Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017) - full transcript

[sirens wailing]

[radio static]

[security]
How are you doing? This is
security from Beverly Hilton.

[responder]
Hi, what's going on?

Need some
paramedics, apparently.
We got a 46-year-old female

found in the bathroom,
that's all I got right now,

they are requesting
paramedic help...
[speaking indistinctly]

I'm not sure if she fell
or she was in the bathroom
with the water...

[responder]
Okay, we don't now if she is
conscious or breathing at all.

[security] Uh, apparently,
she wasn't breathing...
She's 46 years old.

[responder]
She was not breathing?



[security] Yeah.

[woman] People say
Whitney died
from overdose of drugs.

Whitney Houston
was drugged out.

I know, Whitney Houston,

actually died
from a broken heart.

She died from a broken heart.

[audience cheering]

[cheering together]

It's like that, huh?

[woman yelling]

[clapping]

Thank you.

I'm tired!
Let's do this show.

[Whitney] Well, Sir, I...



Now, there's a crowd out here.

[Whitney] There's a crowd...

[man] I want you,
I want you to do...

[Whitney] Keep running,
is my prerogative.

It's my prerogative.

♪ It's my prerogative ♪

♪ It's my prerogative ♪

-I'm good.
-[man] Yes! Yes!

-[woman] Yes! Great!
-[audience cheering gets louder]

[Whitney] Whoo!

[audience cheering]

♪ I hope life treats you kind ♪

♪ And I hope ♪

♪ You have all
You've dreamed of ♪

♪ And I wish to you
Joy and happiness ♪

♪ But above all this ♪

♪ I wish you love ♪

♪ Sweet love ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ Love, love, love ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ And I ♪

♪ Will always love you ♪

♪ I will always love you ♪

♪ I will always love you ♪

♪ I will always ♪

♪ Always love you ♪

♪ I will always love ♪

♪ You ♪

♪ I will always ♪

♪ Love ♪

♪ You ♪

♪ You ♪

[audience cheering]

[drums beating]

[music continues playing]

[Michael] I'm sitting,
I'm playing drums
behind her, right?

And I'm sitting,
and I'm watching her,

and I'm watching
the muscles in her back

and her everything
just expand, like that.

You know, it's like a,
it's like a...

She's like a
doggone bodybuilder.

[Michael] And that's how
she sand every night.

Every song.

[Wayne] Whitney's voice,

you know, unparalleled, I mean,

she was ridiculous.

It also cost her,
near the end of the tours,

I mean, you could see
the toll it took
on her voice,

to have to do
those performances
night after night.

[Sharlotte] She was
totally brilliant.

Totally brilliant, but,

everything came
so naturally to her.

Whitney was created by God.

and Whitney's gift
came from Him.

So the only one
who could mess it up

was her.

[Kirk] It was a timber,
a sound to her voice

that was just angelic.

There were many, many times

when Whitney's voice
was just gone.

And by the time, you know...

I mean, we would lower
the key of the song,

and then lower it again,

and then maybe lower it again,

but even then, you know,

when it came time for her
to hit those notes,
she wasn't there,

'cause she wasn't
taking care of herself.

[Pattie] Whitney's voice,

broke barriers.

We did not have Beyonces,

and any African-American
female artist

that can now be
on top of the pop charts

that absolutely
was not gonna happen,

before Whitney Houston.

It had not happened
before Whitney Houston.

So she changed history for us

and she paid a price for it.

People may not know it,
but Whitney was from the hood.

They wanted
to present her as...

The princess,

that's white America
was presented.

They won't present
New Jersey Whitney.

[soft music playing]

[Whitney] I grew up

in Newark, New Jersey,

and in East Orange, New Jersey.

I do know, what it is,

to be black.

I know what it's like
to see my black
community people

not being given the opportunity

as others are given
the opportunity.

[dance music playing]

[Gary] Whitney was very,
in touch with her,
her spiritual, you know...

her thoughts
about being spiritual

and knowing
where it came from.

from my mother,
from growing up
going to church,

you know,
from reading the Bible,

from singing gospel songs,

from being affiliated
with people who were
in the church.

You know,
things of that nature.

♪ Every time ♪

♪ Too later ♪

♪ Every time ♪

♪ Too later ♪

♪ If it all comes back ♪

♪ We'll be ready
When it comes ♪

♪ If it all comes back ♪

♪ If the power comes back ♪

♪ We don't have a reason
To raise now ♪

There you go,
there you go!

[Whitney] The memories
of singing in church

are ones that I cherish most.

[singing gospel
songs indistinctly]

It wasn't worldly,
it wasn't...

It was fresh,
it wasn't stale.

Singing gospel
was a energy, a passion.

[gospel singing continues]

[Cissy] And I taught Whitney,
nobody else taught her.

I taught her, what she knew.

To sing from her heart.

She knew how,
she learnt how,

she learnt to craft well.

And that's very important.

If you're gonna sing,
you have to know how to sing,

and most people...

sing, I guess
they learnt their way,

but she learnt the right way,
'cause that's what I taught her.

[Toni] She was spoiled.

She was the baby.

She was John's baby.

Nobody messed with her anyway.

Nobody... they didn't
have the heart to.

They didn't have the heart
to mess with Nippy.

[Ellin] I think
she was closer to her dad

than her mother.

She felt that love more
from her dad,

it could be, you know,
she was the only girl.

Cissy is no joke.

Cissy is straight, stern,

she didn't doubt
that her mother loved her,

but whether she could feel it

the way she did
with like her dad,

I'm not sure.

[Frances] Her mother
made her decisions,

her mother, I feel,
was instrumental in,

creating the enormous career.

She guided her,

she chose the people
that were around her,

she, um...

She influenced Whitney
in her voice,

in her training,

in her choices.

Cissy was everything.

[Michael] We were the first
black family up here.

-The house has been painted.
I think it was white.
-Yeah.

It looks... Now looks
like they put,
what's the name, on it.

Or they're the same?

The tower?
The little pallet and whatever.

It's amazing,
it's amazing.

So many memories.

I used to come in,
sneak into the house,

and climb through the window
into Whitney's bedroom,

she opened the window for me.

"Daddy will whoop
your ass..." [chuckling]

My God...

[Michael] We've always,
I could say, been together,

most of the time.

And her following behind me,

I taught her to drive,
you know?

We played together,
you know, I mean,

in everything
that you do together,
as you are growing up,

and then when you
get into drugs,

you do that together, too.

[Gary] You know, I gotta say,
at ten years old,
I tried dugs, you know.

I was on heroin,
I was ten years old...

I mean I saw people
that I looked up to

using drugs,
and I saw them doing

their best,
being at their best.

[Ellin] When Whitney and I met,
we were in our teens.

We were like, 18, 19.

Um, they did drugs.

You know, it was
a thing you do.

You go out, you party,
you drink,
you do a little drugs,

everybody did it.

And her brothers
gave it to her.

It was just something
you do to have fun.

I mean, you know,
my mother had
a pretty good ray on me,

you know what I'm saying.

Um...

When you're raised in church,

and you're raised
in the background
of God-fearing religion,

you kind of...
And it is instilled in you,

there's a certain boundary
that you don't cross.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I could have got into
a lot more trouble
than I got into, [chuckles]

if I hadn't thought about,
"Ooh, my mother's
gonna kill me."

