Whitney Houston Dies: Reporters Weigh In On Houston's Final Days (VIDEO)

Whitney Houston's death on Saturday shocked the world, including the reporters who had close interactions with the superstar just days before she was found in her hotel room bathtub.

On NBC's "Today," host Matt Lauer interviewed the Los Angeles Times' Gerrick Kennedy and Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson.

Kennedy said he had ran into Houston on Thursday at a Grammys-related press event. Kennedy described Houston's behavior as "a bit frantic," and said she was wandering around "aimlessly, almost like a child." He later added that Houston did appear in some video footage on Thursday because she was disruptive to some of the on-camera interviews that were occurring.

Kennedy also said that he could smell cigarettes and alcohol on Houston. Lauer asked how Grammy organizers reacted to Houston's behavior. Kennedy said that there was a bit of worry that reporters would file stories on Houston's state. According to Kennedy, the press that was present at the hotel refrained from doing so out of respect to Houston. "She was kind of there very low key," Kennedy said of Houston. "Yes, she was probably under the influence but you know she was not there for...this attention. She was there for Brandy and Monica. So we left it at that."

Robinson weighed in on her November interview with Houston, which turned out to be the superstar's last one-on-one interview ever. Houston was promoting her film "Sparkle," which is due out in August. Robinson said that Houston really seemed to have been doing better. "When I looked in her eyes I said, 'This is the time when Whitney Houston is going to come back. This is it.'"

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Comments

[michelle coop]

02:40 AM on 02/15/2012

learning to love yourself is the greatest gift of all.....

[Zonie]

01:26 AM on 02/15/2012

Politics aside....no matter what you think of the lyrics or timing. No matter what you think of the performer or her clearly tragic fate....

It is our national anthem. And no one will ever match this performance.

Thank you Whitney for the greatest performance of all....may you rest in peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPtScJKtpos&feature=related

[modrocker]

12:30 PM on 02/14/2012

Quincy Jones observed that Whitney Houston had lost interest in her career and that he had seen the same thing happen over and over with the likes of Ray Charles and Michael Jackson. They're in a position where they can have anything that they want, someone is always there to give it to them, and that's all that they care about anymore. Ray managed to bounce back (much in the same way of Johnny Cash) but for the Houston's and Jackson's and Winehouse's and Presley's the self-presumed entitlement killed them. And no one can tell them no. Quincy had written to Whitney begging her to take the gift that she had and value it, stop drowning it in the perks. To no avail, she had just lost interest in what made her a great artist. Celebrity always seems to be a loaded gun. Some end up shooting themselves, while some can set it down and tell themselves "I'm still just me after all". I guess that's the difference between a Whitney Houston and a Dolly Parton.

[geneuwin]

11:51 PM on 02/13/2012

It is almost beyond belief that we as a nation allow Farce News the use of the term "news".

After hard won fights for civil and equal rights for minorities­, women, LGBT, and others who have suffered discrimina­tion since the birth of our nation, we are now regressing­. Before long we will have to impose economic sanctions on ourselves, as we once applied in response to South African apartheid.

After their 2010 political wins in state and congressio­nal elections, arrogant Republican­s are hard at work in several states applying a new Southern Strategy. GOP-friend­ly redistrict­ing maps for Texas and NC have establishe­d districts as segregated as 50 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if before long the KKK will be marching in the streets of Selma demanding new streetligh­ts of burning crosses.

Assine individual­s such as Liz Trotta, Roger Ailes, Russ Limpbaughs­, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich and other bigoted, sexist, race-baiti­ng degenerate­s need to be thrown on the trash heap of society where they belong.

I grew up in the South during the fifties and sixties and am saddened to find bigotry, sexism and racism as prevalent today, if not more sinister.

When will Americans of goodwill and compassion speak out!

[geneuwin]

12:59 AM on 02/14/2012

I apologize to readers for the misplacement of the above post.

I will always remember Whitney as vivacious and lovely singing "I Just Wanna Dance With Somebody".

May God Bless Whitney Houston and comfort her family, friends and fans alike.

[HL Davison]

01:44 AM on 02/14/2012

I don't know gneuwin...you could have posted that any where and it would have been relevant. Great post even if it didn't exactly fit.

[flying hawk]

08:09 AM on 02/14/2012

Oh drop the race card we are tired of hearing thet broken record. Move on HELLO

[AlaskanWannaB]

09:36 AM on 02/14/2012

Sure you do because it does not affect your life.

[timbohp]

10:36 AM on 02/14/2012

Let me guess, you're white, heterosexual, xtian, male.

[Georgina Sosa]

11:01 PM on 02/13/2012

. I know that we as fans will put all the figuring out things on our own, out from our minds when we know for sure what killed her. I mean what she did to die that night; we all know what was killing her. She did not get that tough love she needed to get better. My question through all this is where is her Mother? I don't see her anywhere. This must be very shameful and extremely painful for her. I know because no mother wants to bury her daughter. I am sorry for this sweet lady and how she must be suffering. But I believe that like Amy Winehouse’s mother there is a point when a Mom just says, I know she will die one day because she can't get clean. Then the mother sits and just waits, but one part of her is ready for the worst. That is what I believe mothers that live this nightmare do. I wish her mother peace and strength.

[AlaskanWannaB]

09:37 AM on 02/14/2012

Her mother tried to help her on numerous occasions. Do some research before you pounce on her mother.

