BOBBY BROWN TELLS WHY HE LEFT WHITNEY HOUSTONS FUNERAL

R&B singer Bobby Brown has come forward to clear the air on drawing concerns over his early departure from his late ex-wife Whitney Houston's publicized funeral Saturday (February 18) afternoon. Speaking via a statement Brown said extreme security measures forced his exit.

"My children and I were invited to the funeral of my ex-wife Whitney Houston. We were seated by security and then subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions," he stated. "I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move. Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi-Kristina. In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as I refused to create a scene. My children are completely distraught over the events. This was a day to honor Whitney. I doubt Whitney would have wanted this to occur. I will continue to pay my respects to my ex-wife the best way I know how." (Statement)

Reports of Brown's early departure hit the Internet Saturday.Brown was seen arriving with several people and had sat down in the front row of a section marked off for family, before being asked to move. Brown had entered the church with other mourners, separate from Houston's family. He appeared emotionally distraught, with red eyes and head hanging as he walked up the aisle of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. He approached Houston's casket, passed it and went back down the aisle. Ultimately, he left the church. (CNN)



Despite what took place at the funeral, the music veteran performed in his ex-wife's honor hours later. A grieving Bobby Brown began to fulfill his promise to "continue to pay my respects to my ex-wife the best way I know how," and returned to the stage with the New Edition at the Mohegan Sun last night just hours after making a cameo appearance at Whitney Houston's funeral. The Roxbury R&B singer, who explained earlier that he left Houston's star-studded "home going" in New Jersey when his entourage was dissed by security inside the New Hope Baptist Church, joined the New Edition 10 minutes into their set dressed in a white and black ensemble with a black fedora. (Boston Herald)

Yesterday's gathering featured fellow music stars like Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles-Carter.The invitation-only crowd of 1,500 filled the New Hope Baptist Church, where an arrangement of multicolored balloons greeted the gold hearse carrying the body of the multiplatinum singer and actress. Though limousines dropped off a procession of stars, including Jennifer Hudson, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé Knowles and Angela Bassett, many in the crowd knew Houston as "Nippy" -- a childhood nickname. (New York Daily News)

(Bobby & Whitney in Happier Times)