Cissy Houston: Bobbi Kristina Brown has 'irreversible brain damage'
Bobbi Kristina Brown attends the premiere party for "The Houstons On Our Own" at the Tribeca Grand hotel on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in New York. Credit: Donald Traill/AP
Soul and gospel singer Cissy Houston said in a statement on Monday evening that her granddaughter, music scion Bobbi Kristina Brown, has come out of her medically induced coma but "has global and irreversible brain damage and remains unresponsive."
Houston said in a statement to People magazine that "Meeting with the doctors and understanding that she can live in this condition for a lifetime truly saddens me."
Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, has been in an unresponsive state for almost three months.
Earlier in the day, Bobby Brown's lawyer had issued a statement describing his daughter's status.
"Bobbi Kristina's condition has changed since moving from Emory University Hospital [last month] and there has been improvement," attorney Christopher Brown said in a statement to Newsday. "Doctors have indicated that she will have a long life. However, Bobbi Kristina is presently embarking on a rehabilitation process and the quality of her life will not be known for years to come."
Before that statement, GossipCop.com, TMZ.com and People magazine, each citing unnamed sources in or close to the Houston side of the family, had reported earlier on Monday that Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, has remained in the medically induced coma in which doctors placed her on Jan. 31. She had been found unresponsive that day in a bathtub at her Roswell, Georgia, town house.
Speculation over her condition began Saturday after Bobby Brown told a Texas concert audience, "I could say today, Bobbi is awake."
Bobby Brown's wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, explained in the attorney's statement that, "My husband made an attempt to correct the negative comments he must endure on a daily basis from both family and the public regarding his daughter's medical condition. He is encouraged by the steps that Bobbi Kristina has made since her hospitalization on January 31, 2015. She has made it out of ICU, opened her eyes, and started a rehabilitation that will be long and hard."
The concert remarks had been followed by reports Sunday that Bobbi Kristina Brown's aunt, Tina Brown, had posted on Facebook, " . . . yes, she woke up and is no longer on life support." On Monday, however, no such message appeared on Tina Brown's Facebook page.
