FBI files show Whitney Houston received blackmail threats

The FBI has released files from 1988 on the late Whitney Houston revealing that the singer was a victim of blackmail.

An alleged $250,000 blackmail attempt was brought to the FBI’s attention shortly after Houston’s marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown in 1992. The threats were made by someone Houston referred to as a “friend” to make private information on the star public unless she paid the sum.

The “I Will Always Love You” singer was interviewed by the FBI at the New Jersey offices of her management company about the blackmail investigation, but further names and details have been censored from the records.

The 128 page FBI file also reveals the lengths gone to by an obsessed fan who sent more than 70 letters to the singer in a 17-month period. One letter revealed a plan to make his love for her public through the press, but he decided against it as he was afraid he would hurt the singer’s reputation.

The letter read: “It scares me that I might come up with some crazy or stupid or really dumb idea that might be as bad as that or even worse than that. I might hurt someone with some crazy idea and not realise how stupid an idea is until I have done it.”

The FBI decided not to pursue the matter further as the fan had made no physical threats towards Houston. However in 1999 Houston received letters and recorded cassette tapes from the Netherlands which she deem deem threatening, according to the records.

The files posted on the FBI’s website were released through a Freedom of Information Act request, but contained no new personal details about the star’s drug addiction or romantic life.

Houston was found dead in her hotel bathtub on 11 February 2012 the night before the Grammy Awards. Her death was said to be a result of accidental drowning due to cocaine use and heart disease.

Her former husband Bobby Brown was jailed for 55 days last month on charges of drink-driving.