Inside Marques Houston's Near-Death Experience With Brandy

Brandy Rayana Norwood, known mononymously as Brandy, has had a long career in the music industry. During the late '90s, Brandy climbed the music charts, had her own hit television series Moesha, and played Cinderella in the 1997 made-for-television adaption of the Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber. In a 2017 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the multi-hyphenated star reflected on the historical impact of this diverse Disney rendition. 

"You had a young African American lady with braids in her hair as Cinderella. Just that alone was brilliant. Everyone was multicultural," she said. "You could just see the differences of humanity reflected in this entire cast and I think if someone really believed in an idea like that in today's time that it could definitely work. It worked then."

However, despite her many accomplishments, the "Baby Mama" singer had a couple of freak accidents that not only blemished her Hollywood "good girl" record, but nearly took the life of fellow musician Marques Houston and another young star. Keep scrolling to learn what happened. 

Although Brandy has had an incredibly successful career in music, film, and television, it's hard not to bring up the near-death incident that she experienced alongside Immature member Marques Houston. Represented by the same talent agent, Brandy joined Houston's R&B boy band as a backup singer, so the pair spent plenty of time together while on tour during the early stages of their careers (per Showbiz Cheatsheet). In a 2010 interview with VIBE, the former Sister, Sister star spoke candidly about the event. 

"This is actually a really weird story. Brandy Norwood and I always bring this up whenever we see each other—we say we almost died together," Houston explained. "It was our old office building and there was a guy who had a back office. He was working real late one night and we scared him," Houston explained. "We kept sneaking around to the window and tapping on the back and he actually came out with a gun and had he not seen it was us, we probably would have gotten shot! But that's one of the sneakiest or most mischievous things I've done when I was young." 

While the then-teenagers never intended to do harm, the outcome certainly could've been deadly. And, if that's not already a wild story, there's also the time Brandy blinded another Immature member. But what led to that unfortunate accident? Keep scrolling to learn that story. 

For years, R&B fans created a mixed bag of rumors as to why Immature member Romeo — born Jerome Isaac Jones — wore an eye patch. Amongst those rumors was the speculation that Moesha's Brandy Norwood had something to do with it. As far-fetched as it might seem, Romeo confirmed that an accident involving the singer did indeed partially blind him. 

In a 2019 radio interview with host Nick Cannon on Power 106.1 FM, the former boy band member explained, "That's a true story. Her and [original Immature member] Half-Pint had gotten into it, she had a book in her hand and just tossed it back. Not thinking anyone was that close and cut my retina, detached it. The lens to my eye had fallen out." Apparently fellow band member Marques Houston walked in right after the incident, at which point Brandy scrambled to explain. 

Romeo continued, "[Moesha actor] Brandon Adams caught it. He was there with us. So, he's standing there holding my lens. He's not knowing what's going on. [Marques] come in and we were trying to hide it." While Brandy surely didn't intend to harm Romeo, as he was merely an innocent bystander, that's one freak accident none of them will ever forget.