Whitney Houston appears to have rid herself of hubby Bobby Brown. Whether he gets back into the house may depend on hip-hop temptress Karrine Steffans. Houston’s friends have long blamed Brown for her woefully heavy eyelids. So they’re praying she has the strength to change the locks. Good thing, then, that he’s been distracted by Karrine. You remember Karrine. Back when she was, as she puts it, "a coke whore," hip-hop playas called her Superhead. But then she sobered up and wrote a best seller, "Confessions of a Video Vixen," recounting the bedroom (and backseat) quirks of Usher, Diddy, Vin Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal and Ja Rule, among others. She also wrote about Bobby – their bizarre 2002 encounter when "he told me he was a member of Al Qaeda and that President Bush was looking for him." Lately, she’s been seen around L.A. with him. So what’s up with them? "It’s a really tricky situation," she told us this week, as she test-drove a Mercedes SLK 280. "He is my dearest friend. But I’m not saying it’s romantic. We won’t know what it is till we’re ready. "There’s a wife and children involved," the single mom went on. "I don’t want to wreck any marriages. But if a marriage is already wrecked, that’s not my fault." So she and Bobby have been intimate? "It’s none of your business," she scolded. "I’m still celibate. And if you believe that, I’ll tell you another one." "Look," she said, shifting the Benz into a higher gear, "there are way bigger things in the works than a romance. I’m a businesswoman. Bobby and I are working together on some things." Somebody told online gossip Janet Charleton that Karrine is "using Bobby because she wants her own reality show." "Please," she said. "You think I need Bobby Brown to get a reality show? I’ve turned down four reality shows." And what about the supposed "love of my life," Bill Maher? In April, Karrine told us that she was so besotted by the comic that "I will never be with another man." "We still talk," she says. "I’m going to have dinner with Bill next week" to celebrate her 28th birthday. As for Whitney, she says, "I’ve never met her, but I’m a big fan. I want her to come back and sing her heart out." Keep Bobby busy, Karrine, and she just might.
Rush & Molloy
Bobby is not going to leave Whitney for her.
