Whitney Houston
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We're back. Did you miss us? I missed you guys. Guys, did everyone have a good fall break? Tess, your fall break looked lovely. I had a lovely fall break. Everyone else was like, we were working, we were miserable. But glad to know that you actually, you know, you were doing field research. Yeah, guys, it wasn't vacation. It was work-related, purely professional. Write it off. Write it off.

That's how that works. Sure does. Yeah, as some of you may have seen in our stories, I was in Chappaqua with the ghost of Ted Kennedy. And Mary Jo. And Mary Jo. R.I.P. that sweet angel. As hard as it is to say. Went to the Dyke Bridge. Yeah. Felt some crazy energy there. Did you? I did. Took some romantic selfies in front of the Dyke Bridge.

We love to see it. We love to revisit history and... That's all we do. That's all we do here. That's why we travel near and far. Near and far. To be committed to our craft. Our craft. And for you guys. Exactly. Everything we do is for you. Is for you. Like this episode, actually. That's true. Who rec... Wait, do you want to say who we're doing? So today, we are going to be talking about none other than the queen, the icon, the

And the legend, Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston. When I tell you that I have been singing her songs in my head all day, it's going to be so hard not to sing into the mic. It sure is because guys, today we are really fancy. The fanciest we've ever been. We have like a gorgeous set up.

And this mic, I hope it sounds as good as it feels. It feels fresh as hell. So fresh. Like this makes me want to become a singer. I know, me too. I mean, I think I'm going after this podcast, just going to go record some stuff. Yeah, same, change of careers. Yeah. But yeah, I forget...

what options or why I think you guys all voted on Whitney. Who came up with Whitney? Did you come up with Whitney? Yeah, I think I was just like, I want to do a pop star, a diva, a legendary woman. And I think it was between her history of weed. Why didn't you guys vote for that? No one voted for history of weed, by the way, but we'll talk about that later. We're getting to it, whether you guys like it or not. That was the out of all four. There was only like two votes on that one. You squares. I know. What the hell is wrong with you?

Go get high. Boring. Boring. But Whitney was the winner. Whitney was the winner, and I can see why. I can't. Because before the research, obviously I know her hits. Everyone loves them. Everyone likes to sing them. Always a crowd pleaser. And I knew her fate. But...

I didn't, I didn't know the darkness, honestly, because this episode at first I was like, Oh, we're doing a fun episode today. And there are elements that are amazing. And like, she's, her life is to be celebrated. There's so many just magical parts of her and what she did for people. However, a lot of it is just super heavy. And with that sort of fame comes,

that sort of trauma that she went through, you know, her entire life. I also feel like she's one of the ones that was the first to do what she did, you know, where it's like the Elvis, the Beatles, like they're the kind of the first of their kind and that's how she was. So it's like, there wasn't a roadmap for that. No. And I still don't know a lot of what we're going to be talking about. Yeah. That's a good way to put it, that there wasn't a roadmap because I think she took on a lot. Um, she had a lot of people that were relying on her. Um,

And, you know, people were just obsessed with her. I'm obsessed with her. How can you not be? She is just, God, what a, the voice people called her. The voice.

She is the voice. I have watched her Star Spangled Banner performance for the 1991 Super Bowl. It's like my most watched YouTube video. I had never seen it before. It's one of those videos, too, that everyone has a video that they're like, hey, guys, do you want to watch this? You have to watch this. And everyone's like, please don't. Yeah, they're like, is it going to be that great? And then it is. It's wild. She's phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. And so beautiful. So beautiful. And we're wearing big sunglasses right now in two tubes. We sure are. Check.

Check out our Instagram. Check out our TikTok. It's in honor of her in the 80s. Yes. Who doesn't love a tutu? Who doesn't love a tutu? Also shocked that I found three tutus in my wardrobe.

wardrobe at home. I was actually going to ask where these are from. It's a good question, Claire. I think from college, probably from... Your theme parties. Probably from an 80s party. Shout out to Hannah. You know what I'm talking about. And we'll move on because sometimes 80s parties just, they don't hit the way that you expect them to. No, they don't go the way they planned. No, nothing does. Nothing does. But anything else you'd like to say to honor the queen? I mean...

Maybe we'll talk about it, but just her performance as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella is unmatched to anything. Nothing can compare. That movie, if you guys haven't seen it, it's with Brandy as Cinderella. Yes. Was it 1997? It's probably. I feel like a lot of shit went down in 97, including Cinderella. And Titanic. What a year for cinema. Yeah.

Wow. We didn't even know. We took it for granted. We didn't know what we had. Until it's gone. Wow. Wow. But I mean, phenomenal. Whoopi Goldberg as the mom. Truly amazing. And also what a diverse cast for the 90s. So diverse. So diverse of Victor Garber. Oh my God. So diverse to the fact that it doesn't make sense, but it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing because they just were like, who the fuck cares? Just cast.

however we want. And I love that. I love that too. Love to see it. But that's my, my notes on that. Well, yeah, I mean most, um, I will say that, um, I got all of my information from two sources, one being a vanity fair article by Mark seal called the devils and the diva. Really good article. Um, and then the documentary, the 2018 documentary, um, by Kevin McDonald who directed it just called Whitney, um,

And Tess told me she was watching that and I watched the trailer and just started tearing up. So buckle up for this one. It was emotional. It was very well done. I mean, they interview everyone. They interview her ex-husband. Bobby. Which was interesting. So I might be referring at some points just like the physical reactions I saw from people, which I really thought was...

Yeah.

And we're drinking rosé. Rosé. She's our rose. She is our rose. It's French rosé. She liked Paris. She liked going there. Did she? She did. And this is to Whitney. It's Whitney. I believe she went on her honeymoon in either Paris or Italy. Right answer's mostly not sure, but one of those. Don't quote us on it. Please never do. Please never do. Just claiming. All right, take a little sip. It's fresh. It's in the back of the throat. Little slap your mouth.

All right, so I'm like, should I keep my sunglasses on right now or off? I know. Like, I can't see. It just feels so dark. I might take them off just for a second. Yes, I need to take the sunglasses off. Just so I can see my notes. I was like, whoa, I felt like I was in a cave for a second. Whoa, same, same. Okay, it was a little unsettling. But we do it for you guys. We do. All right, so our Queen Whitney, she was born in Newark, New Jersey, August 9th, 1963, and

A Leo. A Leo. And there it is. If you guys don't believe in astrology, think again. Yeah, think again. That's your truth, but you're wrong. Exactly. And we're right.

She grew up attending and singing in the New Hope Baptist Church, which was located in Newark. She and her family were all very spiritual, very religious. She absolutely loved to sing. She loved going to church. Her mother, Sissy, led the choir. And her mother, Sissy, was already famous. She was a backup singer for Elvis, Diane Warwick, Aretha Franklin, who is technically Whitney's honorary aunt.

