Cissy Houston, mother of deceased superstar Whitney Houston, recently revealed major resentment towards Bobby Brown in her new book, according to The Associated Press. Houston, who writes that she once “saved her [daughter’s] life” by forcibly removing her from the home of her ex-husband, claims that Brown’s erratic behavior and jealousy played a major part in creating Whitney’s demons.

Remembering Whitney, released two weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of the icon’s death, is a damning look at Whitney’s fraught relationship and her dark path into drugs and self-destruction. “She was with someone who, like her, wanted to party. To me, [Brown] never seemed to be a help to her in the way she needed,” writes Houston.

She goes on to detail scenes of jealousy, violence, and bizarre behavior that raised red flags for the pop star’s mom – including a 2005 visit to their house, whose walls were covered with graffiti of “big glaring eyes and strange faces.” Houston seems to solely blame Brown for Whitney’s highly visible downward spiral, asking her readers, “How would you like it if he had anything to do with your daughter?”

Along with bitter could-have-beens, Houston’s book is full of many touching remembrances of her complicated, gifted offspring. Whitney, whom Houston often refers to using her childhood nickname, “Nippy,” alternated between darkness and light. Though sometimes Houston writes of doubting her daughter’s affection, she also calls Whitney “almost always the sweetest, most loving person in the room.” After Houston arranged an intervention for her, she writes “Nippy…realized that I did what I did to protect her,” showing a poignant moment of understanding between mother and child.

Though Whitney and Brown eventually divorced in 2007 after the intervention and Whitney’s subsequent hospital stay, Houston expresses a sadness that too little was done too late. When Whitney was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel last year, police determined the cause to be complications of heart disease and cocaine use. Houston is certain that her daughter’s years with Brown took their toll, and in her book expressed a wish for people to rethink their opinions of the troubled singer. “It would have been easier for her to get sober” had they separated sooner, wrote Houston.

Sparkle, containing Whitney’s final film appearance, was released in 2012 after her death. Houston wrote of the movie that it was “hard to get through,” but that she was thankful that her daughter had given such a fine last performance. Houston also stated her certainty that if Whitney had lived, she would be continuing to make music in 2013 and beyond. Sadly, her family and fans will never get the chance to hear it. Says Houston, mourning her daughter’s sad final years, “I do believe her life could have turned out differently.”