Or, "My mother and my father
are going to be
so disappointed."

You know,
"I know God's watching me."

[Robyn] I've been working
with Whitney for 18 years now.

And I guess you can say
that I've known her
for 18 years, too.

I have a friendship
that's our foundation.

I knew her brothers,
went to school with them,

but never knew
they had a sister.

And she was pretty low-key.

Smart, she knows
how to play it, she's funny.

She's funny.

I didn't know, um...
She was like this, um,

She'd come over, and...

My mom was real cool,

and Whitney would hang out,

and she'd be
on the cover of Seventeen,

and wouldn't even
tell anybody.

Isn't that funny!

My mother would have
to go to the grocery store

and come back and say,
"Robyn, you know so-and-so,
so-and-so?"

I would know that maybe
she had a photoshoot
sometime ago,

but Whitney wouldn't
tell anything.

Isn't that strange?

Young, and you'd think
she would be like,

"Check me out."
Mm-mm...

None of that.

I wonder if she was scared to,
like, see it.

I never asked her that.

But she'd do
strange things like that.

I would say that
Whitney's sort of strange.

So you want to be...

[Whitney] Last day!

♪ When I think of you ♪

♪ And you're looking quite ho ♪

[Ellin] When I met them,

I think, Whitney had just
moved in to her
very first apartment,

and her and Robyn
were sharing an apartment.

Robyn was older than Whitney,
and I think,

people were picking on
Whitney in school,

and Robyn, you know,
would step in

to keep people
from fighting her

and protect her
from those people.

So they, I guess,
created a bond then,

and they they just kept it.

Then Robyn became instrumental
in helping her

make those decisions
with her career
and stuff like that.

[Kenneth] I first met Whitney
when I first started to work
at Arista Records.

She was a sweet kid
at the time,

she was very insecure.

Um, she was not that polished,

I remember at a dinner
in Washington D.C,

she made a joke
about the amount
of silverware,

the amount of service placing
at dinner,
and how do you use it.

I remember telling her,
just trick the way I learnt
the first time,

you watch everybody else
and start from the outside.

She was very naive,
she was very insecure,

she was always
very concerned of,

people are gonna like her,
people are gonna accept her.

And it's interesting because
it was never really
about the talent.

It was about how she looked,

and how she presented herself.

[female announcer]
When Merv returns,

Arista Records President,
Clive Davis introduces
a great new singing talent.

This girl is 19 years old.

And rarely do you find,
and you wonder,

there was Leena Horne,
there was Dionne Warwick,

and certainly, currently...

She is Dionne Warwick's cousin.

By coincidence. I've never even
talked to Dionne about this.

I mean that sincerely...

[Kenneth] Clive is a master
at pop music.

He had a vision
for pop artists.

He tried to do it
with Dionne and Aretha.

But they were far too
established in their career
as to who they were.

And along comes Whitney,

who was so moldable,

and she was
the perfect vehicle

for his foolproof vision.

-She's got it.
-She got it.

♪ It's real ♪

♪ It's so real to me ♪

♪ And I've learned
That we must look ♪

♪ Inside our hearts ♪

♪ To find... ♪

♪ Yeah, we gotta find ♪

♪ A world full of love ♪

♪ Like yours, like mine ♪

♪ Like home ♪

♪ Home ♪

[audience cheering]

[Kenneth] The company had
this image in mind

that they were going
to create a pop icon.

An artist that was accepted
by the masses,

translating to white,
white America.

[interviewer] How did you
market Whitney
for white audiences?

Put the past behind them
and don't focus it.

And that's what we did.

You know, that sounds trite
and small and insignificant,
but it's not.

As you said,
this is a very racial country.

And racism, and especially
on the part of a black person

that's an artist,
or whatever they may be,

normally...

Folks are looking
for something
in the background.

[TV show theme music playing]

The news about Whitney Houston
is crackling through
the music world,

and the news is good!

"She is a talent
with tremendous potential."
The New York Times

"Whitney has a pedigree
in astronomy
and major vocalist.

There is no doubt about it.

Whitney Houston
is going to be a star."

[Doug] She was who she was,
she came from
where she came from.

From outta hood,
you're from the hood!

There are some things you do,
there are some things you like.

You dance, you play, you...

This is a certain...
It's part of the culture
you have.

Someone can take you
out of that,

present you to be another way
to the mass audience,

and you can play the part.

And Whitney played
that part great,

'cause that was part
of who she was.
She was classy.

Her mother was Cissy Houston.

Her cousin was Dionne Warwick.

But at the heart of it,
she was still Nippy.

Our next guest is, well,
a spectacular 21-year-old singer

who recent album, debut album
as a matter of fact,

received great reviews
from the critics.

She is the daughter
of singer, Cissy Houston,

a cousin of Dionne Warwick.

Whitney Houston,
cousin of Dionne Warwick,

and daughter of gospel singer,
Cissy Houston,

[interviewer] Your aunt is?

My cousin is Dionne Warwick.

And your aunt is Thelma.

No, no, no, we are
no relation at all.

Oh, and who is your father?
Duke Ellington...

[audience laughing]

[inaudible]

[Clive] Our music was
deliberately pop.

Anything that was too
black sounding

was sent back
to the studio.

And to say "black sounding",
in case you have
a problem with that,

it's to say that
it's too George Clinton.

It's too Funkadelic.

It's just too R&B.

We want Johnny Mitchell,

we want...
and there was no...
We want Mariah Carey,

we want Barbara Streisand.

We want to achieve
that sound more so

then we'll want to achieve
the other R&B sounds.

We don't want
a female James Brown.

[photographer] Hold cameras.

Okay.

Congratulations. First of all,
for having the No. 1 song
in America.

Isn't that something?
Thank you. [giggling]

How does that feel?

It feels great.
It feels really, really great,
I must tell you.

I should also explain to you
that in the final product,

I'm not going to exist,
it'll be just you...

-Oh...
-Yeah.

-Too bad. [chuckling]
-Oh, poor thing.

Um, so...

You need to make
your answers fairly complete,

and ideally about
a minute long.

If you go longer, fine,
but just not really short.

Try to avoid it, okay?

Some of the criticisms
of the album were that,

your voice was so good,
it shouldn't be

wasted on pop cliche
and things like that.

[laughing] Hm.

Do you feel that way at all,

Or will that influence
your next album?

I doubt it.

I doubt it, um...

I did not go in
to the studio,

wanting to make
a pop album.

I went into the studio,
I wanted to make good music.

♪ I found the greatest ♪

♪ Love of all
Inside of me ♪

♪ The greatest love ♪

♪ Of all ♪

♪ Is easy to achieve ♪

♪ Learning to love yourself ♪

♪ It is the greatest
Love of all ♪

♪ And if, by chance
That special place ♪

♪ That you've been
Dreaming of ♪

♪ Leads you to a lonely place ♪

♪ Find your strength ♪

♪ In love ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ I get so emotional, baby ♪

♪ Every time
I think of you... ♪

[narrator] Clive Davis
was right.

In January of 1986,
she collected five
American Music Awards.

And in February, she took
Top Female Vocalist honors
at the Grammy's.

