The estate of singing icon Whitney Houston is officially responding to Kanye West's use of a photo of her bathroom on the cover of an album he produced. The rapper and producer used the photo, which depicts the messy bathroom vanity strewn with items including what could have been drug paraphernalia, for the cover of Pusha T's album, "Daytona," released on his label GOOD Music. Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 2012. Prescription drugs were found near her body and bottles of alcohol were found in an adjacent room. She was 48. The photo used was reportedly taken years before her death. Houston's estate has come forward and said they are "extremely disappointed in Kanye's choice," in a statement to Entertainment Tonight. "Even in Whitney’s death, we see that no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world," the statement continues. Houston's estate did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for further comment. The estate is not the first entity or person to speak out again West using this photo. When the album dropped last week, Houston's cousin Damon Elliott told People magazine that the usage of the image was hurtful. He said he found out when his daughter called him in a panic. "She sent me this picture from the album cover and I immediately got sick to my stomach because it took me right back to six years ago," the music producer told the magazine. "To do something for a publicity stunt to sell records, it’s absolutely disgusting. It hurt my family and my daughter. It’s petty. It’s tacky." "I’ve watched the train wreck happening," Elliott added, referring to West's recent headlines, "but I didn’t think he’d go this far in invading someone’s family privacy." However, Houston's nephew, Gary Michael Houston, said that the anger has been misplaced. Gary Michael Houston, the son of the singer's brother Michael, told "Good Morning America" that fans should be upset with the unnamed family member who took the 2006 photo that later appeared in the National Enquirer. “Not to be divisive, but I’m of a different mindset when it comes to situations like this. People will automatically look to people like Pusha T and Kanye West and try to place blame or say they have ill or malicious intent in order to gain publicity. But I get it. I get the correlation (sans my aunt but the photo itself),” Gary Michael Houston said in a statement, “and I actually love the album.” “Bottom line — they are artists and in this day and age, if they can afford to pay someone for usage of that photograph in order to convey a visual message to accompany their musicianship ... then so be it,” the hip hop artist added. The controversial photo came at high price. Pusha T said West told him he paid $85,000 for the rights to use the photo. In an interview last week with Angie Martinez, Pusha T explained that the West decided to change the cover last minute. In fact, the original artwork was supposed to be a picture of him. "One a.m., my phone rings. No caller I.D.," the rapper said in the interview. "[West said], 'Hey, yeah, I think we should change the artwork.' And, 'I like this other artwork. And this other artwork is 85 grand.' I said, 'Hey, I don't want to pay for that and I wasn’t even going to ask you to pay for that. We picked what we picked, it’s here, it’s ready.' 'No, this is what people need to see to go along with this music. Im'ma pay for that.'" "Good Morning America"'s Joi-Marie McKenzie contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Kanye West paid $85,000 to license a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-filled bathroom for the cover of Pusha T’s new album “Daytona,” which was released today. The image, which was taken in Houston’s Atlanta home in 2006 after an alleged drug binge, features a multitude of drugs and paraphernalia. Pusha told radio host Angie Martinez Thursday that West, who produced the entire album, changed the artwork at the very last minute. “He changed my artwork last night at 1 a.m. He wasn’t feeling it,” Pusha told Martinez. “The [original] artwork — it was pictures that we all agreed on. He picked the photographer, I took these pictures, I was like, ‘Yo, these are fresh.’ I picked all of these pictures out, he had a little edit to it, how he wanted the actual grading of the picture to look. Picked the picture, great, we look, boom, boom, boom, it’s good.” Pusha said that West paid for the artwork out of his own pocket. “This is what people need to see to go along with this music,” Pusha quoted West as saying. The image has been altered slightly from its original rendition, which appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer: a beer can has been removed, presumably for copyright reasons. Pusha also said that West’s own album, which is due next week, may clarify some of the rapper’s recent controversial comments about Donald Trump and other matters, although he is somewhat vague on how that clarification takes place. “He’s speaking on a lot on this album,” he said. “And I feel like he even speaks it clearer and messages it clearer and better through the music. That’s where you can see a bit of like, OK, you’re asking these questions. You’re saying these things to get this type of emotion or just get an answer for something else. I feel like it’s better there.” https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/999877650087690240 VARIETY VIDEO:<doc-sep>Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. "That's really disgusting that he would do that," Bobby Brown told Rolling Stone “Why would he post that on his album cover? That’s really disgusting that he would do that,” Brown, 49, told Rolling Stone on Wednesday. