Cissy Houston (Whitney's Mother) First Time Speaking Out Since Icon's Death... And She's Angry!! [Video]

We feel Cissy Houston demands a ton of respect, but we can’t help but wonder how her daughter’s death is used to launch albums and talk about one’s self:

In Cissy Houston’s first interview since the death of her daughter Whitney, she condemned the media for rehashing her daughter’s struggles with drugs and denied reports that the singer was broke.

In the exclusive interview with My9 held Thursday at New Hope Baptist Church, where the legendary singer was eulogized last month by Dionne Warwick, Clive Davis, Kevin Costner and Tyler Perry, Cissy Houston told reporter Brenda Strong that the media has been “awful,” and that her own temper had kept her from speaking out before now.

“All they know is what they hear, bad things, she’s had her ups and downs. Who hasn’t?” she said in the taped interview — which will air Monday night during the 10 O’Clock News on Channel 9 in New York. “Let them think and know what they want to say … I just hope they never come and say it to me.”

Whitney Houston, 48, was found unresponsive and underwater in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room Feb. 12, just hours before she was to appear at Davis’s annual pre-Grammy party.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office revealed last week that the singer drowned after using cocaine, and that toxicology tests showed she was a habitual cocaine user. Cocaine and heart disease contributed to her death, according to the coroner.

Turn the page for the intimate interview.