The relationship between Bobby Brown and the late great Whitney Houston, first tabloid fodder and now dissected in documentaries, has long fascinated the public. Just this July, Whitney's documentary was released in theaters and received strong support from Houston's family. Now, her ex-husband, R&B star Bobby Brown, will recount his own side of the story in a two-part miniseries on BET called "The Bobby Brown Story." The show premieres on Tuesday, September 4 at 9pm ET. Is it the Bobby Brown story ?
Bobby Brown himself is a co-producer of the show, so you can at least be sure that he signed off on what you see on screen. Houston's family had not commented on the documentary as of press time.
As the title suggests, "The Bobby Brown Story" focuses on the life and career of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston during their marriage, which lasted from 1992 to 2007, as well as some of the consequences that occurred after the marriage ended.
"The Bobby Brown Story" is actually a follow-up to "The New Story," which premiered on January 24, 2017. In this documentary, actor Woody McClain takes over Brown's shoes for the first time and chronicles the rise of Brown's R&B band New Edition from their youth. 1981. According to Deadline , the show attracted 29 million viewers in its premiere week, setting a BET ratings record, and became the most discussed show on Twitter and Facebook over the three nights new episodes aired. Deadline commentator Erik Pedersen speculates that this has something to do with The Bobby Brown Story being greenlit in the first place.
Makeda East of the Los Angeles Times also noted that screenwriter Abdul Williams was inspired by Brown's own 2016 memoir, " Every Little Step." East wrote that while some events from the book were not shown in the miniseries, Huston's scene in which she smoked cocaine on her wedding day to Brown matched Brown's version of events in the book.
According to Vulture, during a press tour for the show, a reporter asked Brown about reports of domestic abuse he subjected Houston to in front of his daughter. Brown responded by denying that any such incident had occurred. "There was no violence between me and Whitney." When another reporter read the 911 call report in public records, Brown responded that "the public record is wrong," Vulture reported. This incident seems to confirm that the events of the film will largely be Brown's subjective take on their relationship.
Reviews of the series were mixed. Los Angeles Times reviewer Lorraine Ali said the story seemed accurate enough: It was one person's dramatized retelling of events. "How accurate is 'The Bobby Brown Story'?" she wrote. "It's hard to say because facts and history can be changed, as seen through tabloid media reports, pop music legends and the memories of those who lived through their dreams turning into nightmares."
Deadline 's Dominc Patton called the show "an elaborate BTS," suggesting it's a sanitized version of what actually happened between the notoriously troubled couple. He called it "a story of redemption, for better or worse. The latter is a warning that sometimes comes at the expense of sordid truths in such authorized biographies."
With such a complex history involving so many different accounts of events, viewers may never get a 100 percent accurate version of the Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown story. Whether or not you fully believe Bobby Brown's story , it was his prerogative to tell it.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1(800) 799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org .