[Georgina Sosa]

04:36 PM on 02/14/2012

Look alaskan Wanna B, I am not pouncing on her mom if anything I feel her pain. It seems like you are the one ready to pounce on someone and can't seem to ready correctly. The tough love I spoke about is from her friends who kept saying she is fine yet she continued to drink. Her mother could not be running around with Whitney and her daughter I understand she is an older lady and cannot keep up ( I hope this is ok to say before you pounce again). And what I say about her mother is that I have not seen her in all this. This does not mean she has not been involved. So be a good Kitty and go pounce on someone else.

[Rose Green22]

09:42 PM on 02/13/2012

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[AlaskanWannaB]

09:38 AM on 02/14/2012

Huh?

[DemilyFTW3]

09:16 PM on 02/13/2012

i will always rememberWH AS A TALENTED and amazing singer before all this c@rap came abt .im still so deeply saddened for her she will be missed greatly by millions :(

[dileot]

09:09 PM on 02/13/2012

So sorry to here about her loss,she was a very talented women. Drugs def played a roll. Regardless who does drugs. These drugs ruin peoples lives and addiction is a problem. I could tell by her eyes that she was either intoxicated or high at the prevent grammies. Its very sad to see her gone and not make a giant come back. She will be missed very much and no one will top that voice. RIP Whitney

[greenberetrich]

08:58 PM on 02/13/2012

Let poor Whitney rest in peace.The social and news media need stop all this.

[johnnym153]

04:22 AM on 02/14/2012

Poor nothing, if she was poor in anyway it would be more accepting the fact that she died like this. She had the means to get the best of the best of help that her money could buy, and as much as she could ever want to get it right. She had beauty, fame, and God given talent. But like every other self centered drug user who died this way, thought of no one other then their very own self centered, selfish needs.

[tonycanuck]

12:46 AM on 02/15/2012

With all due respect, you don't know what you are talking about.

[johnnym153]

04:29 AM on 02/14/2012

Poor? Love by millions had millions... How was she POOR?

[ScottyboyLA]

08:57 PM on 02/13/2012

Who cares. Yet another celebrity and entertainer 'gone too soon'. Sad, yes, shocking, no. Garland, Winehouse, Presley, Joplin, Jackson, Morrison, the list goes on. We fans should start saying no to these 'comeback tours' for tourchered and addicted celebrities. Unless they demonstrate complete sobriety for several years, they're not ready to 'come back'. Whitney should have been left alone to retire with her daughter until such time she was able to kick her addiction. Unfortunately, there are too many around her that see her as their cash cow. Now starts the mobid curiosity of why she died. She and her 'handlers' should never allowed her to continue in her state of decline in the first place.

[kvnjms123]

08:11 PM on 02/13/2012

reporters didnt report out of respect? are you kidding me? i never post comments but this does not wash with me nor should it for any american that has watched tv listened to the radio or been on the enternet in the last ten years.

[californiananc]

10:21 PM on 02/13/2012

I think they all thought we had seen enough, and maybe they did too. Not wanting to make the Grammy's about Whitney Houston's "suspected" drug use or drinking. How much more damage could it do? We don't have to worry about that anymore, and hope we can erase the bad images and hold dear the ones when she appeared healthy.

[tonycanuck]

12:53 AM on 02/15/2012

In this case I think it is true. I think the press held back. There are reports coming out (ok National Enquirer) the she was totally out of it on feb 2.

[californiananc]

07:53 PM on 02/13/2012

That was nice of the press to not let us see our lady in such a state, as it turns out. Would like to remember her before she got sick.

[Angelina247]

07:33 PM on 02/13/2012

I loved loved loved Whitney Houston. What I hate hate hate is how people lied to her about about her addiction. Whitney was an addict. She never really dealt with it head on and neither did the people around her. Everyone tip-toed and said how great she looked, yet people whispered how she smelled of alcohol, looked disheveled, and smelled of smoke. A reverend got on tv and said he spoke to her every week. Did her ever ask her what her butt was doing at the grammy party for 4 days?? An addict has no business being around that environment- not if they want to live, not if they want to see their daughter graduate from college and get married. Whitney had a talent most people would kill for, and yet she let it all slip away. What a tragedy. Am I angry?! You're darn right I am - because we have lost another one that we didn't have to. Yes, she was ultimately responsible for herself, but a lot of people played a role in her tragic early demise.

[jdymby]

08:41 PM on 02/13/2012

You sound passionate about Whitney, but quite frankly she made her own decisions in life. Many times in interviews she was asked about drugs and alcohol and you could see that she took responsibility and admitted to failing to the devil in herself, and other times she made excuses. Once she was back in private it appears she would tragically go back to old habits. I agree with you that she was a very talented lady, and seemed quite fragile and sometime lost. Like many other people on drugs she was always fighting the demon in herself, sometimes taking responsibility and other times making excuses, but ultimately she couldn't win her personal fight. Its very sad, but she left wonderful memories for a lot of people and that says a lot about her. If others played a role in Whitney's demise then they have to live with that. RIP Whitney.

[Angelina247]

04:02 PM on 02/15/2012

Yes, you're right. But can't we at least learn something also-. So we're not singing the same tune about another talented star in another 6 months or so.

[mhwyman7]

07:10 PM on 02/13/2012

Addiction is a living hell whether its Whitney Houston with all her fame and money, or some teenager dying alone in an alley. something those of us who are not addicted have such a hard time understanding, may she find the peace she so desperately sought.

[joquintana]

07:09 PM on 02/13/2012

Whitney Houston's talent as a singer was untouchable by any of today's "stars". The space on Whitney's death certificate that says "cause of death" should read Bobby Brown.

[Angelina247]

07:38 PM on 02/13/2012

Many people who know Whitney say this is not true. Whitney was doing drugs long before Bobby. She just had the "good girl" image. Whitney was her own worst enemy. She was apart from Bobby and still using drugs. You can't blame him at this point.