Whitney Houston’s death in 2012 shook many of her fellow artists to the core, but few seemed to have been hit by the tragedy than her alleged boyfriend at the time, reality star Ray J. Although it’s been years since her untimely death, Ray J recently opened up about the weight he carries from her death and explained that he feels it’s his fault that Houston is gone.
As fans remember, Houston died on Feb. 11, 2012, after she was found unresponsive and submerged under water in the bathtub of her guest room at the Beverly Hilton hotel. During her funeral days later, Ray J was visibly heartbroken as he broke down in tears while reaching out to her coffin as it was carried away.
Since then, life for Ray J seemed to have moved into a happier place and he’s now appearing on both “Love & Hip Hop Hollywood” and “Celebrity Big Brother.” But during a recent episode of “CBB,” Ray spoke with cast mate Stacy Francis, who had a famous falling out with Houston shortly before her death, and explained that he blames himself for not being there for Houston.
“Stacy and I — we had a conversation about what happened with Whitney Houston before she passed. I never talk about it but it was something I felt she wanted to talk about and it was the right time so we talked briefly about it and I told them how I felt, how I blame myself on a lot of stuff. I just had to talk about it for a minute and then I just got up off it it as I don’t like to get emotional, I’m not an emotional kind of person,” Ray J said about his conversation with Francis.
“I don’t like taking myself back there so I caught some flashes and I don’t feel well but I’m OK, I think it was needed.I never really talked to no one about it. I don’t know if I need to more as I’ve accepted it and it’s deep inside of my heart but it still affects me,” Ray added.
During the conversation with Francis, Ray went deeper into his struggles with Houston’s death and said he blamed himself for both her passing and the way Francis was treated by the press after her falling out with Houston.
“It’s something that nobody can explain. It’s all my fault. All my fault,” Ray J confessed. “It’s all my fault. All of that that happened. I wasn’t there.”
Although Francis assured him that she didn’t think anything was his fault, she later confessed in the episode that she felt betrayed by Ray and wished he had stood up for her.
“When Whitney Houston’s sister Pat went on the Oprah show and said I was stalking Whitney Houston in the club, I was not, we were all standing there talking and having a good time, he knows that, he knows the events of the whole night. He never said this is a friend of my family. I’ve known Ray and his family over 15 years; he never came to bat for me,” Francis said.
Well, it looks like both Ray and Francis, for different reasons, are both haunted by the effect of Houston’s death. For both their sakes, we hope both of them can make peace with what happened and perhaps heal their bond with each other.
