WHITNEY HOUSTON Houston’s family is outraged at OPRAH WINFREY for exploiting her grieving daughter BOBBI KRISTINA – and they fear the trauma of her TV interview may prompt another suicide bid by the late singer’s only child!
The troubled 19-year-old has been acting out since she appeared on “Oprah’s Next Chapter” on March 11, sources say, and family members believe the chat was nothing but a callous attempt by the TV titan to boost the ratings of her flagging OWN network.
“Oprah pushed and pushed for an interview even though Krissi clearly wasn’t ready to relive the tragedy of her mother’s passing,” an insider close to the family told The ENQUIRER.
“But Oprah somehow convinced Whitney’s mother Cissy and her siblings that Krissi needed to open up about her feelings. She insisted that the interview could be a breakthrough moment for Krissi, and promised that she’d handle the girl like her own daughter.”
Amid speculation that Bobbi Kristina was under the influence of psychiatric drugs during the interview, it turned out to be an ordeal that forced her to relive all the horrifying details of her mother’s tragic death on Feb. 11 at age 48.
Some of her answers to Oprah’s questions bordered on the bizarre.
When asked if she’d received any “visitation” from her mother’s spirit since her passing, Bobbi Kristina said: “Oh yeah, throughout the house the lights turn on and off. I’m like, ‘Mom, what are you doing?’”
She added that she feels her mother’s spirit “pass through her” and “Iwake up at night, she always said at 5 a.m. the saints wake up and they start praying and every morning since then, Iwake up at 5 and Ijust start praying.”
Now, the family is convinced that “the broadcast did more harm than good,” the insider said. “Krissi is acting out now more than ever. She wants to drop her father’s name completely to become Kristina Houston, and she’s saying frightening things like, ‘I’d rather be dead than live life without my mother around.’”
The family has good reason to worry about the troubled teen, the source added. As The ENQUIRER reported in 2008, Bobbi Kristina once tried to stab her famous mother and then attempted suicide by slashing her own wrists!
The incident occurred just days before her 15th birthday and landed Bobbi Kristina in a hospital psychiatric ward.
The bereaved teenager – who’s been hospitalized twice since her mother’s passing – held up to Oprah’s grilling with poise and grace, but the Houston family is fuming over Oprah’s coldhearted determination to interview her, said the source.
“What rankles them most is the timing,” said the family insider.
“The Houstons would rather have done this a few months down the road after Bobbi Kristina has more time to heal. But Oprah was adamant that she get the child on camera while her grief was fresh.
“The family thinks that’s unforgivable. It seems that Oprah just wanted a ratings bonanza at Krissi’s expense. Her mother’s death is an open wound that has not even begun to heal, and there’s Oprah swooping in like a vulture for the big TV ‘get.’
“Krissi has tried suicide in the past, and if something happens to her, Whitney’s family will never forgive Oprah. Everyone agrees that she’s jeopardized Whitney’s little girl for the sake of her damn ratings!”