And she had her own solo career and won two Grammys. Sissy? I had no idea that she was from a legendary musical family. I had no idea either. Wait, what? Yeah, Sissy, she won in 1997, 1999, she won Traditional Gospel Album of the Year. And she's just hanging in New Jersey? And she's hanging in New Jersey, but she was on the road quite a bit. Oh, wow, I bet. And when she tried to pursue her own solo career, which wasn't as successful, she

But she was just constantly singing and constantly working, thus putting a little bit of pressure on Whitney. A little bit of a...

Little bit of a stage mom. Like her leftover dreams go to her daughter. Yes. And people were just in awe of Sissy's voice. And some even were like, no one could ever top this voice. But obviously she did not receive the same sort of fame as Whitney did. But she was very much the disciplinarian to Whitney. She was super hard on her as she was training her.

But Whitney obviously learned a lot from her. She was in the studios with her when she was growing up. And then she started singing with her mom as backup for her. So it was like this chain of... I can't imagine just having such beautiful voices in one family. Like if my child or my mom could sing like that at all time, I'd be like, don't talk to me, sing to me. Sing it. I mean, just imagine listening to all these women in the shower. What?

You're just like cooking dinner and you're like, God damn. Everyone's like, I'll be God's hands. I'll be God. I'm not even going to try to sing at some point. Yeah. It's coming. Don't worry. Give me 30 minutes. And her father, John, he was a part Native American gospel groupie who drove a cab when he met Sissy, then had a failed manager career in music, then worked for Newark's government office. He was all over the place.

But his main passion and mission was to manage music. He tried to do it for Sissy. He then did it for Whitney, which I'll get into later. He was very much the man of the house. And you could say that the power struggles of that era

were very detrimental to the whole family. A little foreshadow. I'm just like already like uneasy about that situation. Yeah, it's like, I mean, the story of their family, there were a lot of shocks, but also a lot of like, yep, this is what fucking happens, especially with male egos and...

stage moms and just the combination of all of that was tricky for her. It's like when people, it's just like people putting their dreams in their children. Exactly. And doing everything that they can to make sure their children live it out. Exactly. Um,

Um, but she had two brothers, Michael and Gary. Um, in the documentary, Michael said that growing up, Whitney was just this sweet little sassy, full of life kid. She was always playing. She wasn't afraid to get dirty. She was just all like outside until she had to come in, just running around, um,

Singing constantly. Oh, my God. I mean, with a voice like that, how could you not? Just riding your bike to school and just belting it. Can you imagine, like, walking and then all of a sudden this little girl walks by and it's Whitney Houston's voice and you're like, what the fuck? You're like, if only I could have half that talent. Come here, kid. Yeah, exactly. But she genuinely loved church and she loved singing to God. That was her mission and she...

She couldn't get enough. I mean, I bet there's no greater place than a church for acoustics sometimes. Oh, God, it's so true. Just like right here. Child's Pirate Studios. Child's Pirate. If only Whitney could have performed here. She would have loved it. She would have loved it. So her mom said that everybody loved her, but everybody was very jealous of her growing up. She had a lot of issues with other girls in school because she was very beautiful. She was very full of life. And also they were very comfortable in middle class.

And this sort of represented the struggle that Whitney had as a child that also she had into her life of the duality between wanting to be a part of like two different communities. And it was tough for her. So she was bullied a lot like pre-teens era were really tough for her.

It's already tough enough. And then to be talented and... Yes, it wasn't easy. And she kept her chin up, you could say. She knew that she wanted to be famous. When she was 13, she spent every Saturday for months at a local theater watching Sparkle. Oh my God, Sparkle. Wait, is that Mariah Carey's Sparkle? No, that's Glitter. Oh, yeah.

I was like, the timeline just does not add up. Wait, what's Sparkle again? So Sparkle is about these three black women in the 70s who are trying to be singers and then they end up falling prey to drugs.

She would spend her Saturdays watching that? Yes. She later said as a quote, as a young black girl in the 70s, there was the black exploitation movie thing. This was a positive reinforcement for young African-American women, for anyone who wanted to pursue their dream and present their gifts. It just appealed to me. I have chills. I know. I know. This was her favorite movie.

During this time is when she became more involved with her mother's career is when she was actually going to the studio and singing backup for her. But also during this time, times were changing. In 1977, when she was 14, her parents got divorced. Okay.

Because her mother was having an affair with somebody in the church. Oh, shit. That stings. So a lot of resentment was starting to build up between Whitney and her mother. At this time, she was very much like a quote, like a daddy's girl, took the dad's side, kind of felt like the mom had destroyed their family. But she just kept focusing on music. And her dad wanted to put her into modeling.

So before she was allowed to pursue music full time and she was in an all girls Catholic high school, like they were pretty strict. She was already signed with Wilhelmina.

I mean, with a face like that. I mean, truly, they were like, at least put her on the cover of the magazine. Everything. So she was in Seventeen. She was in ad campaigns. I had no idea. She was like modeling. Oh, yeah. It showed some footage of her and I was like, stunning. And like, it looked like she did it effortlessly. What she did. She was tall. She was thin, gorgeous, but she did not like it. Oh. Her management team at the time said that she liked to sleep, party, hang out with her friend Robin, which we'll get to. Okay. And her cats.

I mean, who amongst us doesn't love to sleep party and hang with cats? What else do you need? Not much. What else do you need? So she was a cat lady. She was a cat lady. Okay, cool. Which kind of shocked me, but I could see at the same time. Yeah, no, it suits her to me. I could see that. From what I know. So when she was singing backup for her mom, Gary Griffith, director of A&R, discovered her singing Home, which Home is from, oh God, what is that musical?

What is that musical? We're gonna sing till we figure out the musical. I don't remember and I thought I had it in my notes. Not sure what musical it's from. She was singing Edward Sharp, Magnetic Zero's Home. She was like, do, do, do.

She was singing home in a 7th Avenue South nightclub. Gary then led her to Clive Davis. Oh, shit. Who had discovered Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen. And he was like, holy shit. I found a woman and an artist unlike anything we have seen before. Clive had been trying to create this pop diva.

An artist that transcended all genres. He tried with Aretha, but she was too defined as like queen of soul. He tried. Yeah, he just he hadn't found anybody like her yet. And then finally along came Whitney. She was beautiful. She was talented. She was a little rough, rough around the edges. And he was like, but that could be fixed. We want this quote, black princess. That is so cool.

And a lot of that, too, had to do with her good girl religious background. Like, I think they really liked this innocence. They liked how sweet she was and kind of like all-American girl. Like, but I'm a little bit goofy. Like, her company was called Nippy Inc. because her enterprise, because that was her nickname. Nippy. Nippy. Cute. Which kind of like, it just makes sense for what I can see that she was like of just a little like...

