♪ every time we all get together ain't nothing changed ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight -- ♪ how will i know if he really loves me ♪ >> she was america's sweetheart in videos like "how will i know?" now a new documentary revealing a raw side to whitney houston the public never saw. >> [ bleep ] that girl is singing off key on the record. >> shocking allegations the superstar reportedly molested as a child by a family member letter her lifelong drug use. insiders getting candid about her offstage struggles. >> ultimately it was whitney that needed to decide if she wanted to live or die. plus at this boutique hotel in nairobi, guests are up to

their necks in giraffes. the gentle giants butting into bedrooms, interrupting tea time, paying lip service. >> i usually don't kiss on a first date. >> how this exotic outpost is working to save these magnificent creatures from extinction. first the "nightline 5." >> my digestive system used to make me feel sluggish. those days are over. now i take metamucil every day. it naturally traps and removes the waste that weighs me down so i feel lighter. try metamucil and begin to feel what lighter feels like. introducing fiber thins, 100% natural psyllium fiber. a great tasting and easy way to start your day at walmart and

good evening and thank you for joining us. as a young and beautiful superstar, whitney houston seemed to have it all. making her entirely into drug addiction and eventual overdose not just tragic but confusing. now a new documentary takes us deeper into the singer's private life than ever before. shining a light on the inner conflict and possible childhood trauma that may have contributed to her downfall. here's abc's deborah roberts. ♪ and i will always love you >> reporter: the magical voice that gave us chills with "i will always love you." and slayed with "how will i know?" ♪ how will i know if he really loves me ♪ >> reporter: now whitney houston as you never saw her in life.

intimate. >> there were times when i would look up to god and go, why is this happening to me? >> reporter: raw. >> i think paula abdul, [ bleep ]. that girl is singing off key on the record -- >> reporter: real. the explosive new documentary "whitney" out july 6th taking an unflinching look at the musical icon's tumultuous life, including drug addiction with never before seen home movies and blunt, stunning revelations from her tight inner circle. >> there were always a lot of secrets. you don't resolve things and deal with things -- they never go away. >> i'm wondering if there's something that's like a release. >> i've been waiting to exhale for such a long time. >> reporter: gary houston speaking exclusively with "nightline" along with wife pat. whitney's former manager and executive producer of the documentary. perhaps the film's biggest revelation, whitney was allegedly sexually molested as a

child. pat says whitney never told her who abused her, but that she did talk about the alleged experience. did you know? >> we talked about it. but it was referencing my daughter. you know, we would travel with work, we'd argue about me leaving reya behind. i never understood why she was on adamant about being on the road for us. she talked very briefly about her situation, and i understood at that point, and just let it go. >> i suspected there was some kind of trauma in her childhood just because of the way she acted, the way she talked in interviews about her childhood, how she felt about children, how she wanted to protect children. ♪ the children are our future >> reporter: gary says he was also abused. and in the film, director kevin mcdonald says gary named the abuser of his cousin, deedee warwick, sister of dionne warwick. >> i was 8, 9 years old, being

fondled. it was a situation i didn't understand. i knew it was abnormal. >> did you know whitney had been molested? >> i had no idea. >> reporter: long-time assistant mary jones says whitney told her deedee molested her. >> she was never able to talk about it to her mother or the professional who was trying to help her, perhaps with her addiction. she did a lot of therapy but she would never open up about this to anyone. >> reporter: the film also revealing the shocking extent of the drug abuse by the chart-topping legend. >> her drug of choice was? >> she used cocaine. and she drank. >> reporter: the family's roots began on the mean streets of newark, new jersey. gary says hard drugs were part of his life from an early age. >> i've been turned on to drugs at 10 years old, heroin at 10 years old. >> 10 years old? >> yeah. i did drugs with whitney from time to time but we were in a different room. i never did with her, me and her together, because it would kind of separate us, distance us. >> reporter: recreational use of

drugs part of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, eventually trapped whitney in a vise. something she didn't seem quite able to admit when talking with abc news' diane sawyer. >> do you think of yourself as an addict? >> i don't like to think of myself addicted. i like to think of, i had a bad habit. >> reporter: but the effects of her bad habit would be on full display at the 2001 michael jackson tribute on cbs. ♪ >> she was very thin. i was very, very concerned. >> that was when you knew she was in deep trouble? >> i knew that she was in deep trouble. >> what did you feel for your sister when you saw what the rest of the world saw? >> we said, wow, this really has gone overboard. it's really taken the best. moved into a place where it would be harder to get back to her center. >> reporter: whitney defensive about the performance. >> i'm not sick, diane. i am not sick.

