The world now knows that Whitney Houston died yesterday. Although the cause of death will not be announced until the full toxicology screen results are in, the coroner reportedly told the family that it appeared to be a mixture of Xanax, other prescription drugs, and alcohol. So …Whitney’s been through drug rehab more than once. What went wrong?

A brief look over her history definitely gives us the broad strokes, if not the details.

It appears she started taking drugs after she married Bobby Brown, and, per her own reports, the relationship was volatile and abusive emotionally, mentally and physically. And they did drugs together.

She did her first drug rehab while with him, and went back to him afterwards. They didn’t divorce for several years after that. The chances of someone staying clean under those circumstances are almost nil.

After their divorce, she tried rehab again. Did the drug rehab facility get down to the bottom of why she was still taking drugs? Was she still under the influence of her ex? Did she have other negative influences in her life?

Was she upset about the fact that her voice was deteriorating from years of physical abuse? Did she have a solid plan to restore her health and get her voice back in shape?

Was she upset about the bad reviews on her last concert tour and some of the audience actually walking out?

Celebrities and really talented people tend to attract people who want to break them, control them, bring them down to their level, or lower. Unless those influences are recognized as such and the person gets them out of their life, it’s hard to recover from anything.

They also tend to be surrounded with ‘enablers’ – people who will get them the alcohol and drugs they ask for or otherwise support their bad habits. Those people might even say they love the addict, they might even be their own family, or doctors who are supposed to care for her, but their actions speak louder than their words.

If someone you care about is going to drug rehab, make sure the facility and method they use takes these things into consideration.

It is probably one of the biggest reasons why someone reverts to drugs, or alcohol, after drug or alcohol rehab – celebrity or not.

If the people in Whitney’s life who wanted to hold her down had been recognized and she had gotten them out of her life, there’s a very good chance she would not only still be alive, it is very likely that she would have continued her successful career.

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