be held at the predential center. the venue is closed to the new hope baptist church where as a girl she sang in the choir. we're going to go live and get the latest on her final hour of life and the investigation into how exactly she died. everyone admired houston's magnificent voice. she won more awards than any other female singer. and she's the only singer ever to have had seven conservative number one hits. for me, i idealized houston as a singer. the song went on replay back then what were boom boxes and that movie came out in 1992, the same year she married bobby brown. and many say that was the start of her downfall, an abusive relationship, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs, rehab, a few years back, she spoke about one drug she said she never actually even used. >> first of all, let's get one thing straight. crack is key. i made a point never to smoke crack. we don't do crack. we don't do that. crack is whack. >> the drugs and lifestyle took away her glorious gift as you heard there, a voice that sold 170 million albums and still brings goose bumps to anyone who hears it. everyone hoped she'd get back on track, that those comeback albums would deliver and her voice would come back. instead she died at age 48. and the big question is whether her addiction and demons played a part in a tragedy. don's been covering this, this weekend covering this hour-to-hour. and don, what can you tell us about how she died tonight? >> reporter: well, i spoke with the assistant chief coroner here in los angeles county and he told me about how her body was found as we heard in a bathroom. one of her staff members came in and found her. so the interesting thing that he talked about, erin, was prescription medication in the room that the tabloids are making so much about. what he said to me was there were prescription medications in the room but nothing out of the ordinary. as a matter of fact he said to me, i have more prescription drugs in my home than what was found in the room and he didn't understand why people were making such a big deal about it. he said just let the investigation play out so they can figure out exactly how she died. >> yeah, and you're right. when everyone is sort of jumping to that conclusion and they have not done so from the coroner's office. but with all this talk about drugs, i want to ask you about the pictures we've all seen of her where she looks sort of strung out or something doesn't look right at a nightclub. i know you've been inside the nightclub where this picture was taken. >> yeah. >> what can you tell us about that? >> i just ran over from the nightclub just about five minutes ago before we did this -- before i did this report. and what the manager of the club or the managers of the club tells me, it was hot in the club, it was packed with people, she was there to support her friend kelly price, they were doing a tribute to r & b and she came out to support. and she didn't think she was going to be called up on stage. she called her up and said, hey, my little sister is here, whitney houston. she came up, sang the song. and when she left the club, she had to go out and through a sea of people and everyone was trying to touch her and it was hot and if you're in a club like that, you're going to leave hot and sweaty, as well. and he says those pictures tell a snapshot. we don't know what she was doing. if she was strung out or dishevelled or whatever. but many people, most of the people who left the club looked the way whitney houston did. >> which is interesting context to those pictures and seemed very fair to bring that up. i know her estranged ex-husband bobby brown came to town last night. he continued with his performance on saturday night after news on her death. can you tell us what he's doing in l.a.? >> well, his daughter. his daughter bobbi christina was staying at the beverly hilton with her mom, and she was down in the lobby enjoying the festivities and when she heard about it, she ran upstairs to the room to see her mom and police wouldn't let her in. she was so upset, a bit of an altercation and started screaming, and as you can imagine, an 18-year-old girl losing her mother and had to take her to the hospital after that they released her. and the next day they had to take her to the hospital again. an 18-year-old girl who just lost her mom suddenly you can understand. so bobbi came to town to pick her up and bring her back east to be with her family. >>german speaker thank you very much. that was the latest there from l.a. and having spoken to the coroner. whether whitney houston was in the midst of a successful comeback, we might never know. the last images and sounds of her singing at a pre-grammy party may be a glimpse into her life but don't tell the whole story. her good friend kelly price said she was in a good place now. >> whitney was partying, she was happy, she was sober, maybe a little tipsy because she had some champagne. but we had a good time thursday night and i will not let anyone else say anything else about my friend because it's not true. >> cheryl lee ralph has known her for more than two decades. she's the author of "redefining diva." i actually met her back, i believe, when she was 19 years old at dream girls. good to see you and really appreciate your taking the time to be with us. let's start off with the fact that you've known whitney four decades. take us back to when you first met her. >> you know something, it was an amazing time. i mean it was the spring of '82, dream girls was having an incredible run, but just as we were bringing audiences to their feet each and every night, we got word there was this kid uptown we had to go and see. went up there and there's a line from dream