Reports about Whitney Houston's daughter unauthorized, father says

[February 14, 2015]  By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The relatives of Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney Houston, who have been giving media interviews about her medical condition do not have direct knowledge of her treatment, her father's attorney said on Friday.

Singer Bobby Brown's attorney asked media outlets to stop speaking with family members unauthorized to discuss the condition of his daughter, who is being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after she was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub at her suburban home last month.

Few details about the aspiring 21-year-old singer's condition have been made public. Family members have said she is fighting for her life.

"We continue to request privacy in this matter," Bobby Brown said in a statement. "We thank everyone that supports Bobbi Kristina and God is hearing our prayers.”

Bobby Brown's attorney said the relatives giving interviews about Bobbi Kristina Brown are not in communication with her doctors, and in particular asked media organizations to disregard cousin, Jerod Brown.

The cousin said in an interview with Atlanta TV station WXIA this week that she remained on a ventilator and the family had no plans to remove her from life support.

"This is a criminal investigation and we do not need this side show,” attorney Christopher Brown, who is representing her father, said in a statement.

Jerod Brown was also involved in disputed reports that Nick Gordon, who calls himself the husband of Bobbi Kristina Brown, cannot visit her at the hospital.

Lawyers for Gordon said the cousin's contention that Gordon was pursuing legal action to gain access to Brown was false. They said Gordon, who has kept a low profile since Bobbi Kristina Brown was rushed to a hospital, only wants to see her recover.

"He remains in constant prayer for his companion and he hopes to be reunited with her soon," lawyers Randy Kessler and Joe Habachy said in a statement on Thursday.

"Despite the incredible public interest, we ask and hope that this request can be resolved privately by Mr. Gordon and the family."

Gordon and Bobbi Kristina Brown referred to each other as husband and wife, but Bobby Brown said they never legally married.

Houston, a six-time Grammy Award-winner who battled substance abuse, drowned in a hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills, California, in February 2012. Authorities said cocaine use and heart disease contributed to her death at age 48.

Police in Roswell, Georgia, are investigating the circumstances leading to Brown's discovery in the tub on Jan. 31.

She had been in a car crash four days earlier, according a police report. The SUV she was driving spun out of control and hit a car on Jan. 27, causing extensive damage to both vehicles and sending her passenger and the driver of the other car to the hospital, the report said.

The other driver was listed in critical condition, police said, and one of Brown's tires was punctured by a nail and appeared to have blown out.

(Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta and Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Lisa Lambert, Leslie Adler and Mohammad Zargham)

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