Bobby Brown reportedly bowed out of a concert in Memphis, Tenn., and was headed to Los Angeles on Sunday to be with his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown after the death of Whitney Houston, his ex-wife.
“I am deeply saddened at the passing of my ex-wife, Whitney Houston. At this time, we ask for privacy, especially for my daughter, Bobbi Kristina. I appreciate all of the condolences that have been directed towards my family and I at this most difficult time,” Brown said Sunday in a statement obtained by E! News.
Brown and his entourage were spotted at the airport in Nashville on Sunday, according to TMZ. Bobbi Kristina, 18, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, reportedly to be treated for stress, but has since been released.
At his show with New Edition on Saturday night in Southaven, Miss., near Memphis, Brown sent a kiss skyward and said, “I love you Whitney,” the UK Sun reported.
In a report from closer to home, the ClarionLedger.com noted that Brown seemed “visibly shaken” and “overcome with emotion” as the concert wound down, leaving the stage after joining the rest of New Edition in a ballad, “Roni,” about the “sweetest little girl” who could “make the toughest homeboy fall deep in love.”
Brown and Houston married in 1992, and divorced in 2007. Houston died Saturday afternoon in a hotel bathroom in Beverly Hills; she was 48. An autopsy was completed Sunday, but results were placed under seal, with no official cause of death expected for weeks.