The attorney for Whitney Houston’s family suggested Tuesday that a clash between ex-husband Bobby Brown and security at the weekend funeral for the Grammy Award-winning pop singer could have been avoided if Brown had adhered to two agreements made to accommodate him and his family.
One agreement, Atlanta attorney Mark Trigg told V-103’s Frank & Wanda Morning Show, was that Brown, who had been married to Houston for 15 years before their 2007 divorce, would sit with the family at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., without others in his entourage.
The other was that Brown would not reach out to his daughter Bobbi Kristina during the four-hour service unless she reached out to him first.
Brown, however, broke both of those conditions and ended up clashing with security staff tasked with seeing that he followed the agreements, Trigg told Frank Ski and co-host Wanda Smith.
“We had a number of discussions prior to the service, and a very clear understanding as to exactly what was suppose to take place at the service,” Trigg told V103.
The face-off, which followed days of speculation over whether Brown was even invited to or would attend the funeral, was covered by the media as much as the memorial itself and at times overshadowed the star-studded service carried live on CNN and other media outlets.
Houston, who died Feb. 11 in Los Angeles, was buried Sunday next to her father at a Newark cemetery.
Brown left New Hope abruptly after clashing with security as he tried to be seated with three of his other children among Whitney Houston’s mother, singer Cissy Houston, his daughter Bobbi Kristina, and other family members.
In a statement shortly after leaving the church at the beginning of the service Saturday, Brown said was “seated by security and then subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions.” He said he could not understand “why security treated my family this way.” To avoid creating a scene, he said he “gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed.”
Trigg, however, told the Frank & Wanda Show that Brown and his children were not supposed to sit together.
“This was not about anything other than practical space considerations,” he told the show hosts.
“The understanding was, and the agreement was, that the three children would sit with [Brown’s brother] Tommy a few rows behind the family while Bobby was permitted to sit in those three rows with the family.”
Trigg said that when Brown tried to seat himself and his children in the front rows, security “discreetly, politely, respectfully” asked Brown’s children to sit with their uncle. Trigg said that “for whatever reason” Brown took offense.
Trigg said the New Edition singer then broke another condition: He reached out to his daughter to get her to intervene.
“The other part of our agreement prior to the service was that if [Bobbi Kristina] reached out to Bobby, tried to initiate any contact with him, security was certainly going to make sure that happen -- would not stand in the way of her reaching Bobby if she initiated the contact,” Trigg said. “What was asked of him, however, was that if [she] didn’t initiate that contact … then he was not to reach out for her, just to respect her and her wishes during the service. That was the agreement.”
After the clash with security over approaching his daughter, Brown gave the kiss to Houston’s casket and left with his entourage.
The attorney also sought to dispel rumors in the days leading up to the service that Brown wasn’t invited.
“At no time did the [Houston] family tell Bobby that he wasn’t invited,” Trigg told V-103. “Bobby was always invited to the service from the outset. Bobby was always invited to sit with the family from the outset.”
The AJC is attempting to reach Brown for comment on Trigg's remarks.
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