Whitney!

"Greatest Love of All"
by Whitney Houston.

[audience applauding]

Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston.

Whitney...

Houston!

Whitney Houston!

[audience cheering]

♪ I get so emotional, baby ♪

♪ Every time
I think of you... ♪

They told me...

They told me to take
as much time as I wanted.

I'm not asking for it now.

[audience applauding]

What can I say?

I like to thank
my mom and dad

for the love and support.

I wouldn't have made it
without you.

My brothers, Michael and Gary,

and Robyn.

[audience applauding]

[Doug] Whitney and Robyn,
they fought
those battles together,

from the beginning
to a bona fide superstar.

They were close,
they were tight.

Robyn was my go-to person.
I love Robyn.

[soft music playing]

Whitney was at the top
of the charts.

She had like, four, five,
six or seven
consecutive No. 1 records.

These were pop records,
they were massive.

She was everywhere.

And to the black ear,

these records didn't have
a natural feel.

These records were not
natural R&B records.

So for the black audience,

the perspective was
in the community
that Whitney had sold out.

[audience cheering]

Whitney had been
nominated that year

for Record of the Year award,
Female Vocalist of the Year.

When her picture
came across the screen,

there was this massive booing.

[audience booing]

And the winner is...

[Whitney] It's not
a good feeling.

It is horrible,
it's kind of funny, though.

Are they booing me?

You have to sit there
and be like, cordial,
and be smiling, like,

everything's okay,
and you feel like,

"Oh, my God, they're not
booing me, are they?"

Sometimes it gets down
to being not black enough
for them, you know.

Not R&B enough.

You're very pop.

The white audience
have taken you
away from them.

That moment of being booed

on Soul Train

was not only tough for Whitney,
it was devastating.

It was devastating,
it was emotionally devastating.

She, I don't think,
ever recovered from it.

It was one of those boxes
that was checked,

that when ultimately seen,
she perished,

it was because of those boxes,
and that was a big one.

Whitney insisted
they crossed her back over
to the black music.

"I'm Your Baby Tonight"

was not a record
that Clive Davis
wanted to make.

But she says, I'm not making
another record like you want.

I want to do me now.

[soft music playing]

Her famous saying was,
"Can I be me?"

In fact, she'd say it so much
that we had it sampled.

"Can-can-can I be me?"

And that was the conundrum.

Like, "Damn it,
I have made all this money,

and made
all these people happy.

And I still can't be me."

Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you.

Thank you so much!

I love you,
mommy and daddy,

and my brothers,
God bless you.

When you create somebody,
when you create something,

at some point,
that something realizes,

"This isn't me.

I've been created,
I've been molded into this,"

and they break out of it.

She came from such a
controlling family situation.

Um, she allowed that to happen.

Of course, maybe because
of her upbringing,
I don't know why.

But, um...

after a certain point,
I think that anybody

and it was clear
in her case that, um...

You can't take it much longer,

and you break out,
you fall apart,
and you crumble.

You're like, "I can't take
the pressure anymore."

[interviewer] And who
do you think
was controlling her mainly?

Her mother.

Her mother, clearly.
I think that, you know,

Whitney had the career
that her mother always wanted.

Her records never achieved
any real major success

and here comes her daughter

and if you read in her book,
she references it in her book.

Whitney stole all of her style.

[piano music playing]

♪ I wanna say ♪

♪ Happy Birthday ♪

♪ To my daddy ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ So happy birthday ♪

♪ Happy Birthday ♪

♪ To ♪

♪ You ♪

[audience applauding]

[Whitney speaking indistinctly]

I just want to thank you

for your love.

And for being the best daddy
any girl could have.

[soft piano music playing]

[Kirk] There was a deep,
very complicated relationship
with her father.

One of the things
about being rich is that

uh, your family

is either dependent on you
in one way
or another financially

or they actually work for you.

And in this case,
her father and mother
worked for her.

And so did her brothers.

And her sister-in-law.

And with Whitney, we saw

the weirdness
of her relationship
with her dad,

as he was constantly
trying to do what's right
for her, you thought,

but then at times, you go,
"I don't know what you're
doing is right for her,

as much as what's right
for her career."

"Well, how about her?"

♪ I love you so much ♪

♪ Yes, I do ♪

♪ Couldn't make it
Without you ♪

♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ I love you, daddy ♪

[audience applauding]

Thank you.

After the second album,

and its phenomenal success,

here folks really didn't realize

they really didn't know
a whole lot
about her, intimately.

Who she was hanging out with,

who she was going out with,
and you know...

Who she was partying with.

Is there somebody
that you are seeing?

Yeah, I'm seeing someone,
absolutely, sure.

Sure, I'm seeing you right now
with my own two eyes.

[laughing]

Has he actually,
you know, rung you up,

while he's been in Britain
or is it all a load of...

Has he actually what?

Rung you up,
since he's been...

Rung me up!

[audience laughing]

Has he actually rung me up?

[audience laughing]

Yes, he has actually, rung me.

[audience laughing]

He has rung me,
and I have runged him.

I said,
I want to fuck you.

[gasping]

[host speaking French]
Yes, so, I'm going
to translate for you.

He said you are great.

He says
you're very beautiful.

What?

No, I can't translate
what he just said.

[host speaking French]
He said he wants
to offer you flowers.

[speaking French]
Not at all, I said
I wanted to fuck her.

[host speaking French]
He said, he said...

Of course, she is wonderful
but she can be shocked
by your speech.

You're the best
of the best.

Thank you.

[Whitney] A lot
of what I've learnt,
a lot of what I know,

kind of, takes
the fun out of it.

I enjoy doing what I do.

I enjoy singing,
I enjoy performing.

For people, you know...

But there is a lot of it
about the business,

and about what I do
that is not fun,

that you're subjected to,

and it's often
not very fair.

Then they started a game,
real intense,
in terms of questions.

And...

You know, I'll have people call
from radio stations,

and be on the conversation
with program writers

and they'd say, "Hey man,

is Whitney gay?"

I'd say...

"Huh? I don't know,
What made you..."

"Well, I've heard... You know."

And that was
all over the place.

Rumors had already started
about her sexuality.

When we travel,
Robyn was always with us.

Depending on who you are,
you had to get through Robyn
to get to Whitney.

You have to understand
the make-up of the guys
who did the promotion,

700 music
programmer-directors,

there are 99.9% heterosexual,

99.999 homophobic,

um...

and the rumor goes out
that this woman
is not a heterosexual.

They had a field day with that.

And heterosexual men
always have a field day
with that, anyway,

because the first thing
they say is that, you know,

"What if she doesn't need me?"

You know? [chuckling]

[Whitney] This wasn't
her world. I brought her
into this madness.

And she goes,
"Why am I the target?
What did I do?"

I said, "You're my friend.
What else do you want?

You play basketball.

They think you're a man,
I don't know."

She's a damn good
basketball player, she can
beat any guy there is.

I love it. [laughing]

Okay, she plays basketball,
do people think
she is a lesbian?

She is a very tall,
very broad woman.

She's been my friend
for years.

I don't know,
we just stuck it out.

[Allison] This was her friend,
that she had around her,

for, you know, since
the beginning of her career.

