As her sister-in-law Pat Houston says, Whitney Houston was "a real person with a real family."
And that real family, including Whitney and Bobby Brown's 19-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina, is gearing up for the premiere of The Houstons: On Our Own tomorrow on Lifetime. But even though cameras have been following them around, they're obviously still managing to surprise each other.
Asked about Bobbi Kristina's engagement to childhood friend Nick Gordon, a bomb she appears to drop on her family during the series premiere, Pat told E! News at the show's New York junket Tuesday that "they are friends, they will always be friends."
Wait, so...aren't they engaged then?
"At the beginning of the show they are," Pat said after making a sound that has us expecting a dramatic part two to this saga coming up this season.
"It's a journey," she added, "and you have to realize, she had just lost her mother and she's 19 years old. So I didn't take the engagement very serious, not at all, because I understood the dynamics of what's happening as it relates to that relationship. He looks out for her, he really and truly does."
Sounds like this is gonna be a jam-packed premiere. But, as The Houstons director and supervising producer Zo Wesson told E! the other night, "You have to put it all out there."
"Being on a reality show is a really scary thing to begin with," he said. "I think they had to bond together. They were a really strong family to begin with, this just made them that much stronger. I think it helped them to heal, the way you're constantly having to deal with the issue at hand...I think it helps."
"I am very proud of her," Pat also said of Bobbi Kristina. "I always explain to her, I'm not concerned about a music career for her, or an acting career for her. I'm more concerned about life management for her, her being able to navigate through life to take care of herself in a very positive way. Becoming a strong, independent woman, being able to live her life without a lot of handlers or people telling her what to do in it, giving her values and morals and strengthening her."
—Reporting by Alicia Quarles and Rebecca Macatee