Whitney, Bobby Spend Christmas Apart...

[From Fox 411]

Whitney, Bobby Spend Christmas Apart

Is it possible Whitney Houston has finally awakened? I am told that she and husband Bobby Brown spent Christmas apart, and that they are if not officially detached, certainly separated geographically.

Houston is now installed at her Mendham, N.J., estate, surrounded by friends and family. Brown is presumably in Atlanta, where he will be arraigned next week in the domestic abuse case Houston instigated against him two weeks ago.

The couple's 11-year marriage has always had its ups and downs, beginning with Brown fathering another child simultaneous to conceiving his daughter Bobbi Kristina with Houston.

That might have been a clue to most women, but Houston signed up for a decade-long run that has seen her career nosedive. At the same time, Brown has had several brushes with the law and more than one incarceration.

A year ago, the whole mess came to a head when the pair appeared on TV with Diane Sawyer. Houston admitted to taking drugs, while Brown appeared incoherent.

Two weeks ago, Houston called suburban Atlanta police and said Brown had hit her. When cops arrived, Brown was gone. That was on a Sunday. Two days later, Houston reiterated her statement to the police, I am told, after Brown threatened her over the phone. Nevertheless, Houston arrived at the police station the following day to pick Brown up. As I reported then, she was singing, "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" to anyone who would listen.

Is this the end of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown? One can only dream that this very dysfunctional relationship is close to being over, and that Houston will find her way back to a normal life. But unfortunately, you can never count this couple out.
 

NEWSFILE: 30 DECEMBER 2003