Brandi Burnside On Her Godmother Whitney Houston And “Little Sister” Bobbi Kristina, Her Marriage, And Why She Left Love And Hip Hop

If you know anything about actress and former Love and Hip Hop star Brandi Burnside, you have probably heard her mention that she’s the goddaughter of Whitney Houston. From the outside looking in, you may not equate that to mean much. However, during a conversation we had with her recently, it was clear that she was more than just the child of a friend of Houston’s, and that for her, Houston was much more than just a godmother in name only.

“She was everything,” she says. “I look at her almost like, this sounds so crazy, but a cool big sister, best friend and everything.”

She not only has great memories of the late legend, but Burnside also developed a close bond with Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, whom she affectionately refers to as “Krissy.” She remarked that as the late daughter of Houston and Bobby Brown grew up, it was hard for Burnside to keep quiet about certain things out of her worry for a young woman she considered like a little sister.

“We had a bond that was very strong,” she says. “Sometimes it was so much for me to have to still understand what she was feeling without being too tough on her in cases because when I love I love hard. Anybody I care about I put that bulletproof vest on and I’m protective. We had a regular big sister, little sister relationship.”

With her love of both women, Houston who died in 2012 and Brown in 2015, Burnside says she always wanted to tell a proper story on their lives. A number of documentaries and TV movies have come out over the years that attempt to shed light on the ups and downs of Whitney’s life, but little has been done to highlight the short life lived by Bobbi Kristina, an impactful one it was to those who loved her. Other projects have in many ways focused on the negative, and Burnside wanted to offer up a different view of the women she knew. So, she teamed up with Lifetime to executive produce the documentary, Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn’t We Almost Have it All, which premieres on Saturday (Feb. 6). There have already been some rumblings about the doc according to Burnside, but she reassures that they’re telling Houston and Brown’s story with love.

“To me it was just so important to be a part of something great. A lot of people are spinning things and saying things about our documentary. Lifetime, they did an amazing job of wanting to be supportive and tell a truthful story and also care about the people in the story. Loving them, caring for them is knowing them. It didn’t matter if you were related or a friend or just one of the PAs or EPs, the one thing everyone had in common was they all cared. They cared about Whitney Elizabeth Houston. They cared about Krissy,” she says. “It wasn’t just a project. I call this an anointed project. I feel like she’s anointed this project. I felt her spirit all through it. And it was so strong that I think everyone else felt it. It was more so like, ‘Oh wow. They’re here.’”

We talked with Burnside about growing up with Houston and Brown, and the importance of highlighting the parallels between their lives in the project. She also opened up to us about recent headlines, including the domestic situation that went viral involving her husband, Max Lux, and touched on her pregnancy with her third child, as well as moving behind the camera after Love and Hip Hop. 

MadameNoire: People have heard you say in the past that Whitney Houston was your godmother. Can you speak to how that came about and the type of relationship you had with her? 

Brandi Burnside: I didn’t have a traditional home. Parents growing up were my mom and grandma. Don’t know my father. But my mother and [Whitney] were close. Very, very close. She would know how to get me to open up. I ran away from home a couple times, mad at my mom, she knew how to get the information and she’d know also how to get my mom to ease up: “I got her. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to her.”

She was just like that perfect godmother. I’m very thankful that my mother gave me her as a godmother and also my little sister Amber. She also was my sister’s godmother. You’ll see her in the documentary.

Tell me your fondest memories of Bobbi Kristina. What would you say that relationship was like?

My relationship with her, she was just like my little sister. I was the big tough love sister. But she always knew where I was coming from. She always knew I had her back and she never questioned the bond and the love we shared. If anyone ever wants to know they can go to her page and just look at the pictures she’s posted of me and my family. Read through the comments and read through the long paragraphs of messages she typed. I love how people say, “What you had to go on the Internet because you couldn’t do a text?” No. Some people are just so happy and love someone so much they want to share it whether it’s on a public forum or on the phone or in person. Krissi and I were extremely close.

There have been a few other documentaries about Whitney’s life that have been done over the years. Knowing her personally, how did you feel about them?

To be honest with you, I did not watch them. I did hear about them. I read different comments from different blogs but I never actually watched. I saw things that I didn’t like. You know how you can watch clips of things? I saw things I didn’t like and I don’t know whose documentary it was. The person made a comment that Krissi didn’t like her mother. That infuriated me because that’s not true. A lot of negative things I would hear either from a blog or a friend who would call me, and those things would infuriate me and make me want to combat that, but in the right way. So I always felt like when the time was right I wanted to do something amazing on their behalf and to tell a story that’s the truth but also a story that shares and sheds the biggest light on the amazing beings that they were. Not because it sounds good, not because, oh we feel bad this person isn’t here. No, they were really amazing people. They really shared a very special bond and one of the things that bothered me is that people hold Krissi’s life as just being [Whitney’s] daughter versus understanding that she had her own identity. She was a human being.

