Whitney Houston is my Person of the Month and on 9th of August she would’ve been 57 years of age. Why have there been so many biopics and documentaries about Whitney? Angela Bassett’s biopic, Nick Broomfield’s film and the latest written by Kevin MacDonald have all brought a little extra news that we didn’t know about Whitney, but why can’t she just be left to rest in peace? It’s beyond me.
I know you can’t believe everything you read and the internet – YouTube especially – has given people chances to make films and “clear” themselves. Leolah Brown (Bobby’s sister) was very vocal about Pat Houston well before Bobbi Kristina passed on. Pat was the Executive Producer on this last Whitney film, Dionne Warwick has also denied (of course) the abuse allegations targeted at her sister DeeDee.
Whitney is the second movie in the last two years about the issues surrounding the singer culminating in her untimely death. The last two movies presented to the world by British white men. “Whitney: Can I Be Me?,” by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal. It was an exercise in “Whodunnit” and some of the information was so deep, even from Bobby Brown, it did not sit well with me at all.
Even though the last Whitney offering, presented by Scotsman MacDonald, has much more compassion attached and is authorised by the family, it’s difficult to get through. Pat Houston is also Executive Producer of this film, and Leolah Brown (Bobby’s sister), was quite vocal about Pat at Bobbi Kristina’s Home Going Service and left early.
The realisations uncovered in this latest documentary, shocked us all.
“There was something very disturbed about her, because she was never comfortable in her own skin,” MacDonald told Vanity Fair. “She seemed kind of asexual in a strange way. She was a beautiful woman, but she was never particularly sexy. I’ve seen and done some filming with people who have suffered childhood sexual abuse, and there was just something about her manner that was reminiscent to me of that sort of shrinking—a lack of comfort in her own physicality, maybe that is what it was.” MacDonald wasn’t positive that his hunch was right—but “shortly after thinking that, someone did tell me off the record that they were told by Whitney that she was abused, probably one of the central reasons behind her self-torture. It took awhile for anyone to go on record about it, and eventually the family did.”
Sexual abuse, drug addiction, her fluid sexuality… the saddest revelation of all was how alone Whitney was throughout it all. It was like she was used up and left to burn up after her usefulness to others was done. Always alone… always picking up the pieces… in the end always by herself.
I just think the whole Whitney debacle has gone on long enough. I believe that sharing this was healing to those who perhaps needed it. Putting all this on display may have been cathartic to Whitney’s family and all of us who loved her so, but there comes a point where Whitney’s dignity and peace have to be honoured.
Just let her rest in peace and let’s enjoy the music she left us, which we’ll do this month. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this… Let’s talk about it on Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram.
