WHITNEY HOUSTON’s best friend, Robyn Crawford has opened up about her relationship with the late star.

Crawford was Houston’s closet confident, from the start of her career to her untimely death. 

The release of her powerful new memoir entitled A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston, unearths new information about the nature of their relationship, revealing that they had been in love for years, but had to end the physical side of their relationship due to growing fears of the public’s reaction. 

According to extracts obtained by People, Crawford and Houston met in New Jersey in the summer of 1980. They were both working as camp counsellors, with Crawford labelling them as ‘childhood sweethearts’. 

She highlighted that they “wanted to be together, and that meant just us.”

Soon after they opened up about their mutual feelings, Houston quickly rose to fame, topping the charts and becoming a superstar that the nation fell in love with. 

According to Crawford, Houston broke off the physical side of their relationship, stating that “she said if people find out about us, they would use this against us, and back in the ’80s that’s how it felt.”

Houston gifted Crawford a slate blue Bible one day in 1982 to break the news. Crawford wrote: “I kept it safe. I found comfort in my silence.”

Another reason why their relationship was kept a secret was due to Houston’s very religious family, who were against same-sex relationships – especially Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston.

Crawford stated: “Whitney told me her mother said it wasn’t natural for two women to be that close, but we were that close.”

But what Crawford recounted so movingly in her book, was that their connection was only one part of their deep and lasting bond. 

Crawford reiterated: “Whitney knows I loved her and I know she loved me. We really meant everything to each other. We vowed to stand by each other.”

Houston struggled with drug use and suffered a tragic death in 2012 at the age of 48. 

When questioned about why she decided to pen this memoir she said “I wanted to lift her legacy, give her respect and share the story of who she was before the fame, and in that, to embrace our friendship.”

A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston will be released November 12.