this is "nightline." tonight, a major milestone in american history. hillary clinton, the first woman to clinch a major party nomination, telling us tonight it's not just about her. >> what this moment means to you? >> the fierce pace face off ahead for the highest office in the land. and the career hit a high note with that song from "the bodyguard" but her tumultuous life took her down a dark path. tonight, bobby brown talking about the marriage to the drug use and how it all came crushing down. but first the "nightline" 5.

♪ good evening, thanks for joining us. it is a landmark political moment, a first for women in this country with hillary clinton officially clinching her party's nomination in the race for the white house. >> thanks to you we've reached a milestone. [ applause ] the first time in our nation's

history that a woman will be a major party's nomination -- [ applause ] >> we'll have a full political round up in a moment but first we're learning more about the dark and final days of legendary superstar, whitney houston. her ex-husband bobby brown revealing intimate details, including their drug abuse and he's pointing fingers about the tragic loss of his daughter, bobbi kristina. ♪ and i i >> reporter: it was that song and the movie "the bodyguard" that propelled her from super star singer to bona fide movie star. but in the years after, whitney battled addiction. the public witnessing her erattiera erratic behavior on that reality show. >> lord, i just want to be a

real person. >> reporter: and that amazing voice not what it once was. at the center of it all, bobby brown, father to her only daughter, bobbi kristina. who tragically passed away three years after her mother. tonight, bobby brown speaking out about the women he loved and lost. >> i still loved her. >> reporter: bobby brown and whitney houston were a seemingly unlikely pair. ♪ i want to dance with somebody ♪ >> reporter: she was a reigning pop princess girl next door. and he was the bad boy of r & b. >> when you find love, you find it. it finds you, i should say. between me and her, it was so instant. we were so much like each other. that it made sense. >> reporter: they married in 1992.

so, you broke tradition a little bit and saw her before the wedding. >> that was the first time i had actually saw her do drugs. >> reporter: cocaine? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: he says in his book he found her hunched over a bureau snorting a line of coke and she offered him a hit but he didn't indulge at that moment. >> the drugs wasn't her. she did drugs but drugs didn't do her. she knew how to handle herself. it only made me love and want to protect her more. >> reporter: people said to me the one thing they heard over and over was that you were the one that led whitney to heavy drug use. that you were the one. >> it wasn't me that started

her. i take my part and i take it hard for me even being a part of it but we all have our own minds. >> reporter: in public the young couple glowed with promise that "bodyguard" movie premier. and in march 1993, bobby and whitney welcomed their precious baby girl, bobbi kristina brown into the spotlight. but their happy home life wasn't all it seemedtop bobby brown had multiple arrests ranging from maur want -- marijuana to drun driving but whitney stood by her man, even singing a duet. bobby says they would lock themselves in one wing of the house getting high while daughter, bobbi kristina was cared for by nannies. >> reporter: did you ever do it

in front of her? >> never. never. i always made it a point to not let her see me or my wife in that type of situation. i mean, it's hard when you're doing it every day. >> reporter: but the world was beginning to take notice. >> at a certain point when you're using drugs you don't know that the outside people that are seeing you. >> reporter: people remember vividly my colleague and friend, dianne sawyer, crack is wack. >> crack is cheap. i make too much money to ever smoke crack. let's get that straight. okay. we don't do crack. crack is wack. >> reporter: people cannot let that go. >> dianne sawyer, love her, love her, love her. just bad timing.

we both needed to get away from what we were doing. it was no reason for her to be on television at that time. >> reporter: but she didn't get away from the cameras. the opposite in fact. she started appearing on her husband's reality show "being bobby brown" along with their daughter, bobbi kristina, exposing her to the harsh glare of the spotlight. >> reporter: you said you felt as parents you and whitney failed her? >> we could have been better. at such a young age for us to have any and everything we wanted was a blessing and a curse. sglr >> reporter: a curse because money for drugs was never a problem. he admits to abusing marijuana, cocaine and heroin, in addition to alcohol. >> the last few years of our marriage, it was terrible. both of us trying to be clean and one of us trying to be clean

and the other one don't want to be clean and it's a big struggle. >> reporter: they had tried on and off to be sober but he says whitney wouldn't stop using and that in 2006, that's what ultimately led to the end of their 14 years of marriage. >> she just wasn't ready to go that direction. >> reporter: newly divorced, whitney houston was in search of a come back when she appeared on "good morning america" in 2009. it was her first televised performance in years. a new grown up bobbi kristina would make a rair public appearance sing with her mother. ♪ clap your hands but the celebration would not last. >> breaking news tonight, the death of singing star, whitney houston that the age of 48.

