Whitney Houston Death: Singer Was Supposed to Be Closely Supervised, Even When in the Bathroom

As the host of her own talk show in the '80s and a close friend of Clive Davis, Nikki Haskell got to know Whitney Houston when the singer was just beginning her career. While reeling from last weekend's shocking events, Haskell was gracious enough to speak with Spinner about the singer's early years, her struggles with addiction, why Bobby Brown was her "downfall" and the fact that someone supposed to be with Houston at all times, including in the bathroom, to prevent a tragedy like this.

How did you first meet Whitney?

I was just going over the funeral arrangement story with Clive. He is going to speak at the funeral and it's in the afternoon on Saturday. I was with [Whitney] a lot because of my friendship with Clive. I know nothing about her as a child, outside of the fact that I met her when she first started singing.

I met her originally through Dionne [Warwick, Houston's cousin]. She wasn't even Whitney Houston then, she was just a little girl. My friendship with her was really only because of my friendship with Clive. We saw her at music events -- every year she was at Clive's [Grammy] event and of course we always sat in close proximity and talked. I didn't speak to her on a daily basis. She was not one of my closest friends. She was just a woman that I knew, who I respected. Her singing ability was amazing. My time that I spent with her was all related to her career. It wasn't like we were two girls socializing.

What was she like when you met her?

She was very shy. She was always very shy. This is just my opinion: Her shyness might have even been partially related to her drug problem. I think she had a fear of performing. She was a shy girl and she was very charming. She was adorable. She always had a big smile on her face and she was always very friendly to me and friendly to everyone.

I never found her to have any kind of an attitude. She wasn't really a diva like the other divas, you know what I mean? She didn't have diva scabs on her forehead. She was really nice, caring. I think that her dysfunctional relationship with Bobby Brown was her downfall. Her illustrious career became challenged during that period of time. One of her biggest problems was that she was a horrendously horrible smoker. She smoked cigarettes all day long. That's what really was part in parcel to her ruining her voice.

How, if at all, did you see her change over the years?

Not really, she was pretty much the same. You'd see these pictures of her in the magazines falling down -- I never saw that side of her. Whenever I saw her, she was always in rare form. She always looked great. She had great sense of style and taste, she was beautiful, she was in command of certain situations. I can't imagine how she could have died. She must have slipped under the water or something. She wasn't depressed, she wasn't on drugs. I was told there was supposed to be somebody with her at all times when she was in the bathroom, in the bathtub and everything.

How long was that kind of supervision in place?

I would think a while. She had pretty loyal family members and people around her at all times. She was very well protected. She should've been better protected.

I think it was due to the fact that when you're a performer, you have to have people around to protect you. Anyway, it's a sad day. The worst part about it is that I've just been playing her music over and over again and I've just been crying and crying. Her last album, 'I Look to You,' took five years to make. Even though I was not part in parcel to putting it together, I heard it. I heard all the songs and all the choices that Clive made. It was such a personal matter with him. The man is a total perfectionist. Clive is an amazing man -- he has big shoulders and you can lean on him. I think she went to him a lot during her trying times.
What were her interactions like with the other musical friends or members of her family?

Well, I was with her in England when she was with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, when she performed on 'The X Factor.' I was with her when she was with her mother in Vegas when we went to the World Music Awards. I knew her mother quite well. She had a really great family, a very close-knit family. They tried to protect her as much as they could. You can only do so much. Clive is beside himself.

Somebody said something today that is not 100 percent wrong. They said, "It was just a matter of time." It's like Janis Joplin, or Michael Jackson, or Amy Winehouse. There is a predisposition for these things. People were always worried about Whitney. There were things in the paper every day about her. Everybody was always aware that she was walking on thin ice.

Was she like that when you met her?

No. It's interesting because every time I would see one of these stories, I would ask Clive, "Is this true? Is this true?" and he'd say, "No, this isn't true. I spoke to her and she's great." So I think a lot of stories just sort of became stories on their own. But the Bobby Brown thing, that was the kiss of death. The Bobby Brown relationship did her in. It set her up for this situation. Things like this don't just happen in one second. It's sad because no one in the world has ever had a voice like Whitney Houston and they never will. There will never be another Whitney Houston.