New book explores Bobbi Kristina Brown's 'downward spiral'

NEW YORK, June 9 (UPI) -- A shocking, unauthorized biography written by investigative journalist Ian Halperin dives into the details of both Whitney Houston and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown's "downward spirals."

The book, called Whitney and Bobbi Kristina: The Deadly Price Of Fame, claims to provide accounts from those close to the Houstons and the Browns including family members, friends and employees.

"She never dealt properly with the loss of her mother," Halperin said in an interview on Good Morning America Tuesday. The book makes claims that Brown struggled with drugs and suicidal thoughts from an early age, saying she had tried to stab her mother before slitting her own wrists days before her 15th birthday.

Additionally, Halperin writes that Brown surrounded herself with enablers -- people who allowed her to fall into her drug habits without trying to help. Halperin makes a shocking speculation when he describes how Brown was found. The bathtub in question was filled with ice-cold water and Brown's face was covered in unidentifiable marks. Halperin theorizes that Brown was subjected to "the plunge," which calls for immersing overdose victims in cold water while slapping them in the face.

"Despite the countless warnings against this dangerous practice," he wrote in the book, "I find a staggering amount of people on drug abuse forums advising people to use the cold-water method and slap the victim's face."

The book's Amazon page poses questions regarding Bobbi Kristina's life before her Jan. 31 overdose: "How did Bobbi Kristina end up facedown and unresponsive in a bathtub, almost exactly three years after her mother's mysterious death? What was her relationship with Nick Gordon really like? How did a childhood in the spotlight as the daughter of controversial pop royalty lead to her troubling fate?"

Halperin is also the author of other controversial biographies including Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson and Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain.

Whitney & Bobbi Kristina: The Deadly Price of Fame by Ian Halperin is published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and is now available on Amazon.