Just a little. Like a little spicy. A little spicy and a little silly, but like a sweet girl. But yeah, Nippy was after a nickname modeled after a comic book character always getting into trouble. We love that again. We do love that. Oh, home is from The Wiz. Oh, The Wiz. The Wiz. Oh my gosh, The Wiz. The Wiz. The Wiz.

Of course! Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, how could we forget? Highly recommend for everyone to watch her do that on the Merv Griffin show. It is just stunning. And she's just effortless. It's like it doesn't even take anything for her to be like that. That is the thing is you hear her voice and then you see her sing and it's like she's just talking. Yeah, it's absolutely insane. So please everybody watch that. But you could say from this, a star was born.

And there it is. And there it is. When she was 21, Whitney Houston, her first album, was released in 1985. It sold 25 million copies. Holy shit. Rolling Stones magazine praised Houston, calling her one of the most exciting new voices in decades. But that was her first album and it sold 25 million copies? Truly an immediate success. No kidding. Like, and for that time, too. Yeah. And that's, you know, like, it's so weird to think about people going out and...

And don't you miss that feeling of going out and buying a CD? And a tape? Truly. I miss it so much. I miss it too. There's something like, oh, like I really miss like that and Blockbuster are two things where I'm like, have we lost that magic? We have, but let's bring it back. Let's bring it back. We're going to open a Blockbuster tonight. Yeah, guys. Right Answers Mostly is now going to have CDs. You can go buy them at Borders. We're going to make a lot of money off of it. Yeah.

And so during this time, she also began performing on late night television talk shows, which usually were not accessible to unestablished black women and artists. I'm just like such a big eye roll. It's like, guys, please. Yeah. And people were fucking loving it. Yeah. Which just shows, yes, people want to see talented people perform. It does not matter. Yeah, exactly. Talented people. That's it. Exactly. So Houston then embarked on her world tour, which

The album became an international success. It was certified 13 platinum diamond. Oh, I think that's a big deal. I think it is too. I'm like, it looks fancy. A diamond. Love a diamond. I think, is diamonds like bigger than platinum? Yeah.

Diamond, platinum. I feel like platinum is a big thing and then diamond is like beyond. I think so. All the music people listening because there's so many of you right now. Yeah, guys. You guys know that that's huge. Yeah, it's a big deal. It's a big deal.

Soon after, in 1987, just two years later, Whitney was released. It was equally successful. Houston became the first woman in the music history to debut at number one on Billboard 200 album chart, the first artist to enter the album chart at number one in both US and UK.

I mean, the statistics are just crazy. The first woman? The first woman. I didn't know that she just, I mean, she broke records and just immediately. Immediately, yeah. This is two years and two albums that were just equally as successful. The album's first single, I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. You know it was coming, guys. I wanna feel the heat with somebody. Oh, yeah.

You guys want us to keep going? Yeah, it's just like, please sing along. It's so great. It was just this massive hit worldwide. Weddings were never the same. No, and just, I mean, everywhere in Australia, Germany, UK, number one, topping the single charts for months and months. People could not get enough of it. I still can't get enough of it. Oh, God. Yeah.

And, you know, her success just kept skyrocketing. In 1988, at the 30th Grammy Award, she was nominated for three awards, including Album of the Year. She won her second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with I Wanna Dance With Somebody. If I was in that category with her, I'd be like, I'm just not gonna go. Yeah, I'd be like, guys, just TiVo it, honestly. I'm gonna be sleeping. Like, you know that she's going to win, please. Truly. Yeah.

And then she went on her second world tour, which was one of the 10 highest grossing concerts tours of 1987. One of the 10. I'm like, huh. What are the other? I bet like Michael Jackson. Yeah, I mean, 80s. 80s and music. Yeah. 80s. You know, people are big fans. 80s is... No, I'm just gonna... What? It's one of my least favorites. Is it? Well, let's not exclude Whitney. I mean, I love Whitney, but some of it is...

I understand. I, what do I love in the eighties? Um, well, I, I, I'm a big Madonna fan. Yeah. Madonna is amazing. Who else is in eighties? Abba was seventies. I love like the seventies. Totally. Eighties. Yeah. I mean, George Michael. Great. Yeah. I mean, some of it's super cheesy. Yeah, exactly. I think that's what just kills me sometimes. It can be a bit much. Time and place. Isn't it for everything? Um, um,

So Forbes announced that she was one of the 10 highest earning American entertainers at this time worth 44 million in just a few years after she debuted her number one album. And like, unfortunately, this is...

a thing but like for a black woman too that's incredible it's incredible yeah and well deserved she surpassed the Beatles with seven number one hits fuck yeah you did Whitney that's right girl you just take those little boys down it's like oh we love the Beatles too we sure do yeah yeah um so during these early years Houston did not really do a lot of interviews um

Shortly after her Grammy wins and just this worldwide success, people were like, huh, let's start to talk about her personal life. Because of course, no successful, talented woman, artist, pop star can just have that. It has to be, well, let's get to the nitty gritty of everything. So she was friends with this woman, a

I think they met when she was 21. Her name was Robin Crawford. They became very close and people soon began speculating that they were in a romantic relationship. Oh. And Out Magazine, they ended up... They were the first ones to release this article about Whitney being a closeted lesbian, which is just so like... Fucked up. So fucked up, so...

For Out Magazine to be doing that too, which is LGBTQ. They should know better than anyone. It's really gross and I was really shocked to hear that actually. They should be ashamed of themselves. They should be. Whoever did that should be ashamed of themselves. In the article it says, quote, this diva is a dyke.

What? Excuse me? Yep. So very quickly, people are speculating about her relationship with Robin. In the documentary that I watched, when the producers are asking every single person in her family, her brothers, her cousins, her aunts, about Robin, all of them are... Their faces look disgusted. They are like, oh, she's a snake. We're not talking about her. So Robin...

Her brother literally said she's an opportunist. She's evil and wicked. They all knew that Robin was a lesbian. Yeah.

And they thought that she was going to tarnish this back to the, quote, black American princess, all American girl. They were very threatened by her. And they didn't like that Robin was, as Whitney was going up the ladder in fame and success and financially as well, they didn't like that Robin was her safety net. And they felt like Robin was going to take Whitney away from them. Their safety net really of like their money, but it's Whitney's money. Yeah.

And there it is. And there it is. And there it is. And there it is. Wait, was Robin in music? Robin was not in music, but she went on tour with Whitney. She was her kind of like right-hand woman to anything if she needed. She was more like a comfort to have, but she was technically on payroll. Okay. So she was like kind of best friend, personal assistant, like not technically her manager because her father was at this time. Oh, that's always tough. Do you think that they had...

a sexual relationship or romantic relationship? I think Whitney may have been confused with her feelings for her because of her quick escalation to fame and people taking advantage of her. I think she found comfort in her that she probably was confused. Um,

And there is something else that I will get to later that I think she had a part of her that really was in love with her. You know, I think that can, I think that can totally be true. Both things can be true. There is happiness. There it is. To quote Taylor Swift. Yeah, exactly. Whitney in heaven is like, please don't bring Taylor into this. Like we've had enough. This is about me. She would, she would. Um,

So it got dark very quickly. Whitney's father had an anonymous letter sent to him that he was offered $6,000 for him or for someone in the family to break Robin's legs.

