Bobby Brown: 'I am numb.'
Written reaction statements from Bobbi Kristina Brown's family and friends who knew her best, issued the day after she died in an Atlanta-area hospice, expressed common grief and a common plea: Let us mourn in peace.
Statements from her father, R&B singer Bobby Brown, and from her boyfriend, Nick Gordon, who found her face down in a bathtub on Jan. 31 in the Roswell, Ga., townhouse they shared, were issued Monday through their lawyers, as have most of their public utterances since the tragedy of the late Whitney Houston's daughter began six months ago.
Bobby Brown's lawyer, Christopher Brown, issued a statement on his behalf saying Bobbi Kristina, or Krissy as the family called her, had succumbed to her injuries and taken "her place in heaven."
“Krissy was and is an angel. I am completely numb at this time," Bobby Brown said. "My family must find a way to live with her in spirit and honor her memory. Our loss is unimaginable. We thank everyone for the prayers for Krissy and our family as we mourn my baby girl.”
Only two weeks earlier, Brown and his wife Alicia Etheredge welcomed their second child, a little girl.
Meanwhile, Gordon said through his mother, Michele Gordon, in a statement issued by his new lawyer, Jose Baez, that he was devastated by her death.
"The passing of Bobbi Kristina is devastating to Nick and our family," Michele Gordon said in the statement. "Nick loved and cared for Krissi (sic) deeply, and he has suffered greatly each and every day they've been apart. Nick and our family are in mourning, and we ask that you respect our privacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Houstons and the Browns during this difficult time."
When Bobbi Kristina died on Sunday, never regaining consciousness to explain what had happened to her, the news of her passing was announced by her Houston relatives, grandmother Cissy Houston and aunt Pat Houston, on Whitney Houston's Facebook page and in a written statement on Sunday night.
"It is hard to say goodbye," the Facebook post read. "On Sunday, July 26, Bobbi Kristina Brown made her transition peacefully. The family thanks everyone for their loving thoughts and prayers.As Bobbi Kristina would say: 'The wind is behind me and the sun is in my face.' "
"She is finally at peace in the arms of God," the Houston family told USA TODAY in a statement. "We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."
By happenstance, Whitney Houston's cousin, legendary singer Dionne Warwick, happened to be booked to appear on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Sunday. She went ahead with the appearance and used it to talk about what a lovely girl Bobbi Kristina was.
"She was a sweetheart, she will be missed — she was a good girl," Warwick said. "It's not easy. It's (manageable) because of our faith that Bobbi is with a much bigger and more powerful person, or thing, that she's in much better hands now."
Cohen was full of admiration for Warwick: