Cissy Houston on the Heartbreak of Outliving Daughter Whitney Houston: 'Still Wonder If I Could Have Saved Her Somehow'

10/07/2024 11:55 PM

Cissy died on Oct. 7 while under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease

After Whitney Houston's death in 2012, her mother Cissy Houston wondered if there was anything she could've done different to save her life.

Speaking to PEOPLE in 2013 about her revealing memoir, Remembering Whitney, Cissy reflected on the star's tragic death.

"I think I was a great mother, and I still do wonder if I could have saved her somehow. I think why not. Why wouldn't I wonder that? I still want her to be here," Cissy, who died on Oct. 7 at age 91, said at the time.

"Yes, I wish I could have saved her. I'm sorry she had to die alone and in that kind of condition or predicament. It really made me very sad and it hurt me," she added.

Related: Cissy Houston, Mother of Whitney Houston and Grammy-Winning Singer, Dies at 91

Cissy concluded, "Who knows what the course deals, where you are going in life. Life is really crazy and funny. You take one path, sometimes that's good. Another one, sometimes that's bad. You don't know. You don't know until it's too late. Because you know if I could have saved my daughter in any way, I would have. Any way that I could have helped her."

In her memoir, Cissy candidly wrote about Whitney's addiction and the downward spiral that led to her death by drowning in a hotel bathtub with traces of cocaine still in her system.

At the time, Cissy said it was "very difficult" to see her daughter struggle.

"Nobody is born to a woman who says 'I want my daughter to be a drug addict,'" she said. "I did everything as I could that I thought was the right thing to do. Some kids listen and some people don't. Most of them don't, and they run up into something that they can't handle, and most of the time they don't talk to their parents about it."

Cissy died at her home in New Jersey while under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston confirmed.

Related: Dionne Warwick on the Legacy of Cousin Whitney Houston and Aunt Cissy: 'It Was Just Preordained'

"Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family," Pat said in a statement. "Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts."

She continued, "Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled . We are blessed and grateful that God allowed her to spend so many years with us and we are thankful for all the many valuable life lessons that she taught us. May she rest in peace, alongside her daughter, Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members."

Cissy — who won two Grammy awards in her singing career — was also an aunt of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick.

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