Nick Gordon came into the limelight due to his relationship with the late Bobbi Kristina Brown, connection to Whitney Houston’s family and reality television appearances. On New Year’s Day, the 30-year-old died at a Florida hotel.
Gordon’s death has been surrounded by rumors and broiling in controversy, because he was previously found legally responsible for Brown’s death in 2016. A Georgia judge ordered Gordon to pay $36 million to Brown’s estate after he was found responsible in a wrongful death lawsuit.
»MORE: Nick Gordon, once the late Bobbi Kristina Brown's boyfriend, has died
Since Brown’s death, Gordon had faced legal problems and drug abuse. Gordon has often been considered the most closely tied person to the heartbreaking saga of Houston and Brown, who both died as a result of drug overdoses and drowning in bathtubs.
To go beyond the sensational headlines, we’ve compiled some information about Gordon’s background and history with the Houston family:
Nick Gordon first moved in with Whitney Houston at age 12.
Gordon's mother Michelle Gordon was a former friend of the legendary pop star, and she reached out to Houston when she began to have increasing behavior issues with her 12-year-old, according to NJ.com. Houston began raising Gordon like a son, but she never legally adopted him nor put him in her will. Gordon and Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was 8 when he moved in, would call each other "Li'l Sis" and "Big Bruh" in social media posts.
Bobbi Kristina Brown and Nick Gordon were engaged before her death.
After Whitney Houston’s death in 2012, her daughter began sitting for interviews about her mother’s life and, at times, would be accompanied by Gordon for moral support. The Houston family disapproved of the close relationship between the two and Gordon’s legal woes. He was arrested multiple times in metro Atlanta for speeding and driving under the influence.
Shortly after the singer’s death, Gordon and Brown were featured on the reality show “The Houstons: On Our Own.” The family’s discomfort with their relationship was discussed. Though they grew up like brother and sister, the two began dating shortly after Houston’s death.
In a Facebook post in 2013, Bobbi Kristina Brown addressed the controversy around their engagement.
“I’m tired of hearing people say, 'Eww your [sic] engaged to your brother' or if Whitney was still alive would we be together or would she approve of this?" the post read. "Mommy was the one who even said that she knew that we were going to start dating. My mom knows me better than any of you.”
Dr. Phil worried about drug abuse ending Nick Gordon’s life.
Gordon was interviewed by television host and therapist Dr. Phil McGraw twice, once in 2015 and once in 2016. The 2015 interview was chaotic, with Gordon storming out while cameras were rolling. McGraw said Gordon’s drug abuse and behavior concerned him.
"He was so animated and so emotionally out of control, I thought he could be dead in a matter of days if something doesn't happen," McGraw told "Extra" host Mario Lopez. "I felt like if we did not get him to a structured and supervised environment, I felt like his life was in danger."
At one point, he worked a “regular job” and was sober, according to his lawyer.
After attempting to remain sober for years, Gordon's lawyer Joe Habachy confirmed in a 2015 interview with Rolling Out magazine that he had beat his addiction. He successfully completed drug abuse treatment in 2015, Habachy said, and he started working as a landscaper.
“Nick has continued to pursue sobriety and spends most of his time with family and working out.”
In the second interview with McGraw, it was revealed that drugs had become an elixir for him and Brown as they dealt with the loss of the “I Will Always Love You” songstress.
“It’s unfortunate, but at the time, that’s kind of the only way we knew how to deal with what had happened,” Gordon said.
Nick Gordon was found unresponsive at a hotel outside of Orlando.
He was found unresponsive in a central Florida hotel room and later died, authorities said Thursday.
Paramedics were called to Gordon’s hotel room in Maitland, a suburb of Orlando, early Wednesday to check on an unresponsive man, according to a statement from the Maitland Police Department. Gordon died nearly five years after Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was found unresponsive, facedown in a water-filled tub at her Roswell home in January 2015.
His cause of death is under investigation.
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