And all of a sudden, I think,
she had people
telling her what to do.

Her mother was there,
much against it.

Clive was very much
against it.

Was it cool to have
a lesbian affair?

You know, today,
I always think,

if she were an artist today,
she'd be fine.

Everything would be lovely,
she'd probably still be here.

But back then, it was this
tremendous emphasis
on being the perfect girl.

It became quite a conflict,
and it's interesting,
'cause like I said,

you have drugs,
you have this family
riddled with drugs, and yet,

homosexuality is what
you got to focus on.

When, you know,

you would have had
a better time probably
trying to handle those drugs,

than you would have with that.

But again, that religion,
that fierce religion
that, I think, Cissy had,

that was very important to her,

because it is
the people talking,
it is the church talking.

She's an elder in the church,
she's a trustee in the church,

and your daughter's
a homosexual.

And again,

female homosexuality in
the black community is
absolutely never spoken about.

I don't hear that at all.
Never hear that.

Black men, yes.
Black women, no.

-[interviewer] Even now?
-Even now.

[woman] Are you not feeling it?

Lorrie, I don't have
five minutes to eat.

What?

They hated the...

Hey, listen to me, huh?

I'm going on to a...

[Ellin] Whitney
did not have a closeness

and feel safe
with many people.

Robyn provided
a safe place for her,

Robyn loved her,

cared for her,
was a friend for her,

and didn't want
to ever disappoint her.

In that, Whitney found
safety and solace.

I don't think
that she was gay.

I think she was bisexual.

If you loved her,

and she loved you,
it was possible for her

to get into
a physical relationship

'cause Whitney loved
to be held and she
loved to be embraced,

and she wanted
to feel protected.

Do you believe
that Whitney and Robyn
were in a gay relationship?

I don't really know.

I thought, you know...

Would it have bothered you

if your daughter Whitney
was gay?

Absolutely.

-It would have bothered you?
-Mm-hmm.

So, were you happy
when Bobby Brown
came into the picture?

No.

-You weren't happy about that?
-Mm-mm.

♪ All these
Strange relationships ♪

♪ That really gets me down ♪

♪ I see nothin' wrong ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ Around ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ Everybody's talkin'
All this stuff about me ♪

♪ Now ♪

♪ Why don't they
Just let me live ♪

[Doug] And as you may be aware,

at the Soul Train Awards,

where she was booed,
it was the same night,

she met Bobby Brown
at the Soul Train Awards,

So you are talking about
a total 360 image reversal.

This beautiful pop starlet
is now with bad boy
of R&B, Bobby Brown.

[audience cheering]

-Thank you.
-And the winner is...

Bobby Brown!

I don't think I had won
three awards that night,

and all of a sudden,
someone just hit me
in the back of the head.

And I turn around,
and it was
Whitney Houston.

And they said
I was crazy, huh?

And she was like,
"Oh, was I hittin' you?

I'm sorry."
And she did it again.

She was trying
to get my attention.

'Cause I was fly.

I knew it, she knew it,
you know.

Thank you.
I'm out of here, baby.

We found that
we had a lot in common.

And we started hanging out
more and more

Bobby was street,
Bobby was hood.

Bobby was, Bobby had,
as they say, Bobby had swag.

Whitney didn't grow up
in Long Island.

She grew up in Newark.

Bobby grew up in Boston.

Came from a similar culture.

They just had a chemistry
for whatever reason
that worked for them.

[soft music playing]

[David] I met Bobby Brown
in 1988, I believe.

We had a birthday party
at Whitney's new home.

On th gate, were three guys,

one of whom was dressed

in a floral, turquoise
short trousers suit.

Black loafers, and white socks
bunched up around his ankles.

And his hair was cut
like this, at a diagonal.

[man] Bobby, what are you
doing at this party?

Whitney, Whitney, Whitney.

She invited me,
I'm having a great time.

I just wanna say,
"Happy birthday, Whitney."

[Bobby] You're doing great.

I wish I could be
like you, one day.

[David] And as that evening
went on,

she actually danced with him.

Robyn didn't take it
especially well.

I think it adversely impacted
her relationship with Whitney.

♪ Clap your hands
Yeah, it's all right ♪

♪ Cause your love ♪

♪ Clap your hands
Yeah, it's all right ♪

♪ Cause your love ♪

♪ Clap your hands
Yeah, it's all right ♪

Mr. Bobby Brown!

♪ Yeah! ♪

[vocalizing]

Sing!

[vocalizing]

♪ It's true! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah, baby! ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ One more time! ♪

♪ One more time! ♪

Here we go!

Mr. Brown!

The record is not over yet.

[drum roll]

Bobby Brown!

♪ Oh, yeah! ♪

♪ Bobby! ♪

♪ Bobby! ♪

♪ Oh, yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Oh, yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

[Pattie] He loved her,

as herself.

She could come off that stage,

and not have to be the person
that everybody in the world
expected her to be

or what they thought
she was.

He understood that

part of her, he understood
the pressure because he was
Bobby Brown, you know.

He understood her pressure,
and he understood her pain.

What do I think
that Bobby and Whitney
gave each other?

Acceptance,

love.

You know the love,
because at the end of the day,
she absolutely loved him.

And they loved each other.

But there was acceptance.

You know, for who they were,

and that feeling of

you don't feel like
you have to be
anybody but yourself,

with somebody.

They had that.

Where are you
at this point of your life?

[giggling]

Um, married?

With a baby. Happy.

Um, content.

-Hm?
-Yeah.

-Yeah?
-Yeah.

Got a great career,
I have not complaints,
I am blessed.

So then, will you tell me
about Bobby?

Bobby...

Was ready for the same things
I was ready for.

Commitment.

Loyalty.

Security, trust.

A good woman, a good man.

They call him as
a womanizer,

you know, that's
pretty harsh, you know.

Um, I don't think my husband
womanized anybody

'cause I know that
if he wanted them,

they definitely wanted him,

you know.

I don't think it was
about womanizing,
I think boys will be boys.

And they have their fun,
and they play.

When they really become smart,
they find a good woman
and they marry her.

And that's what
he did. [giggles]

♪ He fills me up ♪

♪ He gives me love ♪

♪ More love than
I've ever seen ♪

Just think I'm a slave.

I'm a slave and a horse.

♪ He's all I've got
In this world ♪

♪ But he's all the man ♪

♪ That I need ♪

She's the most loving mother,

craziest wife,

for me.

Um, because I'm crazy myself,
you know.

Everybody knows me, you know,

knows of me.

But in order to deal
with a person like me,

she has to be
the sweetest person
in the world.

And also, the meanest person
in the world at times, because,

it's like, I'm...

Bobby Brown, I'm...

I'm the original bad boy,
they say.

But I'm not as bad
as everybody thinks I am, so...

My wife to me,
is just like...

She's just a joy
to be around.

Mm.

I told you, I've never seen
nothing like it.

That bond, people
can say what they wanna say,

but I lived in the house.

You know what I'm saying?

For years.

So...

[interviewer] You know
what they liked together?

Hm, you're funny.

They used to do skits
from movies.

She'd be Tina Turner,

and he'd be Ike... [laughing]

[coughing]

[laughing]

Bye, bye, bye.

[Tina] Oh, no way.

