Singer Bobby Brown has spoken publicly for the first time since the death of his late ex-wife Whitney Houston, denying that he was the reason the songstress died. Speaking in an interview on the "Today" show on NBC, Brown said: "I'm not the one that got Whitney on drugs, at all. I'm not the reason she's gone". 

Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11. The official autopsy reports say the cause of death was accidental drowning and a toxicology report added that heart disease and cocaine use contributed to her death.

Houston had been married to Brown for 15 years before finally divorcing in 2007. Houston's fans blamed Brown for her death after the late singer's public battle with drugs during the course of her marriage. 

Brown told "Today" show host Matt Lauer that he was hurt to hear that his ex-wife had been on cocaine. "I was hurt ... because, you know, me being off of narcotics for the last seven years - I felt that she was, you know, I didn't know she was struggling with it still," he said. "But at the same time, you know - listen, it's a hard fight."

He continued: "I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn't the one that got Whitney on drugs at all."

When Lauer asked whether drugs were a part of Houston's life before Bobby, he replied: "Way, way before. Yeah ..It's just, it's just unexplainable - how one could, you know, (say that I) got her addicted to drugs. I'm not the reason she's gone."

The interview will air on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday and Thursday this week.