Wait, a stranger said that? They're not sure who it was from, but they were getting death threats. And also the family was very homophobic. Well, that tends to be. And this is late 80s. This is not the time that we live in now. Like no one was saying like, good for you, Whitney. Hope you're happy. There was none of that. And Whitney's father.

His father, he had gone from making, you know, about like $500 a week in her early career to now $500,000 a year to manage her. So he is quickly now has all this money. This guy was driving a cab just a few years ago. This is what he always wanted. And it got pretty nasty. It quickly became about the money.

All about the money. Nothing else. Also, it's like, is he equipped to be managing the biggest superstar in the world when he kept failing managing before? No, no, absolutely not. And so this started, Whitney wanted, obviously she was very rich very quickly and she wanted all of her family to reap the benefits of that as well. So everyone in her family became on her payroll and she had a very big family. She had stepbrothers, cousins,

Tons of aunts, uncles. She wanted everyone to be paid very well. I mean, the idea sounds lovely, but it's... It's a little tricky. Her brother, Gary... Yeah, yeah. Put on those sunglasses. Put on the sunglasses. We're talking business and money, so I'm getting to business. That's true. As we talk business, the sunglasses go on. Her brother, Gary, who's actually in the NBA, and then he... Oh, shit. But it's a talented family. I know. I was just like, you guys are all hot and smart.

and artistic. Yeah, wow. What a dream. God, truly. He ended up not being able to renew his contract because of a failed drug test. So he became a backup singer for her. That's the next right step. Can you imagine if like one of us was just like, all right, you lost your job, come like. And he was a fine singer. But like he said that that was sort of the point where he was no longer Gary. He was Whitney's brother.

And things on tour started to shift. Oh, no. Gary was the first person to introduce drugs to Whitney. Oh, Gary. What kind of drugs? Well, at first it was a lot of pot.

Okay. Oh, it sounds funny to say pot. I know. But in the 80s, that's how they referred to it. So like all of my research is pot. So people love, you know, their words for what it is. I'd say weed. We say weed. I say weed a lot. But then also like, is it high? Is it stoned? Is it... I was so... I love saying stoned. It's like funny to say stoned. Yeah, I agree. Well, so we're no strangers to that. No, but also once again, 80s...

Oh, 80s weed. It's like, oh, you're smoking the gaunch? Smoking the gaunch, smoking the MJ? Yeah, it's a little bit more controversial. It wasn't as accessible. It wasn't talked about. It probably wasn't as good as it is now either. Oh, God, probably not. That's the truth. That ain't the damn truth. So what he said started sort of innocently. They always were trying to protect her, but also they were all young, and they were on tour for the first time together as this family. Yeah.

And pretty soon that weed went into a bag of Coke. It went into sprinkling a little bit of Coke into some joints. And it became more of an issue. I take off the glasses now because we're done talking about money. And it gets a little darker from here on out. Second tape goes in. Titanic.

I love when you bring a fact to Titanic. Never feel more in love with you. Thank you so much. That's how history goes. Ain't that the truth? And, you know, there's highs and lows. Times are getting a little bit, you know, a little bit more tough. During this time, critics are...

starting to be harder on Whitney, critics and the public for saying that she is starting to lose her soulful sound and she's going more into pop, sort of betraying the black community. People just cannot let these celebrities live their truth. No, and there's an interview with her, I forget what year it's in, and they're asking her about this and she just looks so perplexed and sort of exhausted and she just shrugs and she's like,

What do people want? I'm singing. I'm doing what I love. It's the voice that I think people love too. I am. She just like, she just kept repeating. I'm singing. It's what's coming out of my mouth. Why does it matter what it sounds like? Like I'm trying to make everyone happy, but I'm also trying to do what I love to do, which is to sing. Yes. Period. Why do we have to put her in a box?

Well, we always put women in boxes, don't we? That's what I just keep thinking. And especially a black woman. It's like, if this is how you started, you stay here. You have to make these people happy. You have to, it's very unfair. It is. She's an artist. Let her live. Let her live. At the 1998 Soul Train Music Awards, when she was nominated, what was her nomination?

I think for something, maybe vocals on a certain single. When in doubt with Whitney, just assume it's with vocals. Something stunning. She was booed and the crowd called her an Oreo. Oh, that is so rude, guys. This night was quite iconic for Whitney because this was also the night that she casually accidentally bumped into a 20-year-old entertainer who was also an R&B star.

He was a child of the projects. He had been stabbed and shot by 11. He started his own band, New Edition, at 14. He was used to being showered by girls' panties on stage. A father at 17. This was Bobby Brown. We all know where this is going. Yeah.

You know, he was this already bad boy. He was notorious for, you know, he was beating up people in public. He was doing drugs. People knew, but he was hot and girls were really into him. He was a star. Unfortunately, as a man, you don't necessarily have to have a good personality for people to like you. And ain't that the truth. Yeah. Did see him perform in,

a video of him performing that night. Live? Yeah. Yes. I saw him just a few weeks ago, actually. Oh my God. What song was he singing that I was like, he sings that? We have to look it up. It was, it was catchy. Bobby,

Bobby Brown songs. Oh. I like just know his name from Whitney. Do Bobby Brown Soul Train Music Awards. Because honestly, if I didn't really know all these things for a second, I could see her sitting in that crowd being like, who's that tall drink of water? Yeah, no kidding. I mean, attractive at the time. Yeah. My prerogative. Yes. Everybody's talking all these things about me. Why don't they just let me live to my heart's content?

And then Britney later sampled it. Yeah, that is not a Britney Spears original, guys. No, it's not. I forgot that he, yes, of course. Yes. And he's just dancing. And like, I was just like, I was just sitting on my couch being like, okay. Yeah. Okay. I understand. There's also, it's like when people are doing what they love and just performing on stage, it's unparalleled. Yes. She was sitting in the audience and she just took off her sunglasses and she was like, holy, yeah. Right. I'll be goddamned. What a man. Like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Just like that. Just like that. So, you know, she was attracted to him from the start. They had very different personalities. She was still this sort of angel and this good girl that people were like, she brings people together with her fun, poppy music. And she's beautiful and she wears, like. And then on the other hand, there's this sexy, dark man. And they became the couple, right?