No, honey, I'm tired.

I'm just saying,
I don't know
what might come out.

[Bobby] See,
but you can't be tired.

I got, I got, I got...
I got a lipsync we gotta play,

I got music,

I got all these shows
I got to book for you.

But you know,
you can't be sick.

Hey, hey... Pa-pa-pa!

[laughing]

You can't be tired.

I'm feeling kind of okay.

-I don't wanna eat.
-Come on.

No...

[laughing]

[Tina] He told ya...

[both laughing]

This is what Tina did do.

[soft music playing]

[laughing]

Bad, bad, bad, bad.

You had those meatballs!

They took us in,
and gave us food,
and you killed them!

Bad, bad, bad!

[Tina laughing]

I need you to stay.

This is when we all eat.

This is what we do all day.

We just had pizzas,

and now we're going
to have chicken wings.

You know who eats the most
out of this room?

This lady right here,
this little lady right here?

She eats the most.

Ooh, gotta good look...

Ooh, I gotta say, lovely.

I'm going to see set it off.

The ladies with me, yes!

Set it off!

[firing on TV]

♪ Why, oh, why ♪

[indistinct conversation]

[laughing]

You're in my room.

Don't forget about me.

Boo!

Boo!

[soft music playing]

[interviewer] How long did you
work as bodyguard
for Whitney?

[David] From April 1988
until October 1995.

She knows that
I looked after her
with my life.

Very few people
commit like that.

They didn't interview me
for the job,

I interviewed them.
Are these somebody
I'm prepared to die for?

She was.

[gunshot]

That film encapsulated
in two hours and ten minutes

what had been
six years of our life,

together, absence two elements.

I'd never been shot at
while with her,

and I've never
made love to her.

You take those two
out of the film,

it really becomes a boring
two and a half hours.

♪ If I ♪

♪ Should stay ♪

[David] Kevin Costner
had said to me,

when she sings that song
in the first chorus,

I want it to be
with no music.

And I said,
"Kevin, that's so stupid.

No music? Are you kidding me?
Are we trying to get on radio?"

And I'm standing there,
and she goes,

♪ If I ♪

And it was like,
"Oh, my God,
are you kidding me?

This is the most
incredible thing
I've ever seen in my life."

And my demo
did not include that,

I had music
right from the start.

And from that second on,

I knew that the only way
that the record
could ever be that way

was with that a cappella piece.

One of the most
breathtaking things I've ever
been a part of,

and that wasn't even
my doing.

It was Kevin Costner.

[crowd chattering]

[Pattie] Bodyguard just
exploded her popularity.

So she was not
prepared for that.

Before she became really,
really big after the Bodyguard,

we would go to the mall,
and we'd just go shopping,

and then, we noticed
people would stop

and nobody would be moving.

She had to realize,
"I can't come out anymore,"

because you couldn't get
from point A to point B

without 20 people asking for
autograph or a photo.

[crowd chattering]

[cameras clicking]

When it comes to the drugs,

I don't think that
she realized

she had a problem
until after the Bodyguard.

It was no longer recreational,

that this was something
that she was doing more

out of necessity,
than just to have fun.

[interviewer] How much
has success changed you?
How different are you?

Probably...

Probably, a lot more
paranoid. [laughing]

I am... Success...

Doesn't change you, fame does.

Fame does.

You got a whole world
of people

calling your name,
and you really don't know them.

It's weird.

Is there a misconception
of the fact that when,

we become famous that
we have these beautiful
perfect lives

and that nothing
is ever on a low?

That's a bad conception.

'Cause then people
always think that you have
to be this grand old person

that just happy
by the life and everything,

because what, we've got money?
Money doesn't make you happy.

It never did, history
will tell you that.

Even fame doesn't
make you happy, you know.

People will tell you
that, who are famous,
you know, um...

You got to find that happiness
in yourself,

you got to know who you are
before you step into
this business,

because if you're
trying to find it,

you'll probably wind up
being somebody else.

Um, someone that you probably
don't even like.

[somber music playing]

Jesus!

[Kirk] Her rise to fame
just took the wind out of her,

and those were times
when she turned to God,

she turned to her faith.

Then she said, "God,
you're the only one
who understands.

You're the only one
who accepts me as I am."

♪ Baby ♪

♪ If I could ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

[Kirk] I think
the greater of them,

the greatest disappointment

was that she felt like
she had let God down, too.

She knew that her gift
came from Him.

She felt that she had
let Him down,

with the way she had
not taken care of her body,

of her instrument.

Are we all here?

All right, we're here,
we're here, we're here.

We're asking
for special, special blessing
that you bring it all down here.

That you go inside, Father God,
because only you know
what's inside.

Only You know what's inside,

only You know
how to fix things,

that we can't even fix.

We know there's power
in the name of Jesus,

we know that the blood
of the lamb covers us all

and there is a healing power

and we're asking
that you do not pass us by.

[crowd cheering]

[Whitney] Can I take you
some place with me?

Will you come along?

So when we to church,
which is where
I wanna take you right now,

we get very excited,

we get very happy,

we may start to cry,

because we feel a joy
like a river in our souls

and we just
have to let it out,

and sing praises

to the Almighty God, you know?

♪ Oh Lord ♪

♪ Oh Lord I love you ♪

♪ I do ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ I'll hasten,
I'll hasten to his throne ♪

♪ Mighty, mighty
Throne of His ♪

♪ I'll hasten,
I'll hasten to his throne ♪

♪ I'll hasten to his throne
Hold on hold on ♪

♪ I know I can go
I know I can go ♪

♪ I surely love you
I can't do without you ♪

♪ I can't live ♪

♪ I can't live
Without you Jesus ♪

♪ I can't live
Without your power ♪

♪ No, no ♪

♪ No, no, no ♪

♪ I cannot make it ♪

♪ I cannot make it ♪

♪ Without your love
Without your peace ♪

♪ You gave me joy
Unspeakable ♪

♪ You gave me joy
Unspeakable ♪

♪ You gave me joy
You gave me joy ♪

♪ Joy, joy ♪

♪ You gave me joy
You gave me joy ♪

♪ You gave me joy ♪

♪ Nobody, nobody
Can take it away ♪

[audience cheering]

[Kirk] There were moments
when me and the audience
would transform with her voice

and that is a God thing,
that is not a human thing.

♪ Ooh, give it up for God ♪

Whitney knew that
she had that gift.

She would knock you over
and sing a gospel riff
or whatever.

But then she could caress
in such a noble way,

like, "Oh my God,
this is a God thing."

♪ Ooh Lord ♪

♪ My Lord ♪

♪ We're saying that
Don't pass me by ♪

-[audience applauding]
-[inaudible]

I can't ask for more.
What more?

This is the home
of the dancers,

the background singers,

the gentleman we call
the main chord to the band,

the backing unit,

-Makeup.
-Hello.

-Hair.
-Hi!

Robyn.

[hairdresser] Robyn, I'm going
to get this photo of you.

[Robyn] That's all right.

Robyn and Whitney
were like twins.

They were inseparable.

They were inseparable.

And everybody knew that
the power that Robyn had.

You should be
in your respective places.

Band and the dancers,
up in the front here.

Right here, excuse us,
on your knees.

