Bobbi Kristina’s rocky road to adulthood

>>> with more on the death of whitney houston . it's a loss that hit her 18-year-old daughter bobbi kristina especially hard. we have a reporter in los angeles . he has details on. that miguel goosh, good morning.

>> reporter: she grew up with two legendary parents who were famous for successes and failures. while bobbi kristina brown was exposed to the pitfalls at a young age. whitney houston was the queen of pop and daughter bobbi kristina was her crowned jewel. born to superstar parents, the legendary singer and the r&b bad boy bobby brown , bobbi kristina took to the stage before she could walk.

>> say hello.

>> bobbi kristina spent her childhood growing up on the road. she was on tour with her mother a lot.

>> reporter: a childhood that couldn't have been easy. her mother and father publicly battled drug addictions and each other. bobbi kristina grew up in a storm of tabloid fodder. in 2005 , houston and brown's chaotic and unstable marriage was on display for the world to see in the reality tv show " being bobby brown ." in the years to follow, there would be rehab and relapse for whitney . kristina almost acted as though she was the parent. as whitney began to kobe with sobriety, she wanted to make up for the time in which she wasn't always physically present for her daughter.

>> reporter: despite the turmoil in her mother , bobbi kristina saw her future.

>> bobbi kristina idolized her mother she wants to be a singer herself. and really was patterning her life and her career after her mother . i've heard that you're

>> reporter: and like her mom at a young age, she found her voice. found a girl and you're married now

>> reporter: on twitter, she chronicled her life, birthdays with whitney , reunions with bobby. but on saturday, the unthinkable. bobbi kristina was reportedly in the hotel when her mother passed. the trauma senting the 18-year-old to the hospital to be treated for stress and anxiety. her father rushed to be by her side. the performer who sang of life and love now gone. and i

>> reporter: but her greatest achievement and legacy lives on. will always love you

>> reporter: this morning as fans and the music world remember whitney , many are thinking of bobbi kristina . monday president obama 's spokesman said that obama's thoughts and prayers were with the 18-year-old. matt?

>> miguel, thank you very much. julie holland is a psychiatrist and author of "weekends at bellevue." alicia quaurrrels is an editor at associated press. good morning.

>> good morning.

>> let me start with you, alicia . i think a lot of what we talk about in this regard is speculation and i want to be careful about that because there is an awful lot we don't know. what do we know about the relationship between bobbi kristina and whitney ?

>> we know that they were extremely tight. i witnessed them together. bobbi kristina was the love of her life. she wanted more children so she had miscarriages. she valued her little girl . she sang backup on the last album. they were together thursday night at kelly price 's party. they were hanging out partying, having a great time. they were tight.

>> this idea that over the course of her life bobbi kristina had to take on at times the roll of caretaker, can you back that up?

>> absolutely. if you look at that reality show that was out in 2005 , you know, clearly whitney and bobby were on substances. you saw the little daughter being the caretaker. this is something, you know, that's devastating. she has two parents that battled addiction. here you are coming of age where you need your mother the most. she has strong women in her life. her grandmother sis ji strong. her godmother is aretha franklin and cousin is dionne warwick . and, of course, her father is there.

>> julie , generally speaking, what are the pressures and what are the reactions when children are brought up around addiction, especially on both sides?

>> right. first of all, she's really genetically loaded to have problems herself. you know, she has two parents who are substance abusers. the household is going to be chaotic. usually children are trying to clean up the messes or prevent messes from happening. it's very unpredictable. they never know what's going to happen. and there is also a lot of lying and hiding. so the child ends up having trust issues and intimacy issues.

>> i understand, and you say this as well, often times children who have grown up around addiction and then see the death of one parent believe in some way it's their fault. i don't understand why that's true.

>> just like a child of divorce will think it's their fault that their parents are splitting, when you spend your life preventing bad things from happening or fixing messes or trying to prevent bad things from happening, when something devastating like this happens, i mean anyone is going to say, you know, if i'd only done this or only if she took a shower instead of a bath or a nap instead of a bath, i'm sure anybody that would have sort of 20/20 hindsight.

>> alicia , there have been reports circulated that bobbi kristina had to be hospitalized, perhaps twice since her mother 's death. i don't think we should read too much into that. i mean it's an incredibly traumatic event. and that she might have needed some medical treatment . doesn't seem to go beyond the pale to me.

>> no, it's not. imagine if you lost a parent and suddenly the whole world, every media organization is looking down at you. so she was rushed to the hospital. and released. she's going to have a tough road to travel being a celebrity's child, you remember elvis died, lisa marie battled addiction. she was partying. so just being in the spotlight having to deal with all that suddenly at such a young age is going to be quite a cross to bear.

>> alicia and julie , ladies, thank you both. i appreciate it.