Bobby Brown Jr. Reportedly Had ‘Flu-Like Symptoms’ Before Death

Bobby Brown Jr., the son of singer Bobby Brown and Kim Ward, reportedly had “flu-like” symptoms before his death. Brown died Wednesday at his Los Angeles area home at age 28. His death came almost six years after his half-sister, Bobbi Kristina Brown, Bobby’s daughter with the late Whitney Houston, died in July 2015 at 22.

Police told TMZ they believed no foul play was involved. A source told the outlet the younger Brown felt “flu-like” symptoms before his death. His family does not believe Brown had the coronavirus. No drugs were found at the scene, and a toxicology test has not been completed. “Please keep my family in your prayers at this time,” Bobby said in a statement to TMZ. “Losing my son at this point in our lives has devastated my family. There are no words to explain the pain.”

Karey Graves, a friend of Brown’s, told The Daily Mail the rapper had a heart condition when he was younger. “He told me a long time ago that he was born with a heart condition, and when he called me on Tuesday he was saying how he was sick and how you never know what you’ll die from,” Graves explained. She said it was “eerie,” like Brown “knew something was going to happen,” but Brown refused to get medical attention because he had a “phobia of hospitals.”

While sources close to his family told TMZ they did not believe Brown had COVID-19, Graves theorized that he did. “From my view, I feel like he had covid or maybe another illness that didn’t make it easy for his pre-existing heart condition. He definitely knew something was going to happen,” Graves said, later adding that it “sounded” like her friend had a “super bad cold.” Brown sounded “congested” and he coughed “intensely” when he got a drink, Graves said.

Geo Moya, another close friend of Brown’s, said the late performer went out of his way to avoid drugs and scandals similar to those his father faced. “He never used drugs, not that I know of,” Moya said. “We would drink and stuff, but that’s pretty much it, a normal amount.”

Brown’s death is the latest in a series of tragedies for Bobby’s family. Bobby was married to Houston from 1992 until 2006, and she died six years later after she was found unconscious in her room at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Bobby and Houston’s only child, Bobbi Kristina, was found unconscious in her bathtub in January 2015 and died after six months in a coma. In January 2020, Bobbi Kristina’s boyfriend, Nick Gordon, died of a suspected drug overdose. Before his death, Gordon was ordered to pay Bobbi Kristina’s family $36 million after he was found liable for her death in a civil trial.