Celebrity Big Brother 2017
Ray J made the shocking statements as he opened up about Whitney Houston's death Celebrity Big Brother/Channel 5

After just two days in the Celebrity Big Brother house, music star Ray J is already at the centre of controversy after cryptically claiming the death of Whitney Houston was "all my fault."

The 48-year-old singer died in 2012, the night before the Grammys, after accidentally drowning in the bathtub following a drugs overdose.

In a heart-to-heart with housemate Stacy Francis on Thursday (5 January) he said: "It's something that nobody can explain. It's all my fault. All my fault."

"No it's not," said Stacy. "I don't want you to say that."

"It's all my fault," Ray J continued. "All of that that happened. I wasn't there."

The pair both share a connection with Houston. The R&B singer was widely rumoured to be dating the I Will Always Love You singer before her death, while Francis was famously embroiled in a public row with her, witnessed by Ray J at a pre-Grammy club night.

On Wednesday (4 January), Stacy was visibly distressed after coming face-to-face with the music star who she accused of "throwing her under the bus" for not standing up for her during the fallout from Whitney's death in 2012.

Speaking to her fellow housemates, she said: "When Whitney Houston's sister Pat went on the Oprah show and said I was stalking Whitney Houston in the club, I was not, we were all standing there talking and having a good time, he knows that, he knows the events of the whole night."

An eyewitness told Mail Online that a jealous row erupted between the pair after Whitney saw Ray J talking with Stacy. The alleged altercation even turned physical with Whitney reportedly pushing Stacy on the forehead. She is said to have responded in kind and Houston was reportedly later seen exiting the club with blood running down her legs.

Houston was found dead in the bathtub in her suite at the Beverly Hilton just two days later.

Stacy claimed Ray J failed to defend her as she was vilified in the media for the alleged altercation, stating: "He never said this is a friend of my family. I've known Ray and his family over 15 years; he never came to bat for me. I wish he had the heart to say she wasn't stalking Whitney in the club, she's a friend. It was a hard time, I lost everything.

"Ray J threw me under the bus," she added. "When people in America tried to make me out to be something I wasn't, he never stood up for me. I want to know why he never said anything.

She told Coleen Nolan: "[Whitney] was never my enemy, it was cool. I was hit a hard blow. I felt like [Ray J] could've defended me."

Stacy and Ray J agreed to address the matter again later. The music star has also opened up about his sex tape with Kim Kardashian describing it as the single defining event of his life.