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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