[Kevin] Whitney and Robyn
had a bond.

They had a bond

and Bobby Brown could never
remove Robyn
from the relationship.

And that was part
of his frustration,

because he wanted
Whitney Houston to love him

as the man
of the relationship.

And he wanted Whitney
to remove Robyn

from their relationship
and Whitney didn't want
to do it.

Because Robyn cared for Whitney
more than she probably
would care about anybody.

Say six!

[all] Six!

Here!

Here!

-[crowd cheering]
-[indistinct chatter]

After a while,
you get sleepy.

You just go with the flow.

[Robyn] I kind of know
what Whitney wants
to go on around her.

And sometimes, it's
a little difficult
to convey that to people.

You have to just go
and do it yourself.

So most people would say
I'm just about everywhere.

One, two, three, go.

♪ We take this chance ♪

♪ And extend to
Each other romance ♪

♪ I hope it would be ♪

♪ The right thing ♪

♪ We take this chance ♪

♪ And extend to
Each other romance ♪

♪ I hope it would be... ♪

♪ You knew you knew ♪

♪ If I told you that
I wanted to see you ♪

♪ If I told you that
I wanted to see you ♪

♪ And if I told you that
What would you say ♪

♪ If I told you that ♪

♪ I know that
We were just friends ♪

♪ But what if I decide
To bring somethings in ♪

♪ I hope it won't offend
The trust ♪

♪ We have cause
I don't want this to end... ♪

[David] Bobby Brown and Robyn
together was the equivalent
of fire and water,

petrol, and a short fuse,

they hated each other.

Yes. Simple.

They would battle
for her affection,

they would battle
for her attention,

mainly to identify the hate
they had for each other.

This is Robocop.

We've already met.

This is Robocop.

We've already met.

This is my lady here, all right?

You mess with her,
you got to mess with me.

All right? For sure.

And that's...
Come here.

And that's Nicole.

[David] There were
numerous fights between
Robyn and Bobby Brown.

Serious fights.

Bobby and Robyn had some
physical altercations.

And I think there were times
when he wasn't always
the winner.

Yes... [chuckling]

But then Whitney
would come in between them
and she...

Poured the oil
on the troubled waters.

♪ How will I know? ♪

[audience cheering]

You know, I often
have a conversation
with my daughter.

One that I cherish so much
so I'm going to share it
with you.

Just so that you know
that it is
the real deal,

I ask her,

Who put the sun in the sky?

She says, "God, dear."

♪ Clap your hands
Y'all it's all right ♪

♪ If tomorrow is judgment day ♪

♪ And I'm standin'
On the front line ♪

You look so pretty.

♪ And the Lord ask me
What I did with my life ♪

♪ I will say
I spent it with you ♪

Right, I'm here.

♪ My name is Bobbi Kris,
I just wanna say ♪

♪ Clap your hands
Y'all it's all right ♪

Say it again.

♪ My name is Bobbi Kris
I just wanna say ♪

♪ Clap your hands ♪

♪ Clap your hands ♪

♪ Clap your hands ♪

♪ Put it up
Put it up ♪

Come on, Kris.

♪ Jump, jump, jump ♪

♪ Put it up
Put it up ♪

♪ Jump, jump, jump ♪

♪ Clap your hands ♪

♪ Clap your hands ♪

I said, the record
is not over yet.

[audience cheering]

You know, these days
you have to stay
with your children,

you have to be
as hip as they are.

And Bobbi Kris and I
have a great relationship.

We really do and I am
really really proud of that.

I cherish it,
and I'm really

dying to get home
to see her little face.

And she's dying for me
to come home.

You know, that's a good feeling.

When she talks about me
to her friends,

"My mom's away,
my mom's coming back.

Look at what my mom brought me,
she sent me, you know."

I send her dollies
every now and then, you know,

'cause she loves dolls.

She loves to play with them.

I try to talk to her
at least three times a week,

although it's very hard to talk.

It's worse to talk sometimes
than to not talk,

because you feel that longing,
that passion, that love,

between a child and a mother
and it's very deep.

It's very strong,
very strong.

When she had to leave, I had
her out here for the first half,

before she went to school,

the day she had to leave,
I thought that I would be strong

and I wouldn't cry,
but I couldn't help it.

And I just really broke down,
and she did, too.

And it made me feel really good

and I felt really bad because
I knew I had to let her go.

But it made me feel really good
to know that she would

miss me and love me as much
as I missed her and loved her.

[David] Sweet kid,
she really was.

She'd run up and down
the corridors, in and out
of everybody's rooms,

that sort of thing, yeah.

I did think, the writing's
on the wall for this kid,
no I did not.

because you always think
Whitney would like
to continue hope.

and something would have
twigged, or clicked, it would
have made it better for her.

Uh, but that's...
As time went on? No.

No. No chance
for Bobbi Kristina.

She came in to the environment

just when it started
to get worse.

And I'm convinced now

that had anyone

read, listened to, and acted
upon my report,

she would now be alive.

As would her daughter.

I submitted my report
to the family members

who were in charge
of the business
of Whitney Houston,

after a disastrous tour,
to Singapore.

Part of my duty to not
only protect the principal
from the outside elements,

is to protect them
from themselves.

She had nodules
on her throat.

It was being destroyed,

presumably with the chemicals.

Whitney overdosed
while she was making the film
Waiting to Exhale.

That's when you got a problem.

Everybody was on drugs.

It's a case of degrees.

To what degree the individuals
concerned were on drugs.
That's all.

I put it down on paper.

I got the telephone call,
and the meeting.

Thank you very much.

Ms. Houston has decided
she doesn't need anyone

of your caliber
and experience again,

because she is not
touring internationally
in the future.

Should we need someone
of your skills,
we will call upon you.

And that was
the answer to the

"Do something
to help her." Report.

[cameraman] Over here,
over here, this way!

[cameras clicking]

What's with that, now!

[David] There was that level
of inevitability
about the end of this.

Shortly after 1992.

Bobby Brown came on the scene.

Lots of drinking,
lots of partying,

though by herself,

she would have done anything
to remain nondescript.

When in his presence,
it became a competition.

Put that fucking
camera on me.

That's right.

Let me get that mic.

Let us do this ourselves.

Yo, yo, yo!

We'll just talk.

Man, just talk.

Can you tell me
what tonight's all about?

Why would I want to say it?
Isn't it obvious?

It's my birthday, dog!

Check it out.

It's my birthday,
my wife gave me a party.

Yes.

And we're just
chilling, right?

Yo, MTV!

It's my birthday, dog!
It's my birthday, dog!

Boom!

[cameras clicking]

[Pattie] Whitney was getting
high before Bobby ever came
in the picture.

I think they had
a co-dependent relationship.

Bobby didn't really do drugs
until he met Whitney

and Whitney
didn't really drink
until she met Bobby.

But they both
had their thing.

She had her drugs,
he had his liquor.

And when they came together,
they both started doing both,

which was terrible.

[crowd clamoring]

Bobby was notorious
for sleeping with
the girls on the tour.

He was not really ready
to take on the role
of a husband.

Remember he was
much younger than her.

When Whitney got married,
Whitney got married forever.

That was her biggest downfall.

The longer she stayed in it,

the harder it was to get out.