You already kind of touched on it, but why was it important to tell Whitney Houston’s story in parallel with Bobbi Kristina’s and give some respect to her experience as well? Other docs and stories tend to paint Bobbi Kristina and her life and death as a result of the struggles of her mother and father.

Their lives are so important and they were so big. Yes, just my godmother’s story alone is pretty deep and heavy, and it is long in the documentary, but when we talk about Krissi it’s not like, okay and that’s it. Krissi’s story is big and important and deep. It is important to me that you guys understand the beauty in their lives and the parallel is important because they both had so much to deal with. They had so much to forcefully deal with, not by choice. A lot of people say, “It comes with the territory. They knew what they were signing up to [do].” That’s fine, but nowhere does it mean they’re okay to be denied their rights as human beings and to not be treated as people. They were normal, loving people. Krissi’s soul was so innocent and pure when it comes to treating people a certain way. They did not get that fair treatment. To me, it was automatic disrespect a majority of the time. Automatic negativity. Do you know what that does to a mother when you’re talking about their child, or what it does to a child when you are listening and reading people bash your mother that you love so much? It’s so important for me for you guys to have a better understanding and hopefully it opens things up for the people who are negative out there and for the people that ridicule. Hopefully, you can open up your hearts and maybe change the being that you are moving forward with other people in this world. That’s why it was really important to show both of their lives and the trials and tribulations that they both had to go through, and the love and the bond that they both shared, as well as the strength that they both had.

Speaking of the importance of being able to tell one’s story the right way, on a personal note, people saw you go through some things within your marriage. I wanted to know, how are you?

I’m good. Thank you for asking. Everything is fine. What I will say, the best way I can say this is, there’s a lot of things that I can never discuss that have to do with me because I will be putting myself in a really bad position. But just know that everything was not what it appeared to be. In order for me to give that full detailed truth, it comes along with some really bad attention that I will put on myself. Not caring what people think about me, but more so what authorities and children, and I have to be careful. That’s the way I can say that. But everything is fine and I have a lot of strength. I do want to say there’s nothing wrong with sharing love and concern and sending prayers up for the family but don’t ridicule me on my marriage or whatever I’m going through. That’s not right. That’s not going to help anything. We’re a family, we’re still together and everything is moving forward. But just understand, to ridicule anyone going through anything is a very terrible thing to do.

I know you also recently announced that you’re pregnant. With everything going on, how are you feeling about that? It has to be exciting because I know in the past you’ve talked about having a miscarriage in the past. How is it being blessed again with another baby?

I’m so thankful for my baby and I’m very nervous. I was actually in the hospital all day yesterday. I think I still have my bracelet on [laughs]. This pregnancy, along with my last pregnancy is very nerve-wracking let’s just say. I’m high risk and dealing with a lot of issues. Right now my only focus and family’s only focus is making sure the baby is okay and comes into this world alive and healthy. A lot of times people never know what someone is going through medically. In this pregnancy, it’s very tough. But I’m tough and I have a great support system and people around me who love me. They’re doing their best to come up with other solutions outside of, no disrespect to the doctors or pharmaceutical medicine, holistic health and nutritionists and supplements. So I’m just doing my best to fight hard for my child. We are going to make sure we do everything in our power to support this baby on the journey into this world, against the odds.

You’re executive producing this project. What is it like to have major opportunities like this behind the scenes? Because people know you for Love and Hip Hop and various shows and projects over the years. Speaking of Love and Hip Hop, what was behind your decision to move on from that show and how is it now to be a storyteller behind the camera?

As far as my decision to move forward, it was no negativity towards the VH1 family or Love and Hip Hop franchise in doing what we thought was best for our family. We actually just needed time off to focus, have more kids, and just leave the industry alone, period, at that time. Of course, there’s a lot of things that went along with the decisions that were made but I love Stephanie [Gayle], Mona [Scott-Young], VH1, Love and Hip Hop. It’s always love. A lot of people think I came into the world doing Love and Hip Hop. That’s actually not my story, but I love them and the platform and all the greatness that came along with being part of the franchise. But I actually started acting at a very young age. I did a CoverGirl commercial with Brandy, I did Diet Coke in Japan, I was part of a show called SNICK House that I co-hosted with Nick Cannon. I’ve done “hood movies” [laughs]. I did Nora’s Hail Salon…then from there I co-hosted For the Love of Ray J. I’ve always been working and doing what I love. Some people might think, “Oh that’s just the girl that was jumping on the car on Love and Hip Hop.” Yes, that was a classic scene that won’t be forgotten, but I promise I was around before then and I’m nowhere near done.

The two-hour Lifetime documentary, Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn’t We Almost Have It All,  premieres Saturday, February 6 at 8 pm ET/PT.