Whitney Houston didn’t cry for Oprah Winfrey
Whitney Houston didn’t cry for Oprah Winfrey, but she certainly unloaded. In the first segment of her taped two-part comeback interview on Monday, Ms. Houston described in vivid, at times alarming, detail her “crazy love” for her former husband, Bobby Brown; their descent into drug abuse (marijuana laced with rock cocaine); and the short-circuiting of her music career. The conversation, recorded ahead of time at Town Hall in New York, was candid, of course, but not exactly spontaneous; it was exquisitely timed for the season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which is approaching its 25th anniversary — and Ms. Winfrey has stirred attention by saying that she might make it her last.
The interview hardly needed all the promotion and advance publicity: it was an intimately personal conversation between two of the most public and scrutinized celebrities in the world. The contrast could not have been sharper or more colorful: Ms. Winfrey is a beloved star who has put her career and her multibillion-dollar business ahead of everything else; Ms. Houston is a beloved star who let everything get in the way of her career.
Ms. Houston didn’t hold back, but there was one moment when the diva seemed in denial. Ms. Winfrey cited an article describing the pain and “disgust” fans felt for the careless way Ms. Houston had mistreated her voice, which the article and Ms. Winfrey described as a “national treasure.” “Wow,” Ms. Houston replied, but she didn’t address whether she had squandered an amazing gift. She looked less chagrined than affronted as she explained that she had pursued a personal life after giving up her entire youth to concert tours and the spotlight. “I just wanted to be normal,” she said.
Tags: Bobby Brown, Drug abuse, Health, New York, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Show, Season premiere, Whitney Houston
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