girls, when i first saw you i said, oh, my, this girl is the real deal and she was about 19 years old and that's when i first laid eyes on whitney houston with her little curly afro and hint of teenage acne left over. a fresh face, original great new talent obviously on the rise. >> it's amazing when you talk about her. it's a little bit of teenage acne because one of the things obviously that stands out -- you know, seeing her in the '80s and in her movies just how perfect and clear her skin always was. such a gorgeous person. how did you become friends with her? >> she was such a beauty. it was showbiz. you know, dueling divas in the dark, you know, singing, going up for the same job. she and i were both up for a mabeline eyelash commercial. they were going to experiment using a black face, but they wanted a new, fresh, black face. i was on broadway doing "dream girls" and i'm telling you the buzz was around about this girl whitney and she'd been doing some modelling beforehand. she ended up getting the mabeline campaign and i got the hanes stocking campaign. it was always in passing. >> you both were winners in that. i know you became friends over the years and you saw her about a year ago, how did she seem then? as people are trying to understand what state she was really in. whether she had issues with prescription medication or anything else when she died. >> i've got to tell you one thing. everybody's got their issues. some may be smaller or larger than others, but everybody's got an issue. the last time i saw her she looked like a woman who had made up her mind that she was going to rise above this. trust me, it wasn't just yesterday she started battling with these things. it wasn't -- you cannot blame one person for all of these things. they came when fame came to visit her, and sometimes fame comes to see you. she's a good friend and sometimes fame comes to see you and she's a witch -- just as quick as she builds you up, she will take you down. but when i saw her last, she looked like a woman who was making her rise again. >> you believe it and you believe in the comeback. >> it's so sad. >> let me ask you one final question. i know you have children the same age, your daughter was friends with bobbi christina. what was she like as a mom? >> they weren't friend friends but they knew each other. kids nowadays they have friendships and they don't know each other but see each other on facebook and this and that, they're connected but don't really know each other. not the way we used to know each other. >> maybe that's -- that's a tragedy of a broader story. thank you very much, appreciate your taking the time. and now janelle joins us. she's been following whitney as a reporter for several years, joining us from l.a. i really appreciate your taking the time. i know vh1 was about to do an interview with whitney houston a few hours after she died. what happened when they came down and broke the news to your producer in the lobby of the hotel? >> well, let me just say it was vh1 behind the music crew that was stationed a the the hotel at 12:00 p.m., which is six hours in advance of the interview time. it was supposed to have happened at 6:00 p.m. that's usually not the typical time span. because she was so iconic, whitney houston, they wanted everything right, the lighting right, the chair was right, a special chair and around 2:00 p.m. her publicist came down to make sure everything was okay. around 5:00 p.m. she came down and told the producer that the interview wouldn't be happening, i think you're seeing the chair she was supposed to have sat and the producers were like, wait what do we do? why is it being canceled? and she said because she's dead and became tearful and left the room. i'm shocked she took the time to come down and tell us. this was a interview she agreed to sit down and talk about brandy who was a mentor -- for brandy behind the music. >> and let me ask you, janelle, you've been following her for a long time. you were at the clive davis party she was going to on saturday night. a year ago you saw her there. what can you tell us about how she seemed? did she seem like she had issues or not? >> here's the thing with whitney houston. i think because she was such an amazing talent and we all have so many memories attached to her, i do, positive childhood memories. we didn't want to ever see her outside of her heyday. we didn't want to see her in this fall from grace that we most recently saw her. so when she walked the red carpet last year with clive davis hand in hand to that event, that was the one time of the year they would see her. she was not a person to be on the red carpet circuit. so when clive davis walked her down into the room and she actually performed, it was a bit off. i remember tweeting about it and being hesitant because i didn't want to say what i was thinking which is this is a mess, but it's whitney houston, you want to be more reverent. she took to the mike and sounded very unlike herself. didn't sound good at all and clive davis ended up having to graciously take the mike out of her hand. at one point she blamed her pitch -- her lack of pitch on the band being in the wrong key, her cousin dionne warwick was supposed to sing with her. and they tried to shield her from herself. it was not a pretty situation. >> thank you very much. we appreciate your taking the time to be with us. and next, police say they found prescription drugs in whitney houston's hotel room. drugs that are frankly in most of all of our homes. and apparently 7 million americans might be abusing right now. and later this hour, the next ruler of china, very mysterious guy, but the american who knows him the best is our exclusive guest tonight. and u.s. supreme court justice robbed by a machete-yielding thief today. that story in the "outfront." mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. 