Literally got married very soon after meeting. How soon? Tammy Faye Baker soon? Oh, God. I want to say it was just a few months. And went on their honeymoon and got pregnant on their honeymoon. Okay. Waste no time. Wasted no time. They gave birth to their daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, literally shortly after meeting. And Whitney's aunt pretty much raised her.

Raised their daughter because they had from the start this insanely codependent, obsessive, unhealthy emotionally and physically. They both got very into drugs together. This dark relationship. I think as we've seen with celebrity couples, with the struggle of when then one starts out as famous and the other is like on the rise to fame, especially with a man and a woman. And then it switches. Yeah.

It can be very hard for the male ego. Like who have we seen this? I mean, who haven't we seen this? I mean, breadwinner. Hello. I hate to speak ill. You're not speaking ill because it is true. It's true. It is. It's really tough. I hate to speak ill.

It's just so tough because you don't see this with women. You don't see the women being like, he's getting bigger than me. No. Because we're taught that that's actually like something to aspire to. You should be with a man that like makes more money than you. Yeah. People love. Boring. And then these fragile men are like, I cannot handle it. Fragile as hell. Fragile as hell. Like, please. Truly. That's boring. Like, come up with something else. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. Exactly.

Quickly forgot to mention, sorry that this is a little out of order, the 1991 Super Bowl we do have to talk about. This is what I live for. Truly. That's why I showed up today. Because, because with that criticism, she had a lot of pressure to perform at the Super Bowl and to make the national anthem something that she's like, okay, people are not really liking me. My black fans are disappointed in me. I feel like I can't reach my white fans. This is a lot at stake. And so...

They went back and forth with how to perform the song with sort of like what take take to do for it. And she essentially ended up like winging it. They had planned to do something a lot more like to break up the beats. I forget how it's explained. They ended up sort of, she was like, let me just sing from my heart. And this was also during the Gulf war where people, you know, really needed the, the, the patriotism and they needed the community. And she sang the national anthem and,

And people were like, she's back. That is the most beautiful thing we have ever heard. There's footage of people after and they're just like shook. Like they can't even speak. That's all people thought about during that game. I'm giving, like I have tears coming to my eyes because it is just such an incredible performance. And I saw on the documentary trailer for the documentary Whitney, that someone was like at that moment, she made everyone proud to be an American and,

And it is just so, like, when you watch that, it's so true. Like, you just feel the sense of, like, pride and, you know, connection to people. No, it's so true. Because, like, I will say I do think the national anthem is a beautiful song. Like, it does give me chills. Yes. Yeah.

I wouldn't say I'm like particularly patriotic. Yeah. And I felt that same way that if I were there, you're even watching it on YouTube now that you're just like, fuck yeah, I'm proud to be an American. It's all red, white and blue. But like actually, and like she's just, it's such a 90s dream too. She's like in a windbreaker and like the headbands, but she sings it so effortlessly and she's so beautiful. And it's just...

It's really something you must go Google it right now. It's beyond. You'll get tears in your eyes. You will. I mean, no matter what you think about this country, no matter what, at that moment, it's all okay. And we're all with Whitney in that moment. And it breaks my heart that she couldn't just, I'm glad that she, it sounds like she kind of did just go out there and sing, but that she had to like put all this thought into it that like no white man would ever have to worry about. Like someone would probably just go and like wear a, that's a whole nother story. Yeah.

It's people that were just men, male artists that just wear jean jackets. Yeah, exactly. And are like, whatever, I'm here. You know, the only national anthem equally or more iconic than that? Say it. The Fergie one. Yeah.

Oh, it is tough. For different reasons. It is very tough. If you haven't seen that, it is shocking. It's like a disgrace. It's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace. But this really put her, quote, back on the map. Like, you know, she had a moment of people were just questioning the future of her career and what she sort of embodied, which isn't fair. But people then once again just became re-obsessed with her.

And this launched her movie star career. Because then people were like, what a face. What an angel. What a voice. What a talent. She's a star, you see. A pa-pa-pa-pa. That's not how you hold a... A cigar? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Just like that? Yeah. A pa-pa. You must say pa-pa. Pa-pa. Pa-pa.

So Hollywood, Hollywood rang. And they were like... She answered. She sure did. Her dad answered. He was like, what? I'm here. Answer on the first ring.

It's like, please, down boy. They were casting a movie called The Bodyguard with no other than Kevin Costner. Kevin motherfucking Costner. He's so hot. What a sexy man. Sexy. Oh, y'all watching Yellowstone? I am. Oh, no, I haven't seen it. Get on it. Oh, wait. Oh, I forgot he's in that. Oh, yeah, he is. Yeah, hot.

Hot. And I'm sure many people have seen The Bodyguard. I actually have not seen it. I haven't either. We're going to watch soon. Documentary gave everything away. I know. Okay, well, we'll still watch. No, oh my God, I want to watch it. Yeah, yeah, we must. I can't believe I haven't seen it. I know, same. This movie, she plays a star that needs a bodyguard. And it's kind of like an old node of Hollywood romance, classic romance.

romantic rom-com sort of thing. And it was really iconic and revolutionary for the time because...

It had a white actor and a black actress and they have a love story and they have a Hollywood kiss that we've seen a thousand times. So when she's running off the plane, I mean, see the movie, but I know that. And it wasn't about race. There's no comments on it. It's just a love story. And so it was just this huge success and people were really moved by it. And she, you know, it was just critically acclaimed for just how beautiful

It was just like a beautiful love story. So was that story, was that part written for her or were they just like...

Oh, that's a good question. Shopping it around and stuff. I want to say that it may have even been written for her. I mean, no other person would be better for it. Could even do it. In an interview with Kevin Costner, he just was like, he just looks back so fondly on the time together during that movie and just said that she just was this like magnetic, energetic, beautiful, sweet woman. And he was like, I didn't even think like, you know, a lot of people, you know, there were some whispers before of like,

It's a black leading actress. And he was like, I never even thought once about that. He's like, you look at her. She's the most beautiful woman in the world. No one's thinking about race. Nobody is thinking about race.

Thank you. I mean, we were texting about this movie like a few days ago and I was like, even now, there's not like that many movies where you have like a white leading man and a black leading woman or vice versa. Honestly, when you said that to me, I was trying to think of what came up just off the top of my head. And I could think of the remake of...

Someone's Coming to Dinner or something. What's that movie with Ashton Kutcher? Yeah. And that's like that and one other one, which I'm forgetting. I could think of two, which is a whole other story. Yeah, exactly. The history of problematic Hollywood. Oh my gosh. That would be like a 10-parter. We don't have enough time. Yeah, we don't. Not enough time in the day. So her fame changed after this movie. Bobby knew that it would, and he was scared about this. And she...

And then he was like, you know what? I actually want to manage you.

