BEECH ISLAND, S.C. - James Brown's widow said Monday she was denied access to the home she shared with the singer and their 5-year-old son, claiming the gate was padlocked at the request of Brown's lawyer and accountant.

In a file photo Kennedy Center honoree James Brown and his wife, Tomi Rae, arrive at the State Department for a reception for this year's honorees Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003, in Washington. [AP]

Tomi Rae Brown, 36, who was one of James Brown's backup singers, said she was at a retreat when her 73-year-old husband died shortly after he was hospitalized in Atlanta.

"The last thing he said to me was, 'I love you baby and I'll see you soon,'" she told The Augusta Chronicle.

But when she returned to their home hours after her husband died of heart failure, security guards told her James Brown's lawyer, Buddy Dallas, and accountant, David Cannon, said she was not allowed inside, she said.

She said she does not own the deed to the home, but said she had a legal right to live there.

"This is my home," she told a reporter for the newspaper outside the gate of the house. "I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go."

Frank Copsidas, James Brown's agent, told The Associated Press that Cannon had declined to comment on the situation.

The couple had a tumultuous relationship since they married in December 2001.

James Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with his wife and was let off with a $1,087 fine.

He was accused of pushing his wife to the floor and threatening to kill her at the couple's home about 70 miles southwest of Columbia.