UPDATED: Whitney Houston Dead – Xanax, Drowning & Twitter Reaction

Music superstar Whitney Houston, age 48, has died according to the Associated Press. Publicist Kristen Foster told the AP that Houston has died, but did not officially reveal the cause and the location of her death.

Update 4: 00 PM – CBS News is reporting that Whitney Houston’s only child Bobbi Kristina Brown was rushed to the hospital:

“Bobbi Kristina Brown, only child of the late singer Whitney Houston, has been rushed to an LA-area hospital, KCBS has confirmed. Bobbi Kristina, 18, had been staying at the Beverly Hilton, the same hotel where her mother had registered to stay at for a pre-Grammy party Saturday night.”

Update: 2: 00 PM – Forbes is reporting that CBS is completely changing the Grammy’s in response to Whitney Houston’s death:

“The Grammy Awards have been completely revised. Meetings took place until 4am. The new opening of the show is now scheduled to be Bruce Springsteen singing his new song, “We Take Care of Our Own.” It’s a little ironic, but there it is. Following Springsteen, host LL Cool J is set to read a prayer–one rehearsal observer says it includes the words “Our heavenly father.” This will be followed by a video tribute to Whitney Houston. It’s unclear at what point Jennifer Hudison will sing either “I Will Always Love You” or a medley of Houston songs. More to come…”

Update 11:52 AM – The L.A. Times is reporting on erratic behavior by Whitney Houston just prior to her death:

“The visibly bloated singer displayed erratic behavior throughout the afternoon — flailing her hands frenetically as she spoke to Brandy and Monica, skipping around the ballroom in a child-like fashion and wandering aimlessly about the lobby. It was mentioned by a Grammy staffer that security personnel received calls of the singer doing handstands by the pool.”

Update: 11:30 AM – Bobby Brown sobs on stage upon hearing of Whitney Houston’s death according to US Weekly:

“Just hours after the shocking death of his ex-wife Whitney Houston, the show went on for Bobby Brown on Saturday night. During the ballad “Tenderoni,” Brown broke down onstage, the source says. As he sobbed, he asked the audience to sing along to the hit.”

Update 10:30 AM – Whitney Houston was taking Xanax and there is evidence she fell asleep in the bathtub where she died.

Update 7:20 AM – Per TMZ:

“No illegal drugs have been found in the hotel room where Whitney Houston died — at least not yet — but prescription drugs were present, and it’s possible the singer drowned in the bathtub.

Sources tell us … when EMTs arrived Whitney’s body was already removed from the bathtub so it will take an autopsy to determine if she OD’d, drowned or died from some other cause.”

TMZ earlier reported:

“Our sources tell us a member of Whitney’s entourage found her in her oom at the Beverly Hilton hotel … and called hotel security — who then dialed 911. When paramedics arrived Houston was found unresponsive.

We’re told police arrived to the scene within minutes and fire was already there on an unrelated call. According to our sources, paramedics performed CPR but it did not work and she was pronounced dead at 3:55 PM.

Our sources say there were no signs of obvious foul play, but a BH PD detectives have begun a full investigation. We’re told she was ID’ed by family and friends.”

Also, according to TMZ Whitney Houston seemed fine just prior to her death.

“Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston, spoke with her daughter 25-30 minutes before she died and nothing seemed unusual … sources tell TMZ. We’re told they talked about attending the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party. Dionne Warwick, Whitney’s cousin, called as well … several hours before Whitney died … to make sure they were sitting at the same table at Clive’s party. And again … there were no signs of trouble.”

According to the Google+Feedfetcher” title=”Whitney Houston dead” target=”_blank”>L.A. Times Whitney was planning to attend and perform at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party Saturday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Houston’s body was discovered by a member of her entourage on the fourth floor of the hotel.

Just yesterday, Whitney was reportedly approached by the X Factor to be a judge.

Simon Cowell tweeted a reaction to Whitney’s death:

She was pronounced dead at the age of 48 at 3:55 p.m.

Here is Whitney Houston in a classic performance of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl in 1991:

WebProNews will update this article as information becomes available.”

Here is additional Twitter reaction: