Thursday, 30 August 2007

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Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's custody fight reignites

He claims he had to live out of his car while singer was in rehab

Despite recent sightings of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown that appeared to show the divorced couple on good terms, the pair have less-than-complimentary things to say about each other in court documents related to custody of their 14-year-old child, Bobbi Kristina.

In newly released legal papers that were filed last month, Brown, 38, claims, "Since Whitney has been awarded sole legal and physical custody of Bobbi Kris, she has attempted to eliminate me from Bobbi Kris' life."

The former New Edition singer also states, "I did all I could to see my daughter ... I also paid approximately $10,000 for Whitney and Bobbi Kris to live in a nice hotel while Whitney was going through rehab ... I basically lived out of my car."

Pointing an accusing finger at Houston, 44, Brown also says, "I have not seen or spoken to my daughter since early June and I have no prospect of speaking to her or seeing her anytime soon due to Whitney's actions."

In her declaration to the court, Houston claims that Brown has been "almost totally uninvolved in taking care of [Bobbi Kristina]," and that she believes "Bobby is going to try to get child or spousal support from me ... Bobby is fully capable of working and earning substantial sums of money if he would control her personal behavior."

"We have a daughter together and I would like him to be involved in her life," Houston says. "Frankly, I needed to be divorced from him so that I could get my life back on track."

In May, Brown sued Houston for spousal support, child support and shared custody.

Despite their legal problems, the couple were seen together earlier this month at Joe's Crab Shack in Alpharetta, Ga., having dinner and even posing for pictures with fans, though Houston's rep said the two were not about to reconcile.

Still, in the legal document, Houston does state, "From the time I moved to California in April 2006 until now, Bobby and I have remained friendly toward each other."

By Stephen M. Silverman