saw Whitney using cocaine when she was just about to stride the aisle on their 1992 wedding day. "She did drugs but the drugs didn't do her. She knew how to handle herself," he said on the clip.  

A friend, meanwhile, told People that Houston lived a life trying to defy "expectations in terms of who she was and who people thought she was."

"I think not being able to be herself 100 percent was a hell of a burden for her to have to carry," the friend said. " Someone may look good on the outside, sturdy and strong . . . [but] on the inside, you have someone who had insecurities and family issues and emotional personal issues and struggles."

Houston's transformation into a pop superstar started after Arista President Clive Davis signed her to his label in 1985. Clive "allowed all of her wildest dreams to come true."  

"She had to act a certain way in front of the cameras for the label. That wasn't the real Whitney," a music source said.

Whitney fell for Brown (they got married in 1992 and divorced after a long, straining marriage in 2007) and started using drugs.

"There has to be some outlet. For her, it became drugs," said a record executive who worked with Houston for years. Whitney "did drugs to escape her pain," he continued.  

Initially, she is said to have started using drugs discreetly but got out of control as she was surrounded by enablers. She was reportedly quick to fire a staff "if she felt you were not being cooperative on some level," a family friend said.

"She was in pain from all the pressure she was facing and the pain from living almost a double life," the record executive said. "She was doing ridiculous amounts of hard drugs and sacrificed her God-given talents for that."

TagsWhitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Clive Davis