Nick Gordon, the boyfriend of the late Bobbi Kristina Brown, has died at 30.
“GOD WHY I DID I HAVE TO LOSE MY BROTHER ON NEW YEARS,” his grieving brother posted on his Facebook page. Later he added, “All I can do is cry.”
In November 2016, Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford ruled in a $50 million wrongful death civil case that Gordon was “legally responsible” for Bobbi Kristina's death.
The ruling emanated from a civil lawsuit Bobbi Kristina's legal representatives filed against him, not criminal proceedings. The ruling followed Gordon's failure to appear in court to answer the charges.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office has had the case since shortly after Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her North Fulton home in January 2015. No criminal charges have been filed.
Her death was caused by immersion in water and drug intoxication - tragically similar to the cause of her mother Whitney Houston's death - the Fulton County Medical Examiner's found. Bobbi Kristina's body was scarred and she was missing teeth, the report found.
MORE: Details from the Bobbi Kristina Brown autopsy report
Bobbi Kristina was initially rushed to North Fulton Hospital. She was then transferred to Emory University hospital, then a long-term care facility and then finally, hospice care. Her family announced her passing on July 26, 2015. She was 22.
Although Bobbi Kristina and Gordon were not legally married, she often referred to him as her “husband” in social media posts including one from Christmas Day 2014.
Gordon’s social media feeds have been quiet for some time, but most of his final posts, from 2017, were tributes to Bobbi Kristina.
Bobbi Kristina and members of her family appeared in a short-lived reality show after Houston’s death in 2012. Houston, who lived in Atlanta for years with her then-husband Bobby Brown, was discovered unresponsive in a bathtub on the eve of that year's Grammy Awards. She was 48.
Bobbi Kristina’s relationship with Gordon was a plot line in “Houstons: On Our Own.” Her family members were clearly less than thrilled when she announced they were engaged.
PAST COVERAGE: Bobbi Kristina grew up in an atmosphere of substance abuse
In March 2015, Gordon appeared in a volatile episode of the Dr. Phil show. He was "high as a kite" and in dire need of rehab, the television psychologist said afterward.
"He was so animated and so emotionally out of control, I thought he could be dead in a matter of days if something doesn't happen," Phil McGraw told "Extra" host Mario Lopez. "I felt like if we did not get him to a structured and supervised environment I felt like his life was in danger."
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Gordon had been living in Florida in recent years.
In 2017, after a woman came to the Sanford, Fla. police department to file a complaint alleging Gordon hit and punched her, the Sanford Police Department said at the time. Gordon completed an anger management class and that case was closed, according to Seminole County, Fla. court documents.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Gordon's attorney, Joe Habachy, said his client "worked hard to hold his head up and stay sober and that he genuinely wanted a happy healthy life with his family more than anything else."