She didn't wanna go against God
and get a divorce.

And then once she had
Bobbi Kristina,

she wanted her
to have her father,

and even though
he was not treating her right,

I think she stayed
for Bobbi Kristina.

[yelling]

[soft music playing]

She's picking in my ass.

[laughing]

[Allison] Bobby
brought her down,
because he wanted to be up.

And she brought herself down,
trying to be on his level.

So it was a sort of
emotional blackmail

of "You're no better than me.

You're not that big
of a star. You don't
deserve all this.

You're just lucky."

Just things like that,
that play tricks with her mind,

because she had
low self-esteem.

How she was so worried
about her hair.

She wore wigs and weaves.

Her hair wouldn't grow,
and her nails wouldn't grow.

This is this big superstar

and she never had
that security.

Um, that she sort of needed,
she never had that inner belief

that she was this
amazing person.

She was always sort of
doubting herself,

and I think Bobby
contributed that tremendously.

[soft music playing]

[interviewer] Did Robyn
try and keep Whitney off drugs?

[Kevin] She did.

She did.

They've had dozens of arguments

over Whitney getting high.

Mama, come here,
feel my feet.

Put you hand right here.

And something that started
as simple as
Whitney smoking weed,

turned into a monster.

Turned into something
that Whitney lost control of.

All of the people
that had positions of power,

they could have steered her
the right way.

It was either
not seeing what was happening,

or being a part of it.

On page 128, you write about
the first time
you hear anything

about Whitney using drugs.

You say, "One afternoon,
in the late 1980's,

80's,

Robyn came to visit me.

She told me, that
Nippy was using drugs,

which was news to me."

She was telling on Nippy,
actually, yeah.

Like I said,
I went to her.

-You went to Nippy?
-Mm-hmm.

After the visit from Robyn.

I saw her one time
really high.

I wanted to kill her.

I really did.

But I held myself back

and Nippy said,
"Mommy, mommy."

And she was
so sad and beautiful.

[Ellin] Then one time, Whitney
wasn't even talking to her mom.

Nobody wanna blame Whitney.

But Cissy made it no secret,

she wanted to beat Robyn
onto something.

She wanted to kick Robyn's ass,

you know,
every opportunity she get,

she wanted to do something
to Robyn.

[indistinct chatter]

They needed to blame somebody.

Before it was Bobby,
it was Robyn.

We blame Robyn,
because Whitney

don't wanna talk to us,
it's Robyn's fault.

No, it's your fault!

Did she shut off from it?
Did she try and shut off it?

Did she refuse to answer
phone calls from these people?

Hell, yes, she did.

For her own sanity,
her own peace of mind.

Would that kind of pressure
being brought on her by others

have driven her in a direction
she otherwise may not have gone?

Hell, yes, it did.

Yes, it did.

That's why there is
not one person out there

not responsible
for the demise
of that beautiful woman.

[audience cheering]

[Ellin] There was nothing
I could do.

And not being a family member,

or someone high enough
in the food chain,

I had no say.

I could only talk to her
in those moments

when we were doing hair,
and I could just tell her,

"Whitney, you're
killing yourself.

You're gonna die.
You have to stop."

I also spoke to other people
in her camp,

maybe she just needs
to stop for a while,

go to rehab,

but when you're making
money for people,

you're paying their rent,
they don't want you to stop.

-[audience cheering]
-[indistinct]

People forget that
they are human beings.

And she felt deeply.

That's how she could bring
what she did to songs.

That's how she could make
every song her own.

[audience cheering]

[woman] How many times
do we change?

[audience cheering]

She would have to pull and sing
from every place in her

and then to couple that
with the emotion,

that takes all of your body.

Who does that

at the level that
Whitney Houston did it?

I haven't seen anybody do it,
not in my lifetime.

There always will be
only one Whitney Houston,

and to watch the world
receive from her

and appreciate her, there
aren't words for that.

And all you can say
is drug addict? Come on.

Please.

♪ When those tears
Are clouding up your eyes ♪

♪ Just remember it was you ♪

♪ Who said goodbye ♪

♪ Who said goodbye ♪

♪ Who said goodbye ♪

♪ Who said goodbye ♪

♪ I learned from the best ♪

♪ I learned from the best ♪

Okay, you got it, you got it.

Whitney, please don't forget me.

[Whitney] I won't.

[woman] Thank you, Whitney.

-All right.
-Thank you.

Yes?

Sure.

[Whitney] Bobby, get in the car.
I wanted to ride,

What's taking you?

Marilyn, get in the car.

Yes, real quick.

Really quick.

Mm-mm.

Now you're asking
for some things.

All right.

[loud dance music playing]

No, we're not leaving,
we're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

[man] Get the car loaded,
we're not leaving.

[David] It was from
one disaster to
another disaster.

There was no order
from chaos.

I can't remember,

there ever being a good moment

between Robyn and Bobby Brown.

It might, I think,
there came a time,

when even Whitney couldn't
tolerate it anymore

and Robyn finally left.

Robyn!

Why are you leaving?

[soft music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Allison] Robyn
totally disappeared.

I'm assuming
they paid her off.

I don't know,
but she just disappeared.

I never saw her again.

And she was everywhere
with her before.

I think they prevented it.

I think it was
sort of understood that
they could not connect again.

It had to be Bobby and Whitney
and this family unit.

Although I would say
that that was
the downfall of Whitney.

Robyn was the person
that was keeping her together.

And I think that's why
the drugs became
so important to her.

That was the crutch she used
to get through that.

The drugs

sent her spiraling.

[announcer] This is the 72nd
Annual Academy Awards.

[audience applauding]

[Burt] We do the rehearsal
Friday night.

She sings the first twelve bars
of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

And she's singing her own notes.

Basically, you're changing
the melody substantially.

Then a couple of other things
that just went wrong,

she came in
on the wrong song,

so it was just
like a train wreck.

It was kind of startling.

This was so dangerous.

This is live television.

And there was no salvation
on something like that.

She's singing the wrong song.

Nobody would know what to do,

even Ray Charles wouldn't know
how to cover that.

And how we would jump around,
we'd be scrambling.

So the right decision
was made.

Of course, that's
a very difficult thing to do

at that hour of the night,
at midnight, on Friday night,
and the show goes on Sunday.

To replace her.

[audience cheering]

♪ If you can't
Feed your baby... ♪

That Michael Jackson concert
when she was emaciated.

I remember walking in,
they called me in
to do her hair,

and I could not believe
what I was seeing.

And I could hear people saying,
"You look fabulous."

And I'm saying,
"No, she doesn't."

Then I take Whitney
in the bathroom,

and close the door,
and I pull her shirt off
in the mirror,

and I say, "Look!
You're dying."

And she started crying.

She said, "I know.
I don't know what to do."

Is it alcohol?

Is it marijuana?

Is it cocaine?
Is it pills?

It has been, at times.

All?

At times.

If you had to name the devil,

for you, the biggest devil
among them.

[inhaling] That would be me.

[narrator] And then,
last September,
the biggest blow of all.

Houston's father,
who managed her finances,

joined his business partner
in a lawsuit against her,

demanding $100,000,000.

I'm tired of being hurt.

I'm tired of being
in a neglected state.