So he was just trying to creep on in with her success. He tried to manage her, but that didn't work because he wanted to be on stage. Everyone knew it. Everyone was like, it's very obvious how this is not the role for you. And it's destroying your relationship with each other. But she would just do anything for him. During these times, it just got really dark. He was accused of hitting her. There were tons and tons of reports of sexual harassment that he...

had harassed multiple people that were on tour with her. Oh my God. He exposed himself to some of the backup dancers, but she was still begging him to come be with her on tour, to be as close to her as possible. And during this time, their daughter was just completely left out of everything. Her Aunt Bay was,

in the documentary said, you know, I don't want to speak ill of her in this way and this part of her life, but she was a terrible, terrible mother. All right, Rammies, who's tired? Who needs a break? Whether you're taking care of your kids, you know, we love our Rammie moms, a senior loved one or juggling both, God bless. We all need and deserve a break sometimes. Care.com can help give you that break by helping you find trusted caregivers in your neighborhood.

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your wedding from the couch. Do it wherever you want because this is all about you. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to start planning at Zola.com. That's Z-O-L-A.com. You can thank me later. I just feel like she wasn't given the resources to be a good mother at this time. No. And she didn't have a partner that was going to help her out. No. Her family was concerned with her fame and how much money they were getting and

Bobby was concerned with probably how much drugs they were doing. And, you know, yeah, there were no resources. There's no one that was really supporting her except for Robin. I forgot about Robin. So Robin comes back in during the time that she's starting to realize something is going downhill with you. Whitney, I think, too, wanted... She kind of was...

there was a temptation and like a seductive element to Bobby that she then, like she told the Rolling Stone in this article, she was like, people think I'm just this little Miss Prissy poo-poo poop. Like, is that what the Rolling Stones guy is like? I'm sorry, did you say poo-poo? Poop?

I'm not sure what that says to me. Miss Prissy Poo Poo, you know. I'm a Miss Prissy Poo Poo. That's going to be my new Instagram bio. Miss Prissy Poo Poo. She goes, but I'm not. I can get down really freaking dirty and I can get down with you. I can get raunchy. I've learned to be more free with Bobby. So I feel like she was intoxicated by this new image. It's like this man being like,

You can come to the dark side and I will be there with you. Exactly. And so Robin was like, let me get back in here. Like I can be managing you. And she was like, no, no, no. I want to be with Bobby. And she was like, you know what? Your career is going downhill. I can already sense it. I'm going to give you an ultimatum. It's me. Who's your best friend who supported you through your entire life or your drug addict husband, right?

Who are you going to choose? And she made her assistant at the time call Robin and say, you can send in your letter of resignation. No. I knew that's where it was going to go. Like, it's never good when you make an ultimatum, especially with someone who's in love. They're blinded by the love. Blinded by the love. The love, I say in quotes. Toxic love. Yes. Completely abusive. Oh, my God. Also, everyone stop trying to manage her. Like, let's call a management company. Truly, because...

Also during this time, she really started struggling with her voice. And that was the first time people were ever like, what the fuck? Usually it's effortless, a voice of an angel, because she was doing a lot of drugs and started smoking a lot of cigarettes. So she was skipping rehearsals. There is this agitation. She changed into somebody different and she was canceling appearances and

And becoming very, very sickly thin. And was the drugs mainly cocaine? Cocaine rolled into a joint. Cocaine and weed was her drug of choice. That is so interesting to me because weed is not a hard drug. I mean, cocaine obviously is, but...

more, I don't know, public than a lot of the other hard drugs. But man, can it take you down? It can take you down. I think, I mean, she was a smoker, so I think she had an oral fixation. So it was probably nice to be smoking a joint. And I think it, you know, she had anxiety. So it was like a joint can calm you down, but I also have to stay alert throughout the entire day. So that was what she became very dependent on with, excuse me,

With Bobby. And so people were like, dude, she needs an intervention at this point. Like, she has so much more to offer. She's missing things. But the family didn't want to do an intervention. Why? Because they were like, she's fine. We don't want to burn any bridges. We don't want to step on any toes. We like our nice things. That's what it is. It's like, I'm...

I am sitting pretty in my big house right now and anything to threaten that, whether my family member is in danger or not, I'm not going to mess with. Well, imagine like if someone were to say this is what she needs, it would probably be something like you should be going to rehab for three months and then the money is gone. Yeah, exactly. And then you're not, it's Brittany. Yeah.

Exactly. We've seen this story so many times. So many times. It's so sad. Yeah, it's actually very similar with like the dad who's possessive and manipulative. When your family member is your manager, they're no longer your family member. They are seeing you as a moneymaker. Exactly. And this caused...

A stir, especially with her dad, John. He had total control. He had control over everything that she was doing. But then people were like, okay, yeah, he is Whitney Houston's manager. Why does he have his own private yacht? Why does he have multiple Ferraris? Is he doing something a little bit shady? Yeah.

One might say so. He was stealing money from people left and right. From her or from everyone? From everyone. He was doing like, what's it called? What's the word? Laundering. Laundering. Shit. That little thing. Oh, money laundering? Yeah. What the fuck? And there was speculation about this, but once it was confirmed, Whitney cut off all contact with him.

lost her relationship with him during, what year is this? This was 1999, I believe. And then he sued her. He tried to sue her for a hundred million dollars because that was the, the deal that she got at one, at one point, a hundred million for, from her record label. So he tried to sue her for that because he said, well, I made you sue. I need this money. That is,

is a monster that's your child monster of a man and shortly after he he was dying he was very sick she never went to go see him um you know she she didn't go to her to to his funeral she did i guess say her personal goodbyes in some ways that have not has not been completely confirmed but

This sort of triggered it's me against the world. And this is when she really started closing herself off because her father is, you know, suing her. Then he dies. And this is kind of when she starts falling apart. I mean, the people that you're supposed to trust the most are your parents. And when that trust is gone, because they're the people who are supposed to look out for you the most in this world.

And then that's gone. Then like, how are you supposed to trust anyone else? Exactly. And yeah, there's no one. And Robin's gone too. Like now there's no, now she is so alone. She's so sick in her addiction. Oh my God. Um, and the next few years, you know, 2000, 2000, 2004, um,

It was very dark. She wasn't recording music when they would try to be recording with her. You know, they would go to different have kind of weekend retreats and try to be creating. And she would just lock herself in a room sometimes for 10 days, sometimes for two weeks. The studio said they probably lost about five million dollars on her for just like a couple of weeks.

She was really not doing well. But also a lot of people at the top of like the left, the label did not know she was struggling with addiction. Did they actually? Quote and quote. No, I saw on the trailer. Who was it? L.A. Reid. Where he was like, they're like, did you know? And he's like, I did not know. I feel like, you know, when someone's not right. I think you do, too. Like, even if you're a pop star, that's like.

