Cissy Houston is speaking out about the shocking death of her superstar daughter Whitney on the night before the 2012 Grammy Awards nearly one year ago, saying the iconic singer knew better than to do drugs, while adding that she does not blame her ex-husband Bobby Brown, although she  later interjected that “marrying him wasn’t the greatest idea in the world.”

Cissy – appearing in two separate interviews on Tuesday’s TODAY show to promote her new book, Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped – first told Savannah Guthrie: "Good mothers and good fathers and good families don't always have great children.

"Bad people have good children. ... It's all their responsibility when they get to a certain age to choose their way," she continued. "She was taught, she knew the way."

Cissy, 79, clearly felt -- and still feels -- a lot of love for daughter, saying, "she and I were very, very close. She knew I loved her."

Still, in speaking with Guthrie, she didn't want to cast blame on Houston’s famously troubled marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

"I don't know too much about Bobby Brown," she said when asked about him. "I don't want to talk about him. ... I know he didn't help her. I don't blame him. ... Everybody is responsible for their own actions up to a point. She was raised, she knew better, and whatever took her to that position, I really don't know."

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