let's get that straight. i'm not sick. okay? i've always been a thin girl. >> but that's not just thin. >> no, it isn't. diane, tell me, do you know? >> it's scary thin. >> i can believe what you feel. i can believe that. but do you really know? do you really know? >> it's maybe the only interew she gave in her whole life where you feel she's totally present. and she's really meaning everything that she's saying. she's trying to be honest. >> reporter: her drug use may have had the greatest impact on per daughter. bobbi kristina. those closest to whitney says as a mom she often came up short. what was she most disappointed about? >> well, that she could have been a better mother. ♪ and mommy loves you girl >> reporter: they did have tender moments like this one from the documentary when bobbi kristina was just 4.

♪ don't wor ry ♪ >> reporter: shuffled between life on tour with her famous parents and often staying back with family and friends for long stretches. bobbi kristina would never know a normal childhood. >> ultimately, you know, whitney and bobby made the decisions for their kid. there's only so much anyone else can do. >> would you ever have fathomed you would lose whitney and then three years later lose bobbi kristina? >> it was really, really difficult. i always said if she were 17 years old, we could have gotten her and put her in our home to be with us. but she was 18. >> reporter: like her mother, 22-year-old bobbi kristina would be found facedown in a bathtub. and later died. the singer also had a complicated relationship with mom sissy, a famous gospel singer who groomed her daughter from an early age. in one intimate moment, we see their love and closeness.

>> whitney never forgot who to call on when she needed them. she would always address, i need my mother. so when the chips were down, oh, yeah, she called for her mom. >> reporter: one of whitney's closest confidants was creative director robby crawford, a woman her family wanted whitney to avoid at all costs. what was her relationship with robin? >> what i saw in whitney and robin were two best friends. >> reporter: mom sisi addressed the friendship with oprah. >> do you believe that whitney and robin were in a gay relationship? >> i don't really know. >> would it have bothered you if your daughter, whitney, was gay? >> absolutely. >> i got a chance to speak to my sister about her before it even got to where the friendship even turned into what it turned into. i've never seen them, you know, in any kind of intimacy kind of situation.

but i knew that it was heading somewhere that i didn't really want it. >> reporter: the one person she would publicly commit to and go on to marry was of course bobbi brown. the documentary showing the passion and dysfunction of their marriage up close. >> when you got people in the media talking about mr. houston instead of mr. brown, instead of saying like i say, [ bleep ]. he let it get to him. >> can i ask you, mrs. houston? >> mrs. brown. >> mrs. houston-brown? >> reporter: no one could save whitney from her demons as she went in and out of rehab. do you think she was happy? >> i thought -- happiness did exist around her. >> reporter: this haunting conversation with diane sawyer taking on a deeper meaning after whitney's tragic death. >> if you had to name the devil for you? the biggest devil among them? >> that would be me.

so the biggest devil is me. i'm either my best friend or my worst enemy. and that's how i can deal with it. >> ten years from now, give me the perfect life for whitney houston. >> retired. sitting, looking at my daughter grow up, become a great woman of god. grandchildren. >> reporter: but ten years later, the night before the grammys, whitney would be found dead in her beverly hills hotel room facedown in a water-filled bathtub with drug paraphernalia nearby. >> we did what we could, but ultimately it was whitney that needed to decide if she wanted to live or die. >> how much do you miss her? >> tremendously. i miss my sister, and i think she's in a better place. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm deborah roberts in new york. >> our thanks to deborah

roberts. next, it's just like a petting zoo, except the animals pet you. my "nightline" coanchor juju chang goes inside nairobi's giraffe manor. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® digestive advantage probiotics have a strong natural

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seeing a giraffe up close is an unforgettable experience. being licked in the face by one is totally surreal. at giraffe manor in nairobi, kenya, you can live out your wildest animal dreams and literally get neck and neck with these exotive beauties. here'snother look at my

"nightline" coanchor juju chang's wild adventure. >> reporter: breakfast time at giraffe manor. my table for one has lean and lanky party crashers. kind of crazy, right? excuse me! we have to have a little decorum here. one for you. one for me. fraternizing with the guests is not only allowed but encouraged here. so that visitors feel a kinship with these great but increasingly vulnerable animals. >> i usually don't kiss on the first date. their tongue feels a little sandpapery, i have to say. i'm sure she has some criticisms of me too, though. what are you doing for breakfast tomorrow? >> reporter: it's all standard fare at this most extraordinary of hotels. outside nairobi, kenya, where we traveled last year. built in the 1930s in the style of a scottish hunting dodge, now owned by fourth-generation kenyans tanya and mikey carr-hartley. everywhere you turn, there they are.

