Bobby Brown Wonders If Childhood Trauma Played A Role In His Past Arrests

Once an ‘80s and ‘90s heartthrob, Bobby Brown has been through a lot.

In May 2022, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter revealed that he was molested as a child by a priest before he became a member of the boy band New Edition.

“I was sent to a temporary custody by social services which was supposed to be a religious place, but it wasn’t a very nice place to be for a child. One of the priests tried to molest me,” Brown said in the four-part docuseries, Biography: Bobby Brown. “He tried to touch my private parts … At that time, I was a young boy. I didn’t know what sexual boundaries were. I just knew I didn’t like being touched. Some things are hard to forget.”

The “Every Little Step I Take” hitmaker said he fought back and eventually fled but it was this encounter that would be part of the reason for his substance abuse and addiction.

“I think it was part of the reason I did things, other things, drugs, alcohol, why I abused myself,” Yahoo reported Brown as saying.

The former husband of the legendary singer Whitney Houston said he is sober now. Here are some of the charges he’s faced over the years:

1989

Brown was arrested in Columbus, Georgia for violating the city’s “anti-lewdness law,” according to the AP.

“He brought a woman up from the audience and was dancing around her,” the police major, at the time, John Wood said. “He then got right up to her and began hunching ‘round her.” Brown was taken to the local jailhouse, paid a $652 fine, and then returned to finish his show.

1998

Brown was sentenced to five days in prison and ordered to undergo drug treatment, according to MTV News. This came after an incident in 1996 where the singer was driving under the influence and lost control of his car.

That same year, the singer was arrested in California for sexual battery, according to MTV News. He was accused of slapping a teenager on the rear end at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The AP reported that nearly a month after his arrest, the charges were dropped due to “insufficient evidence.”

Also, that year, Brown pleaded guilty to another DUI. He also refused to take a urine test and did not fulfill his promise to film an anti-drug and alcohol PSA, according to MTV News.

2000

Brown spent 65 days in a Florida prison for several parole violations, including from a 1996 and 1998 DUI, according to MTV News.

2002

The R&B singer was arrested for driving without a license, speeding, and marijuana possession. According to CBS, he was ordered to pay $1,450 in fines for the charges. He also was ordered to serve 30 hours of community service.

2003

Brown was sentenced to eight days in jail and ordered not to drive for a year, after pleading guilty to drunk driving in 1996.

According to Billboard, the “My Prerogative” singer also had to do 240 hours of community service, pay $2800 in fines, and be on probation for two years.

2012

The singer was arrested for drunk driving. He was taken to jail but released on bond about seven hours later, according to CNN.

2013

Brown was sentenced to 55 days in prison and four years of probation for drunk driving, according to the BBC.

After his last jail sentence, in 2013, Brown told ABC News that he “didn’t want to be incarcerated ever, ever again.”