Her Mother's Daughter: Why Bobbi Kristina Brown Deserves Respect

Before Whitney Houston’s death in 2012, I knew she and fellow singer Bobby Brown had a child.

I knew they named her Bobbi, and I knew she was seven years younger than me. And, that’s where my knowledge of Bobbi Kristina Brown started and ended.

Ironically enough, it wasn’t until the last few months of the pop icon’s life I noticed Bobbi Kristina on entertainment channels and magazines right alongside her matriarch, sharing a smile almost identical to her mother’s.

They seemed genuinely happy to be around one another; they were definitely mother and daughter, but also, they seemed like friends.

Maybe it was because I wasn’t a super-fan that I didn’t know much about Bobbi. I am sure some of Whitney’s die-hard fans knew all about the young girl.

All I knew was, at the time, she didn’t act, she didn’t sing and she was simply “Whitney Houston’s daughter.”

What I found most admirable about that was Bobbi Kristina seemed perfectly content just being just that.

I cannot fathom what it was like for Bobbi Kristina days after the news broke that her mother, adored by millions and scrutinized by just as many, was found unresponsive in a bathtub.

You could not go anywhere without hearing or reading something unkind about the dead singer.

She was so larger than life, I think people forgot she was someone’s mother. Bobbi Kristina was reading and hearing the same things we all were, and personally, I can’t imagine how she could process all of that without losing her mind.

I haven’t a clue what growing up under the Whitney Houston microscope was like.

Bobbi Kristina was born into a world of fame and glamour. She was the daughter of two high-profile, tabloid favorites — celebrities with a tumultuous relationship.

No one will ever know what went on behind their closed doors, when the cameras stopped rolling and they were just being a family.

Yes, I have no clue what growing up as Bobbi Kristina Brown was like, but I do know what growing up with a mother you are exceptionally close with is like.

I can honestly say I do not know what I would do if my mother died suddenly and I wasn’t entitled to my own privacy while grieving my loss.

I know I would probably try to connect with my mother, regardless, by doing things she did or borrowing her clothes — anything to feel closer to her on a daily basis.

I would cling to tangible things that made me feel like she was still with me.

It is my opinion that Bobbi is on this track now, for better or for worse, in good decisions and bad, to feel more connected to her mother who is now almost three years gone.

In the years following her mother’s death, it is clear to anyone on social media the girl irrevocably misses her mother.

Like any other daughter would, she can be seen posting pictures of her mother in happier times.

She still has a birthday cake for her mother, candles and all. She got her initials tattooed on her wrist. She often writes, filled with pride, that she is her “mother’s daughter.”

It is also clear she is trying to follow in her mother’s footsteps and pursue a career in singing and acting. She is attempting to be more than just an heiress.

And, yet, we will never know for sure if Bobbi would be trying to emulate Houston’s path like she is, if her mother were still alive.

Bobbi Kristina Brown seemed perfectly content being Whitney Houston’s daughter and friend. I believe she felt a loss of purpose when she lost her mother.

Is it possible she is taking the term “follow in her footsteps” a bit too literally, considering she was just found unresponsive herself in a bathtub, an eerily similar coincidence and nod to her late mother.

Her father has come forward and asked for privacy during this time of uncertainty, as his daughter clings to life.

Of course, we haven’t given them any privacy. Bobbi Kristina’s name has been trending on the Internet for days now.

At the end of the day, if we strip her of her status and name, I do believe she is just a lost, grieving girl who desperately misses her mother.

Her choices, though some unhealthy, are fueled by her grief and perhaps the fact that she was never given the space, privacy and time needed to mourn the loss of the most important person in her entire life.

Regardless of the facts and rumors surrounding this sad situation, there is no room to pass judgment on a life you know nothing about and will never really know anything about.

Bobbi Kristina said it best on her Facebook page when she wrote to the world that was attacking her: “My mother knows me better than any of you.”