>> february 2012, whitney houston is found partially submerged in a bath tup of her home. >> whitney houston was pronounced dead. >> reporter: according to the autopsy report, cocaine use contributed to her accidental drowning. in the aftermath of her death, bobby brown says the relationship with his daughter already strained worsened. the brown family also believed bobbi kristina was being manipulated by another person, gordon. he was rumored to be whitney's adoptive son. after whitney's death, the couple claimed to be much more. >> i'm married and we're fine. we're really, really very happy. he is my backbone. sgler >> reporter: there have been no legal documents to prove that the couple ever married. bobby and his daughter met on

father's day for an emotional reunion. you hadn't seen each other in a while because you were a bit estranged. you hugged each other in the restaurant and it was like old times. >> that was a special day. >> i love the daddy and me moment. it's a beautiful thing. >> reporter: bobby says things were going so well that bobbi kristina decided to move to los angeles to be closer to him but that move would never happen. on january 31st, 2015, just two days, he says, before his daughter was to head to l.a. she was found lifeless in a bath tub in her georgia home. >> she was rushed to hospital yesterday. >> painfully reminiscent of her mother's death. >> reporter: they labelled her death a mystery. >> it is not a mystery to me. i know exactly what happened to my daughter.

the same thing that happened to my daughter is what happened to whitney. there's only one person that was around both occasions. >> reporter: you won't say his name. nick gordon is who you're referring to. >> i won't say his name. >> reporter: for six months bobbi kristina lay in a coma. sadly she passed away on july 26th, 2015. >> the last thing i told her, i said let go. i said it's okay. you can go with your mom. daddy will be all right. >> reporter: her official cause of death was low bar pneumonia. she was buried along side her mother. >> if i had those two days back, i would have went and got her. >> reporter: what two days? >> the two days before what happened to my daughter. she was to come out here to los

angeles with me. if i can get those two days back -- my daughter would be here. all i want is those two days back. >> reporter: although no criminal charges have been filed, bobby brown has joined bobbi kristina's estate in filing a $10 million wrongful death civil suit against nick gordon. nick gordon's attorneys call the lawsuit meritless. they say nick too is heart broken and destroyed over the loss bi kristina. today, bobby is married to his manager. they have two children and one on the way. you have a beautiful home.

>> thank cryou so much. i'm happy. there may be tears coming out my eyes but i'm very happy right now. i have beautiful wife, beautiful kids. a beautiful chance to do something else great. god ain't finished with me yet. >> when we come back, did you hear it? it's the sound of that glass ceiling breaking, no matter what side the political isle you're on. d a lot of doubts going in. i was a smoker. hands down, it was, that's who i was. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away.

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♪

we all know tonight is an historic night for women in politics. in a nation that less than a century ago didn't even allow females to vote, hillary clinton is now the first ever woman to carry her party's banner in the race for president. in brooklyn on the major american milestone and what comes next. >> reporter: good evening, tonight hillary clinton burst at least part way through that glass ceiling. becoming the first woman to clinch a major party's nomination for president in this country. her challenge now to unify her party. the big question will bernie sanders cooperate? she's been waiting years for this moment. the night she finally got to be the one making history. >> thanks to you we've reached a milestone. first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee. [ applause ]

>> reporter: it's been a long time coming. as clinton told my colleague, this isn't just about her. you have talked so often about the unfinished business, not only in this country but around the world when it comes to women's rights. is having the first female american president part of that unfinished business? >> it is, david. and it is, of course symbolic. but symbols mean something and symbols often can spark hope and action in people, particularly young people. and i think it would be a real milestone with my nomination for our country. but it will also send a signal around the world i care deeply about women's rights. i have been an out spoken advocate for them for many years and as secretary of state i carried that message around the world because empowering women, providing for women's rights,

their full participation in society, autonomy, is not only a matter of individuals being able to chart their own futures, it's good for democracy and peace and prosperity. >> reporter: tonight she reminded the crowd it was eight years to the die since she gave a different speech. june 7th, 2008, she swallowed her pride and finally endorsed barack obama. >> although we weren't able to shatter that highest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it's got about 18 million cracks in it. >> reporter: but will bernie sanders do the same for her? it's getting harder to get ignore the math. as of tonight, clinton has enough delegates to secure the democratic nomination and that's not likely to change between now and the convention. true, not all of them are pledged delegates. am ones you earn winning primaries and caucuses.

more than 500 are party insiders who have been with her since the beginning. it would be tough to for sanders to convince them to jump ship now. >> it's go being almost impossible. since day one bernie sanders has been really against the rigged system but what he's asking clinton's super delegates to do is overturn the will of the voters, essentially asking them to rig the system. >> reporter: clinton supporters now feel a sense of urgency about now turning the focus to the general election. >> donald trump is temporarily unfit to be president -- [ applause ] >> reporter: in part because donald trump has been stumbling this past week he said a federal judge hearing the fraud case against trump university is biassed against him because of his mexican ancestry. here he is on "face the nation. kwael ". >> he's member of a club that's

very pro-mexican. which is fine. but i want to build a wall. >> reporter: clinton waisted no time calling him out. >> he wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds. and reminding us daily just how great he is. >> reporter: you're not likely to see her dress up looik trump, the meryl streep did last night at an event. clinton is eager to get on with things so, tonight she's putting primary season behind her. >> let's go out -- thank you, god bless you and god bless america. >> reporter: whether or not bernie sanders is ready to do the same. for "abc news nosho "nightline". we'll be right back with final thoughts on this historic moment.

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