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[ sizzling ] ♪ [ male announcer ] free hot breakfast. with fresh waffles. real value. from your friends at hampton. while the exact cause of death is not yet known, it seems whitney houston's life ended the way too many talented performers have died. the l.a. coroners said there were prescriptions found in her hotel room. houston will be another statistic in a growing trend here in the u.s. we're seeing some of the people who have all of -- all of these famous people who unfortunately died due to prescription drugs. there are more deaths from drug overdoses each year than from traffic accidents and prescription drugs are the leading cause. think about it this way. how many people do you know who may have taken an ambien had a glass or two of wine, xanax. according to the cdc, more than 7 million americans are taking prescription drugs for no medical reason at all. the founder of intervention 911 is "outfront" tonight, and let me ask you, ken, given what you've been hearing, you're hearing about xanax in the hotel room and it didn't seem like anything like cocaine or heroin or anything like that. is this a familiar sort of scene? >> yeah, absolutely this is familiar. and it's so heartbreaking to lose somebody like whitney when we just lost amy winehouse, and michael jackson and so on and so on and so on. and the reality is, when don't know what it is as of right now, but we watched her behaviors, we watched those behaviors. and, you know, it's time to take a stance and say no more. if we see somebody with an addiction that's been diagnosed with addiction, they shouldn't have a glass of wine, they shouldn't have a glass of champagne, they shouldn't be taking a xanax to help them sleep. these are the things that kill people with addiction. and we have to stop it. we have to stop. >> and let me ask you, ken, i've seen recent surveys talking about the stress most people go through. surveys of women saying the average american woman takes a sleeping aid a few times a week. and i think most people can understand what that's like. but how do you know if that is a problem or if you have a problem? because it seems these cases prescription drugs, it's very hard to tell. >> well, listen, she's already been through treatment before. she's been diagnosed, she came out and said she's an addict. but she may have a glass of wine if you remember back on that oprah special she did. she may be seen out having a glass of wine. it's time for the professional people in her life, the people that love these people that are addicts to say, no, that's not okay. if you have a diagnosis with addiction, you cannot have a glass of wine and if they choose that they will -- >> how do you know whether you have one? do you know whether you have an addiction to these things? a lot of them seem to be very commonly available drugs. >> if you're an addict, what you need to do or you think you may be an addict, you need to go in and get an assessment. get a professional to see if you cross a line from abuse to addiction. and if you did, you have to be abstinent from drugs and alcohol. >> all right. and how do you know when you're at risk? i guess is the final question. it seemed in this case, certainly, that it was a mistake if indeed it was what caused whitney houston's death. >> you know, like they said, there was only minimal pills in there. if you're an addict, it doesn't matter if it's one or two pills, it's with the combination that kills us and shuts down our system. so it's not about the quantity, it's about if you're diagnosed with an addiction, you need to take it seriously and if you love somebody that's diagnosed with an addiction, please stand up to them. i know it's not easy, but fight, fight while they can't and get them into recovery. >> ken, thank you very much. whitney houston's death, an ironic coincidence involving her record sales. the number is next. and later, we show you the first time the world was introduced to whitney houston. challenge that. new olay smooth finish facial hair removal duo. first a gentle balm. then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. new olay hair removal duo. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. michael jackson earned $170 million last year, elvis presley made $55 million, and neither one of them are alive. and not surprisingly whitney houston's catalog has seen a huge jump since her death on saturday night. 14 of her songs are currently in the top 50 on the itunes single chart, up from zero before she died, and tonight, seven of her albums are in the top 50 of the album chart. these are the latest numbers associated with whitney houston's career. she was the first woman today bu at number one on the debut albums chart and holds the record for number one singles. her version of "i will always love you" spent 14 straight weeks at number one. that was a record at the time. and "bodyguard" album is the best-selling soundtrack of all time. which brings us to tonight's number, 21, that's the title of adele's latest album which sits at number one. in addition to sweeping the grammys, adele's "21" has been on top for 20 top straight weeks. we'll see if whitney's recent surge will keep adele off that record. billboard expects it to enter the charts in top ten maybe at number one. still "outfront," the outfront five. al qaeda ally? >> we don't want al qaeda -- >> obama defies rivals. >> the time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy has to be over. >> all this "outfront" in our second half. 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