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “That’s in really bad taste. Something should happen to Kanye. He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit,” the singer said, adding, “He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” bobby-brown-kanye-west Bobby Brown; Kanye West | Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Craig Barritt/Getty Houston, who struggled with drug addiction, was married to Brown from 1992 until 2007 and the pair had one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina, who died at age 22 in July 2015. Three years before Bobbi Kristina’s death, Houston was found dead in a bathtub at The Beverly Hilton hotel in February 2012. The icon’s death was ruled an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use also to blame. In August 2012, her autopsy stated she also had marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and other medication in her system. Want to keep up on the latest from PEOPLE? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our best stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox. In 2006, the National Enquirer featured the photo showing Houston’s bathroom filled with drug-covered spoons and drug paraphernalia on its cover, which had been taken secretly by a family member in 2006 as the late singer struggled with drug addiction. West paid $85,000 to license the photo but it is not clear who he paid to use the image. On Friday, Houston’s cousin, Damon Elliott, slammed West for using the photo of the late singer’s drug-strewn bathroom, telling PEOPLE, “I immediately got sick to my stomach because it took me right back to six years ago. I was actually in shock. I didn’t think [West] would go this far in invading someone’s family privacy.” Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Houston’s nephew, Gary Michael, defended West, telling Good Morning America in a statement: “Not to be divisive, but I’m of a different mindset when it comes to situations like this. People will automatically look to people like Pusha T and Kanye West and try to place blame or say they have ill or malicious intent to gain publicity. But I get it. I get the correlation (sans my aunt but the photo itself).” Gary Michael added, “Bottom line — they are artists and in this day and age, if they can afford to pay someone for usage of that photograph in order to convey a visual message to accompany their musicianship…then so be it.” whitney-houston-bobby-brown Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in October 2005 | Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImage Recently, Pusha T, 41, revealed that while he and West were originally intending to use different cover art for his new album DAYTONA, which West produced, the father of three ultimately changed his mind at the last minute. “One a.m., my phone rings. No caller ID. [He says,] ‘Hey, yeah, I think we should change the artwork. And I like this other artwork. And this other artwork is 85 grand,’ ” Pusha T recalled during his May 23 appearance on The Angie Martinez Show.<doc-sep>
Whitney Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown is not a fan of the cover art for Pusha T’s new album, “Daytona,” which features a photo of Houston’s drug-infested bathroom, taken in her Atlanta home in 2006 after an alleged binge. Kanye West, who produced the album, reportedly paid $85,000 to license the photo for the seven-song collection, released on May 25. “Why would he post that on his album cover?” Brown said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “That’s really disgusting that he would do that. That’s in really bad taste. Something should happen to Kanye. He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit. He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” The Whitney Houston estate issued a statement Tuesday in response to the cover, saying it was “extremely disappointed in Kanye’s choice” to use the photo. “Even in Whitney’s death, we see that no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world,” the statement said. Pusha spoke with Radio Host Angie Martinez on May 24 and said that West, who produced the entire album, changed the artwork at the very last minute. “He changed my artwork last night at 1 a.m. He wasn’t feeling it,” Pusha told Martinez. “The [original] artwork — it was pictures that we all agreed on. He picked the photographer, I took these pictures, I was like, ‘Yo, these are fresh.’ I picked all of these pictures out, he had a little edit to it, how he wanted the actual grading of the picture to look. Picked the picture, great, we look, boom, boom, boom, it’s good.”