sticking their heads in bedroom windows. mingling with the guests at tea time. >> they love interaction. >> they all have different characters. >> reporter: even interrupting our interview. >> oh my goodness! i just got nudged. >> currently there are 12 giraffes here. so we have margaret, thelma, stacy, and right at the end is kelly. kelly, you can see she's slightly pregnant. the stomach is slightly distended. >> reporter: but it's not all tea and crumpets for these genteel giants. giraffes are facing what experts call a silent extinction. their population down 40% in 20 years. they were only classified as vulnerable for the first time in december of 2016. >> some of the species are down 60% of their original numbers. by 2030, if the trend continues, a lot of the species will be extinct. >> reporter: to put it in perspective there are far more elephants, whose plight is much more well known, than giraffes.

500,000, versus just 90,000. which is news even to their guests. >> i didn't realize they were endangered until we came here. >> you can't imagine that gentle animal can be threatened. but the history of this place is built simply on that threat. >> reporter: indeed, giraffe manor was created on the premise of saving these elegant creatures. part of the hotel's land is dedicated to the giraffe center which educates the local population and fosters breeding programs to increase giraffes in the wild. a percentage of every room fee at the manor goes to the center. one of the biggest issues facing giraffes is urban encroachment. as populations grow and cities expand, they lose their habitats. to get a sense of how closely the urban sprawl is encroaching on the habitat, this right here is the nairobi national park. and this is the four-lane highway. nowhere is this more clear than

at nairobi national park. just miles away from giraffe manor, at 44 square miles, it's twice the size of manhattan. yet its parameters are constantly being whittled down. >> that's downtown nairobi. >> reporter: we head into the park with arthur of the giraffe conservation foundation. the rwandan-born researcher is getting his ph.d. at michigan state. >> traffic jam. >> reporter: amidst the monkeys, zebras, hippos and giraffes dotting the landscape, another ubiquitous sight. this image sums it up, that man is encroaching on his habitat? >> yes. if you look up ahead you can see the real problem. those are housing developments coming up. and a few years back, you never used to have that. all this used to be open. >> reporter: a giraffe's kick can break a lion's back. but giraffes are being killed off by a far more lethal predator, from trophy hunters to poachers. >> they're hunted for their

meat, skull, and bones. in some places it's traditional medicine, bones and brain, that giraffes can cure aids. in some places they're hunted for their tails only. >> they'll kill a giraffe -- >> kill a whole animal for that tail. >> man is the biggest threat to giraffe? >> yes in a nutshell, that's what it is. >> reporter: arthur's foundation has gone to dramatic lengths to reverse these trends, tracking poaching snares, in one ambitious project, transporting giraffes across the nile river by ferry away from the devastating oil drilling in uganda as seen in this pbs documentary "africa's gentle giants." >> we've crossed over the nile with six giraffes. i've never been so stressed in my life. >> reporter: adding to all this, a long-missed pr opportunity for these glorious animals. >> the thing with rhinos and elephants, we've had good media coverage with that. giraffes, this has just really come up in the last 10 years.

so there's a real need to do more and get more data and see what you can do better to protect these populations. >> you think that they are silently going extinct? >> unfortunately, it's heading in that direction. >> reporter: a grim reality that needs to be shared, as nothing's more dangerous to these beautiful creatures than silence. for "nightline," i'm juju chang in nairobi, kenya. and next, remembering the lives lost at the "capital gazett gazette". wlet's do it. ? ♪ come on. this summer, add a new member to the family.

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finally tonight, a day of remembrance in maryland. the city of annapolis holding vigils and a candlelight walk in tribute to the lives lost at the "capital gazette," the paper calling themmer replaceable. among them gerald fischman, a writer known for his wit. rob hiaasen, columnist and editor who just celebrated his 33rd wedding anniversary.

john mcnamara, long-time sports reporter and fan. rebecca smith. she loved her job. her fiance, her daughter, and her dog. reporter wendi winters. a mother of four, a church youth adviser and girl scout leader. the dedicated journalists at the "gazette" push including pain to put out a paper today, the opinion page reading simply, "today we are speechless. this page is intentionally left blank to commemorate the victims of the shooting at our office." there is family i and there is work family. we should cherish them both. thank you for watching "nightline" and thanks for the