I mean, yeah, because you are a pop star. Yeah. Like get, you know, it's, it doesn't take rocket science. It's not, it's like you're being blissfully ignorant. Exactly. And I think nobody won. I think there was just this pain and even acknowledging that of like, this is such a amazing woman and she's not okay. Yeah. Um, and you know, so her publicists at this time were like, fuck, we got to do something. People are wondering what's happening. Um,

She did a show. I forget what show it was. Live show right around 9-11, actually, where she looked probably 70 pounds and her ribs are sticking out. Her arms are the size of a twig. Her face is gone. She doesn't sound good. And so her team was like, we got to do an interview with Diane Sawyer.

What? No, guys, that's not the right move. And you need to tell people you're okay, that you're stressed, that you're exhausted, but you need to say that you are not doing drugs. Oh, my. And so, you know, as a lot of people probably know about this interview, that Diane and God, when you look back on interviews.

Even like the Britney interview with Diane Sawyer. Yeah. Wow. That woman is ruthless. Where it's like, please, this is another human. Yeah. I've just like, so what is it? People say you look like you're dying. What drugs are you doing? Come on. And then she's, she's denying it first. And then she ends up saying, yes, I have experimented with drugs. I'm not perfect. I do them here or there, but I'm fine. Um,

She goes, at times, sometimes it's alcohol, sometimes it's pills, weed, cocaine. And then Diane's sort of asked, well, what's the biggest devil? And she says, that would be me. Oh. But then she goes on this tangent. I think she's probably high on this interview. And she's like, but let me just make it clear. I don't do crack.

crack is cheap, crack is whack. That's the famous line, crack is whack. It's from this interview. And she goes, I make way too much money to do crack. My kind of people, we don't do crack. Oh, shit. And she's very defensive about it. And she does not seem well. I mean, if you're going on about crack in an interview, you're probably not well. Exactly. So this was supposed to help her and instead it harmed her. Then she just became this. Why would they

TV and have her like talk with the devil. No, and you can like literally tell when someone is lying about this when they're so deep in their dick. Like, please stop. Can you imagine if someone was like the devil, it's me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa.

All right. Like, are you okay? Probably no. Blink twice. Like literally, literally what an intense statement. So she became just this joke. Like, you know, there's family guy episodes, SNL. There was a montage in the documentary of just everyone making fun of her of, you know, the skinny cartoon of like, I'll do anything for my crack. And it's just so, it's gross because this is this icon that everyone has known and loved. And now because she's struggling and obviously not okay. Now she's just a joke, just a joke.

So she finally went to rehab. Well, good. I just like also have to say again, it's like we take and we take from people. And then when they're struggling, we still take from them and use it against them. It's so true. And especially with like celebrities and public figures. What? There is something we like about the sickness and about people's people's health.

Trauma and mental illness. It's a real life soap opera. It is. And it's like, you know, even in doing Whitney for this episode, you have to think like, oh, well, people like to hear about her because she was this icon, but also because of how dark she was. Yeah. Also because of her ending. And like there is just this like glamour in her tragedy. And Britney Spears is, you know, like we're like addicted to it sort of.

And that's just, I think that's how we will always be. We like, like to, that's why we like celebrities in general. I mean, us especially, like we're the first to say, yeah, you like the gossip and the controversy. Um, and it's sad, but she finally went to rehab in 2005. Um, and this time she went for a couple months and around this time, people were like people that were close to her, her personal assistant, who was very, very close to her. Now I'm forgetting her name. Um,

I will personal assistant Whitney, her personal assistant, who was like, you have some demons. What happened to make you have these demons? Like there has to be something in there that you are avoiding that you're running away from. And Whitney did, you know, end up confessing to her and a lot of people close to her around this time that she had childhood trauma from being molested from her aunt.

Who's taking care of her daughter right now? No, no, no. Not that's aunt. That was her. No, a different, a different aunt.

Oh. Which I'm sorry. I probably should have like warned going into that. No, that's okay. It came on very strongly. No, but you just never expect an aunt. I thought you were going to say her dad. I know. And her brothers also experienced the same molestation from her. Oh my God. Because the parents were gone a lot growing up and so this aunt would take care of them and she was molesting all of them. Oh my God.

Did her parents know before that? Or, well, her dad's already passed. Her mom never knew. Whitney did not want to tell her because she did not want to burden her mother with that sort of horrific revelation. Was it her mom's sister or was it her dad's sister? It was her mom's sister. Oh, my God. And she was keeping that trauma and...

That was a huge part of her depression and her anxiety. Of course. And of course, if you keep anything like that in, especially something you suffer, obviously, in childhood, and you have no one to talk to about it, and you feel guilty, and she also ended up saying that I think that had a lot to do with her confusion with women and her own sexuality and her relationship to Robin, that really triggered this.

The thing with that Out magazine, it's like you have no idea what people's experiences are and what they're going through. And to put something out like that is disgusting. Literally, fuck you to just have this little gossip speculation. Is Whitney a lesbian? I mean, it's irresponsible. It is. It absolutely is. So, you know, this was now this revelation with a lot of her close friends. And people kind of had a better understanding of her pain and, like, why she was so deep in her addiction. And, like, you know, finally she was able—

Able to say that, which did help her in some ways, but not enough. She got out of rehab, but during this time, she filed for divorce. After 14 years, she filed from Bobby. That's good. Her daughter was very deeply depressed at this time. Her daughter was about 14 at this time? She had already started experimenting with cocaine. Oh, shit.

She was self-harming. And Whitney just really did not know what to do. They had never really been close. But her daughter, what do you expect coming from two addicts who are completely avoiding you? And she was on tour with them when she was little but not really being taken care of. She also didn't have the resources. So her management was like, you know what? You're out of rehab now.

You're also very, you have no money left at this point. It's crazy to me when this happens to people who are like at the top and have so much money and then all of a sudden it's just gone. A hundred million dollar deal at one point. Oh my God. Surpassing the Beatles and record, you know, and now they literally like, you need to go on tour or else we don't think you're going to be able to pay your mortgage.

And it was, which is like tour is not the place you should be going right now. So half of her team was like, please God, no. Yeah. Like, don't do this to her. She's going to fall back into old habits. And the other half of her team was like, she needs the money and we need to give her something to do, like something, a purpose, a reason to wake up in the morning. So Clive begged her not to go, but she was like, nope, like I'm, I'm fine. I'm going to go do this. The tour was a disaster. People walked out, people asked for their money back, and,

There was a clip in the documentary of her singing at one of them. And she sounds awful. Which it's like hard for me to even imagine. How does that voice sound? Her voice is cracking. She can't hit the notes. She can't project. It's raspy. There's nothing like in there. It's horrible. So...