You get your
act together, honey.

And you pay me the money
that you owe me.

My father is...

81, very sick,

his health is failing,

the bad part about it
is that it's about money.

And that really sucks.

That hurts more than anything.

When you think that
it's the dad who dressed you,

and walked you down the aisle,

what are you thinking?

That moment.

Can he stop, please?

-Sure.
-Thanks.

I'll be back.

[Allison]
I think the biggest change
in her came

when her dad disappointed her.

She was closer to her dad

than her mother.

She was secure in the fact
that Daddy's got my back,

Daddy's gonna take care
of me, he's gonna protect me,

and when that trust
was broken for her,

I think it broke something
inside of her

that she could never repair.

[Allison] She disappeared
for a while,

because I remember,
I went asking for Whitney,
particularly after the show,

which was hard,

she got out of town
for a while.

I heard that
she moved to Atlanta,

and that provided
a whole another area of,
you know, sort of,

I guess,
a little bit more freedom?

It's a very fun place,

and I think there is less
spotlight on you there.

Plus, she is away
from her mother as well.

[crowd clamoring]

Aren't you motherfucking hot?

We knew it, don't we?

[laughing hysterically]

I'm gonna try it.

Come here.

[Tina] She wanted to be normal.

Many nights,
she lay in her bed,

and cried, cried, cried.

She missed her dad,

she loved Bobby girl so much,

That was her life.

We used to slide down
that banister.

Me and Whitney
used to slide down that.

That's probably months old.

Remember when I told you
that Cissy came to the house,

for her rehab?

You see that balcony?

When I was backing up here,

with the girls in the car,

they was like, "No, wait,
wait, look!"

She had one leg over.

Over the balcony?

She said,"Don't come back,
I'm a jump."

Well, I did had to go back.

Wish she jumped out
the back one that time.
[laughing]

Crazy.

She was an addict.

[Whitney] It was
an everyday thing.

I would do my work,

but it was like,
after I did the work

for a whole year or two,

it was everyday.

I would still read my Bible,
and amazingly enough,

I would still read my Bible,

I still had it in me,
I knew God was there,
I knew light was there,

and I was just trying
to get back to it.

I was definitely...
I wasn't happy,

but at that point of time,
I was...

I was losing myself,
my mom came
and got me twice.

When it gets to a point when
you're just sitting
in your home

and you're just
trying to cover,

what you don't want
people to know,

it's painful.

And then, you want more.

Just so that you don't
let anyone see you cry.

Or let anybody see that
we're unhappy.

[Pattie] Whitney said to me,

her heart was broken.

She was broken-hearted,
you know.

This was my friend,
my sister.

She was so loving,

and generous.

Why isn't anybody out there
rallying for that,

with the same fervor
of attack and criticism
against her?

Where is the great appreciation
for her contribution
to the world?

Whitney talked about how
it was very, very painful
for her.

She was bad at that time,
but she wanted help.

She wanted help,

but she didn't want to be
in some rich,

extravagant treatment facility.

She wanted to be home,
she wanted her daughter
with her...

All she wanted to do
was to be married,
and raise Krissie,

you know, be in love,
and be happy,

and give her daughter
what she wanted.

And she wanted to be normal.

She really didn't care
about the fancy clothes,

the fancy cars,
and stuff like that.

She just wanted to be normal.

♪ It's time,
To make that change ♪

♪ People of the world
Today are fading ♪

♪ All of us
Have our ups and downs ♪

♪ You better think about it
Or you won't be around ♪

♪ What we need is
A little bit of love ♪

♪ Sent by One
From Heaven above ♪

[Laurie] She would say to me,

I want to get out of drugs

and be a mother to my daughter.

I wanna take care
of my daughter.

[soft music playing]

Hey...
[speaking indistinctly]

Huh?

[both speaking indistinctly]

[speaking indistinctly]

Don't tell my daughter...

She's my daughter, too.

You have to
understand something.

She's a star's kid.

She'll start out like that.

She's nothing
but a kid full of life.

[speaking indistinctly]

Don't worry about me.

Don't.

Don't you do that.

I love her so much.

Ready to work out.
One, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven.

[laughing]

Come on.

[Laurie] In the beginning,
Bobby was very supportive,

with Whitney being clean.

But the third month
that we were together,

he had said that,

"This stuff that
my wife is doing,

clean, is disturbing to me."

He started saying no

and she started taking cars,
and she started taking houses.

Why are you looking
at me like that?

[laughing]

Your father is a nut.

[Laurie] So I became the enemy,
with Bobby.

Because she said,

I always got to be
the ballerina
on the stage, singing,

pulling in the money

to take care
of everybody else,

and everybody else
is working for me.

So where do I find time
for me?

♪ I need you desperately ♪

♪ So here I am ♪

♪ Can you please tell me ♪

♪ Oh, where do
Broken hearts go ♪

♪ Can they find
Their way home ♪

♪ Back to the open arms ♪

♪ Of a love
That's waiting there ♪

♪ And if somebody loves you ♪

♪ If they love you ♪

♪ Won't they always love you ♪

♪ I look in your eyes... ♪

[Laurie] At the end...

"Why can't he have a mend?"

You know, I guess he
started dating,
messing around,

somebody else,

which was painful for Whitney.

[Whitney] He was my drug.

I didn't do anything
without him.

I wouldn't do anything
by myself.
It was me and him.

We were partners.

And that's what,
my high was, him.

He and I being together,
whatever we did,
we did together.

No matter what,
we did it together.

♪ And no matter how I try ♪

♪ You're always on my mind... ♪

[Laurie] Bobby getting into
another relationship

was real painful for her.

So, I think that's why
she reverted back to drugs.

Because when you're using,
you don't care about nothing.

Especially crack.

[Ellin] I have to say

for ten years or so,

I started waiting
for the phone call
that we all finally got.

[sirens wailing]

That she had passed.

[soft music playing]

And I opened the door,

it was dark,

but,

she wasn't in her bed.

She wasn't in the bed.

[sighing]

So...

I walked into the bathroom,

my baby was in a tub.

[woman] Go, go, go!

[sirens wailing]

[cameras clicking]

[soft music playing]

[reporter indistinctly]

[interviewer] How would you
like to be remembered?

Oh, God, how do I like
to be remembered?

You know, probably
doesn't matter anyway

because they're gonna
remember me how they
wanna remember me anyway...

[laughing] They're
gonna write books,

they're gonna write this,
write that, and they're
gonna have their own idea.

I don't know, I just want
people to remember me
just being a nice person.

[laughing]

You know...
Somebody who cared,

somebody who tried to do
everybody righteously.

I don't wanna go down
for being a hag.

[laughing] You know?

[interviewer] I don't think
you will.

-[laughing]
-Don't worry about it.

Okay, so that's it from me.

Okay, great.

Nice talking to you.

♪ Whatever you want ♪

♪ Whatever you need ♪

♪ Anything you
Want done, baby ♪

♪ I'll do it naturally ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm every woman
Every woman ♪

♪ It's all in me ♪

♪ It's all in me ♪

[fast paced music playing]

♪ Come on,
Come on, come on! ♪

♪ Put them up,
Put them up! ♪

♪ Ooh, yeah! ♪

[soft music playing]