Bobby Brown once hit his ex-wife Whitney Houston.

Bobby explained he had struck the singer at a time when he was "trying to maintain sobriety" but insisted he was not "violent".

Speaking of the incident, which he details in his forthcoming memoir 'Every Little Step', in his '20/20' interview, he added: "I've never been a violent man toward a woman ever."

The 47-year-old singer was married to Whitney, who tragically passed away in 2012 at the age of 48 from an accidental drug overdose, from 1992 until 2007 when the pop diva filed for divorce and received custody of their then-14-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina.

Bobby believes their marriage began to crumble when they both got hooked on drugs and battled to get sober. He said: "The last few years of our marriage it was terrible. Both of us trying to be clean, or one of us trying to be clean..."

The R&B singer also claimed he and Whitney would spend hours a day locked in a room in their mansion doing drugs while a nanny cared for their young daughter Bobbi, who tragically died last year aged 22 months after she was found unconscious in a bathtub - similar to her mother's death - in her home.

He explained: "I always made it a point to not let her see me or my wife in that type of situation. It's hard when you're doing it everyday, it's really hard. We could have been better [for Bobbi]. We should have been better."

Bobby - who claims he's now drug-free - is now married to Alicia Etheredge and are expecting their third child together.

The singer also has three other children from past relationships.