Whitney Houston's death was feared

Los Angeles - Whitney Houston's sister-in-law says she feared that the singer's life would be ended by drugs.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Patricia Houston said she would be "kidding herself" to say otherwise.

Patricia Houston, who was her sister-in-law's manager, was asked if she thought drugs would end up "taking" Whitney Houston.

The "handwriting was kind of on the wall," Patricia Houston replied in an interview to air at 21:00 on Sunday on the OWN channel.

The pop star's life was changing, Patricia Houston said, suggesting that substance abuse wasn't the problem but rather her "lifestyle". Whitney Houston was looking for love "in all the wrong places", her sister-in-law told Winfrey.

Tests were being conducted to reveal the cause of the singer's February 11 death.