Bobbi Kristina Brown's quality of life won't be known 'for years'

Bobbi Kristina Brown’s quality of life won’t be known ‘for years’

April 20, 2015 2:19 PM PT

Bobby Brown told a Texas audience Saturday night that his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was “awake” and no longer on life support -- and while the singer’s comments apparently shouldn’t be taken 100% literally, the 22-year-old’s condition has in fact changed, his attorney said Monday.

“Bobbi Kristina’s condition has changed since moving from Emory University Hospital and there has been improvement,” Christopher Brown of Brown & Rosen LLC said in a statement.

“Doctors have indicated that she will have a long life. However, Bobbi Kristina is presently embarking on a rehabilitation process and the quality of her life will not be known for years to come.”

Alicia Etheredge-Brown, the R&B singer’s wife, explained in the same statement that her husband had been “emotional” when he was onstage in the Dallas area on Saturday and addressed the audience in “an attempt to correct the negative comments he must endure on a daily basis” about his daughter’s condition.

Bobbi Kristina Brown “has made it out of ICU, opened her eyes, and started a rehabilitation that will be long and hard,” Etheredge-Brown said.

Bobby Brown created a stir when he told the concert audience, “I can say today, my baby’s awake. She’s watching me.” Videos of his declaration were subsequently posted on Instagram.

“So don’t believe what you read,” the 46-year-old said in another snippet from the show. “No life support, nothing. She’s breathing on her own. She’s living on her own.”

A source close to the family told Gossip Cop on Monday that despite being off a ventilator, the 22-year-old had experienced “no change in her condition.” A source told E! News that she has been off the ventilator but there had been no dramatic signs of improvement in recent weeks.

Cissy Houston said Monday in a statement to People that she’d recently been to see her granddaughter and was saddened after talking to doctors who said Bobbi Kristina could “live in this condition for a lifetime.”

“While she is no longer in a medically induced coma, she has a tracheotomy, and according to the doctors she has global and irreversible brain damage and remains unresponsive,” Houston said.

The Monday statement from Etheredge-Brown referenced a pretty broad window of time, saying Bobby Brown was “encouraged by the steps that Bobbi Kristina has made since her hospitalization on January 31, 2015.”

Bobbi Kristina Brown had been placed in a medically induced coma after being found unresponsive Jan. 31 in a bathtub at the Atlanta-area home she shares with beau Nick Gordon. She was moved in March from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta to a medical rehab facility.

The only child of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston had the tracheotomy done about three weeks after the incident to allow a ventilator tube to be placed to decrease the risk of infection. An attempt to bring her out of the coma in late February was called off after she experienced what People described as “violent seizures.”

Bobby Brown reportedly stayed by his daughter’s side until early April, when he had to perform at a festival in Los Angeles.

“We thank everyone that supports Bobbi Kristina,” he said in the Monday statement, “and God is hearing our prayers.”

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