Whitney Houston will always be remembered for her unmatched voice, but there is something special to be said for her biting wit.
In what I believe to be one of the greatest (and most entertaining) interviews in industry history, Houston once told Wendy Williams, “If this were back in the day in Newark, I’d meet you outside.” Turns out, Houston almost did cash in on those words she said back in 2003.
In an exclusive clip from Tuesday’s airing of The Wendy Williams Show obtained by People, Robyn Crawford gave the scoop on a private conversation that occurred between her and Houston following that contentious interview.
Crawford recalled that she was informed by her former assistant that Houston was going to appear on Williams’ radio show and when she listened to the footage, she described Houston as being “fed up.” She could hear it in her voice.
People broke it down:
After Williams asks if Houston was “fed up with me or fed up with the world?” Crawford told her, “You had been talking about Whitney and myself for so long,” referring to rumors that she and Houston had been in a romantic relationship.
“But it all came true. A lot of what I said is in this book. A lot of things I said were in this book,” Williams says, noting Crawford’s new memoir in which she finally details their love story.
Crawford further recalls the day she and Houston heard the interview, revealing to Williams that the pair wanted to confront her in person.
“Everyone lived by the radio back then. We’re in the car, you’re talking like you lived with us, like you’re roommates with us. We’re in the car, sitting still and Whitney would say, ‘Who the… who is she? Who is this woman? I don’t even know what she looks like,’ ” she remembers.
“We were gonna…We didn’t know what you looked like and our plan was to go down to Hudson Street…and wait for you right outside,” Crawford tells Williams, who appears shocked. “We weren’t gonna fight, we just wanted to see you face-to-face and have a chat.”
As for Williams, she doesn’t have any regrets about that interview.
“Rest in peace, Whitney. I wasn’t tough on her. Whitney stayed on the phone and she was the one drumming up all of the drama. I was sitting calmly. No!” she told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in September.
Robyn Crawford has been making the rounds promoting her memoir, A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston, which is available now. Crawford appeared on Essence’s Yes, Girl! podcast, where she spoke about Houston’s then-husband Bobby Brown.
“Bobby never approached me personally and said anything to me about the rumors of our relationship,” Crawford said. “Not once. But I watched him make a mess of her trail. Bobby was funny. He had a way of shifting the attention to him anywhere, any place, at any time. That was Bobby’s talent…But I wasn’t competing for anything. I had her friendship. I was her friend. And he could have been a better friend too…”
Overall, the most common question for Crawford (whether directly or indirectly) has been—why now? Why reveal so much about Houston after her death?
“I felt like all that she had left us—all the accolades, all the awards were like she was covered with all the tragedy, her legacy was just covered,” Crawford told Craig Melvin on Today. “And I just wanted to reach, and pick her up, take everyone into the Whitney that I know that shows this career, who was ready for this career, who elevated to heights that one could only dream up. I wanted to lift her legacy, where she could hold it.”