It was just, it was an absolute disaster. But then she gets a, um, an offer to be in the remake of sparkle, full story, full circle. Shit. And this was actually a really great time for her because the deal was she had to be drug tested once a week for, you know, the two or three months that she was, and she was like one of like the leads in the movie. Um,

And people said that this was the happiest they had seen her in years. She was clean. She felt a sense of purpose. This was her favorite movie growing up. This was her childhood dream. Like an actual sense of purpose, not like trying to make money to support other people's lifestyles. Exactly. She was doing it because, and she always wanted to be an actress. Like she loved to sing, but her favorite time in her life was during The Bodyguard. And that was really like where she felt like, yeah, this is like what I meant to do. And she also got to sing in Sparkle. So it was just like a really nice. Best of both worlds.

ending to her life because um shortly after um in 2012 um she was at the beverly hills hotel with her um personal assistant was it beverly sorry beverly hills wait the beverly hilton the beverly hilton thank you for the correction sorry i no please no no it's important part of the story um

And she had been using again. She was drinking. There were a lot of different drugs in her system. There was cocaine. There was prescription pills. And she asked her personal assistant to go get her an assortment of cupcakes.

Which is what she wanted. It's always what I want too. Which I don't blame her for that. Yes. Was not expecting you to say that, but I'm with you. That is, that's why her assistant left. And she shortly came back.

After about 30 minutes, there were no lights on in the hotel room. When she walked in, she realized that the whole room was, like, essentially filled with water because the bathtub was overflowing, and she walked into the bathroom, and Whitney was lying face down in the bathtub. That poor woman, man. It was a woman. Woman. Was this the same assistant that was really close to her? Yeah, who was, like, her best friend for her final years. Oh, my God.

And, you know, there's tons of speculation of the way that she died. A lot of people think she was... Intentional? Was fucked up. And she actually, in the autopsy report, there's like markings and bruises on her face that some people think she slipped because the water was pouring out of the tub. And then she hit her head and fell into the tub. Like she was so fucked up she didn't know what was going on. And then it was an accident rather than... Yes.

I didn't know she was face down. I know. Yeah, she was 48 years old. And it's like, I actually don't have a lot of notes on this part because, you know, people know like it's kind of like this iconic thing of the hotel and Whitney's death and like Kanye spent a huge chunk of money to get the photos of the hotel room and of the bathtub to use for album cover art.

I'm sorry, what did you just say? I'm just really quickly going to look this up because... Wait, I've never heard that before. What fucking album and how fucking dare you? So he paid $85,000 to use photo of Whitney Houston's drug-filled bathroom for the cover of Pusha T's new album Daytona. Is this recently? Pusha T? Yep, this was in 2018.

Um, what? Yeah. And, oh God, I'm looking at the photo. What? Yep. I'm so angry in a way that I can't even tell you. How dare you? It's disgusting. And like to circle back to just like how obsessed we are with trauma and disaster and like, you know, everyone knows how Whitney died and it is, it's, it's a well-known fact and it's, it's,

What it is. And that's kind of all I want to say about it because it's just tragic. And it's not. It shouldn't have never. It should have never happened. It should have never happened. But, you know, a lot of things led up to why this happened. And people weren't helping her. People weren't giving her the sort of support she needed. People are vultures, especially management and fans even and the press and Diane Sawyer, you know, just all these people that...

you know, just wanted to, wanted to attack her. And it's, she wasn't even 50 years old and she, you know, she had a daughter and a few years later, her daughter actually also passed from complications from pneumonia six months after having some cocaine in her system from also being in a bathtub. That is so haunting and so wild. I know.

And tragic. It's just absolutely awful. And in the documentary, they ask Bobby, you know, so we need to talk about Whitney's death and her drug addiction. He goes, no, Whitney didn't. She didn't die because of drugs. We're not talking about that during this. We're not talking about that during this interview. Are you kidding me? Super defensive. He's like, nope, not drugs.

Yes, it is. And you actually had a huge influence. Absolutely. And it's time to take responsibility and ownership over it. And it's time to end that behavior. She absolutely did. Absolutely. She died because she was an addict. Well, he's an addict and cannot face the truth. And it seems like he was never ready to. Exactly.

Yeah, come to terms with reality. Exactly. And with his daughter, too. I know. And it is, I mean, and I feel for him. You know, he lost his ex-wife and a daughter who was, you know, young. And I feel for all of them. You know, it is a heart-wrenching, heart-breaking story of this amazing woman's life. And it's sad that it has to, that that episode, you know, kind of has to end on this note. But also...

I think just circling back to her accomplishments is just like what everyone should focus on and like go to Spotify right now and listen to a Whitney Houston song and you're just going to be completely mesmerized. You really are. And like the way that she makes you feel all the way her voice is and it's just, it's incredible. And yeah,

She's such comfort to me. And I've realized that it actually is because she was Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. It's just like this unreal thing. Impossible. My mom and I used to say, I love you. And we'd go, I love you more. And then we'd sing Impossible from that movie. Oh, I'm going to cry. I know. So tender. So like she's always so special to me for that. And it's just like...

It's just such a good reminder to let people live and like not put them in boxes and let artists be artists and live their truth. Exactly. Relax. And you don't know these people.

No, we don't know anyone. We don't know their story. You know, you don't know what anyone went through, things that they, you know, their own demons, just to be kind to everyone and, you know, to give people the benefit of the doubt. Absolutely. To give people the benefit of the doubt for sure. Just to, you know, check in on people. Yeah. And like the tragedy of her, just such greatness that she had within her and that

It was not a fault of her own, but people took and took. Exactly. And felt like that light was out. Exactly. And I hope that too with like, you know, everything with... Brittany. Brittany. I just realized. Sorry. My record level just went down. How? When? I don't know. It's literally down to zero. Wait, when?

The whole time? I've been hearing you. You have? Yeah, I've been hearing you. All right. Sorry, Chris. Cut that. I mean, I want to check in a second. Yeah. Well, we can... No, but it's up on here. Okay. Yeah. I think it's fine. Okay.

But yeah, that is the story of our queen. She is a queen icon and legend. Icon and legend. What a gorgeous angel. I want to hear y'all DM us, comment on our Instagram at Right Answers Mostly, your Whitney Houston moments. We all have them, whether it's dancing at a wedding. Yes. Send us everything. Yes. And anything. And anything. We want to know. We do. And we're so glad to be back.

Yes. Yes. We're going to be back now. We're done with break. We're going to have some exciting announcements coming up. Yes. Some exciting events even. Mm-hmm. So please be looking at the Instagram constantly. Constantly. And also like...

Please interact with us. Yes. Like, guys, we love nothing more. We love nothing more. Like, send us 1,000 texts a day. Yes, please. Send us texts, DM us, comment. Yep, all of it. Leave reviews on iTunes. We just love it. We really do. And we love you. We love you guys. Thanks for listening. Thank you so much. Should we take a deep breath real quick after that episode? Yes. Okay, ready? Everyone breathe in and breathe out. History. History, right? RIP, Whitney. We love you. We love you. We'll see you guys soon. See you next week. Bye.