Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017) Movie Script
'911 emergency.'
People say Whitney died
from an overdose of drugs.
1 know Whitney Houston
actually died from a broken heart.
She died from a broken heart.
(NU Heeeey, oh!
Hallelujah.
Thank you.
I'm tired. Let's do this show.
- Well, sir...
- Now, that's a crowd.
It's my prerogative
It's my prerogative
- Yes! Yes!
- I can do it!
'M
And I hope
And I wish you joy
And happiness
But above all this
I wish you love
And I
I'll always love
You
You...
I'm sitting... I'm playing drums
behind her, right?
And that's how she sang.
Every night, every song.
Whitney's voice,
you know, unparalleled.
She was totally brilliant.
Totally brilliant, but...
everything came so naturally to her.
Whitney was created by God.
There was this timbre, a sound
to her voice that was just angelic.
There were many, many times
when Whitney's voice was just gone.
Whitney's voice broke barriers.
We did not have Beyonces.
People may not know ii.
They wanted to present her
as the princess.
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 of people.
Whitney was very in touch with her...
her spiritual, you know, her...
Jubilation
Celebration
Jubilation
Oh yeah...
It was fresh, it wasn't stale.
Singing Gospel was an energy, a passion.
I sang from the heart.
Sing, I guess they learn their way,
She was spoiled. She was the baby.
Nobody messed with her. Anyway.
They didn't have the heart to.
They didn't have the heart
to mess with Nippy.
1 think she was closer to her dad
than her mother.
She felt that love
more from her dad.
Cissy is no joke.
Cissy is straight, stern.
Her mother made her decisions.
She guided her, she chose
the people that were around her,
Cissy was everything.
We were the first
black family up here.
House has been painted. It was white.
It's amazing. It's amazing.
"Daddy gonna whoop your arse!"
I'm, like...
My God.
We were always, like you say,
being together most of the time
and her following behind me.
Like I say, at 10 years old
I tried drugs, you know?
When Whitney and I me!
We were in our teens, like 18, 19.
I mean, you know, my mother had.
When you're raised in church and you're raised
in a background of God-fearing religions,
I've been working with Whitney
1 have a friendship,
that's our foundation.
I knew her brothers,
went to school with them,
And she was pretty low-key, smart.
She's funny.
Young, and you'd think
she would be like: "Check me out."
But she'd do strange things like that.
She's...
She is... I would say
that Whitney's sort of strange.
When {met them.
I think Whitney had gust moved
into her very first apartment.
Robyn was older than Whitney and I think
people were picking on Whitney at school.
I first met Whitney.
She was...
She was a sweet kid at the time.
She was very insecure.
She was very naive,
she was very insecure.
It was about how she looked
and how she presented herself.
'When Merv returns
Arista Records president, Clive Davis,
This girl is 19 years old, yeah.
But they were far too established
in their career as to who they were.
That we must look inside our hearts
To find
Yeah, we gotta find
A world full of love
Like yours, like
Like home
Home
The company
had this image in mind.
Translating to white America.
(Broomfieldi How did you
market Whitney for a white audience?
Put the past behind them
and don't focus on it.
You know, that sounds trite and small
and insignificant, but it's not.
As you said, this is a very racial country
and racism,
Normally folks are looking for something
in the background.
The news about Whitney Houston
is crackling through the music world.
She was who she was.
She came from where she came from.
From out the hood.
You're from the hood.
There are certain things you do,
certain things you like.
Present you to be another way to a mass
audience and you can play the part.
And Whitney played that part great.
Her music was deliberately pop.
OK.
Some of the criticisms of the album
were that your voice was so good.
I doubt it.
I went into the studio
wanting to make good music.
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
And if by chance that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
" I get so emotional,
baby, every time... "
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston!
Whitney Houston!
Whitney Houston!
I like the animal way you move
I get so emotional, baby
I get so emotional, baby
They told me...
They told me to take
as much time as I wanted.
Gosh. What can I say?
I'd like to thank my mum and dad
for their love and support.
I wouldn't have made it without you.
And Robyn.
Whitney and Robyn,
{hey fought those battles together.
They were close, they were tight.
Robyn was my go-to person. I love Robyn.
Whitney was at the top of the charts.
She was everywhere.
And to the black ear.
These records were not
natural R&B records
so for the black audience
the perspective was in the community
that Whitney had said out.
Whitney had been nominated
for either Record of the Year.
When her picture came across the screen,
there was this massive boo.
And the winner is...
Sometimes it gets down to
you're not black enough for them.
That moment of being booed on Soul Train.
It was devastating.
It was emotionally devastating.
Whitney insisted they crossed her
back over to black music.
Her favourite saying was: "Can I be me?"
In fact, she would say it so much
that we had it sampled.
Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-can I be me?
That was the conundrum,.
"Like:" Dammit, I have made all this money
and made all these people happy
"and I still can't be me."
I love you, Mummy and Daddy,
and my brothers. God bless you, Arista...
"This 'Ian'! Me. We been created
and I've been moulded into this."
Controlling family situation.
And who do you think
was controlling her, mainly?
Her mother, clearly.
Her records never achieved any real major
success and here comes her daughter.
I wanna say
To my daddy
I love you
80 happy birthday
Happy birthday
To you
You're surprised, aren't you?
I just wanna thank you...
for your love...
and for being the best daddy
any girl could ever have.
There was a deep, very
complicated relationship with her father.
One of the things
about being rich is that...
I love you so much
Hallelujah
After the second album...
and this phenomenal success...
folks really didn't realise,
Who she was hanging out with,
who she was going out with.
Sure. I'm seeing you
right now with my own two eyes.
- Has he actually what?
- Rung you up.
Has he actually rung me up?
Yes, he has actually rung me.
He has rung me and I rung him.
I said: "I want to fuck her."
Ila dit... Ila dit...
A lot of what I've learned,
a lot of what I know...
kind of takes the fun cm of it.
I enjoy doing what I do.
I enjoy singing,
I enjoy performing for people,
but there's a 101 of it.
That you're subjected to
and it's also never fair.
Then it started getting real intense
in terms of questions
I'd say: "Huh?"
Rumours had already started
about her sexuality.
When we travelied
Robyn was with us.
You have to understand the make-up
999999999 homophobic.
Um...
And the rumour goes out
that this woman is not a heterosexual.
They had a field day with that.
She's a damn good basketball player.
She's a very tall, very broad woman.
She's been my friend for years.
This was her friend
that she'd had around her.
Her mother was very much against it.
Clive was very much against it.
It became quite a conflict
and it's interesting.
They're not feeling it.
What?
- They hate it.
- Hey, Andrew.
Robyn provided a safe place for her.
In that Whitney found safety and solace.
I don't think that she was gay.
I think she was bisexual.
Do you believe that Whitney
and Robyn were in a gay relationship?
I don't really know.
I thought, you know...
Absolutely.
- It would have bothered you?
- Mm-hm.
So were you happy
when Bobby Brown came into the picture?
I see nothing wrong
- Thank you.
- And the winner is Bobby Brown.
! Think 3 had won
three awards that night.
And I turned around
and it was Whitney Houston.
She was trying to get my attention
cos I was fly.
I knew it, she knew it, you know?
Bobby was street. Bobby was hood.
Bobby was... Bobby had...
As they say, Bobby had swag.
Whitney didn't grow up in Long Island.
Came from a similar culture.
I met Bobby Brown
in 1988, I believe.
One of whom was dressed.
Black loafers and white socks
scrunched up around his ankles,
What brings you
around this part of town?
You're doing great.
I wish I could be like you one day.
And as that evening went on...
she actually danced with him.
Robyn didn't take it especially well.
Come on
Come on
Come on...
Mr Bobby Brown.
Sing!
Boom
Oh, baby
One more time
Oh, one more time
Here we go...
Mr Brown.
The record is not over yet.
Bobby Brown.
Oh, yeah
Bobby
Bobby
Yeah, yeah
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
He loved her as herself.
She could come off that
stage and not have to be.
He understood that part of her.
What do 1 think
Bobby and Whitney gave each other?
Love?
You know? For who they were.
And that feeling of.
They had that.
Where are you
at this point of your life?
Um, married with a baby.
- Content.
- Hm?
Bobby...
was ready for the same things
I was ready for:
Commitment, loyalty,
And that's what he did.
More love than I've ever seen...
I think I'm a slave.
I'm a slave and a horse.
- I'm her horse.
- He's all I've got in this world
She's the most loving mother,
The craziest wife,
um...
for me,
Everybody knows me, knows of me,
It's like I'm...
I'm Bobby Brown.
I'm the original bad boy, they say,
My wife, to me, is just like...
She's just a joy to be around.
Hm.
That bond, people can say
what they wanna say,
but I lived in the house.
You know what I'm saying?
For years, so...
What were they like together?
They were funny.
They used to do skits from movies.
She'd be Tina Turner
and he'd be Ike.
I know, but see...
Hey, hey... Da-da-da.
It's on now.
Now I've got to cut you.
This is what Tina didn't do.
This is what we do all day.
- And eat.
- And eat.
Ooh, look how this ain't lovely.
What's this? What the hell?
Why?
1% Why oh why'? 34.
No sense in going forward.
Boo! Boo!
How long did you
work as bodyguard for Whitney?
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.
She was.
That film encapsulated
in two hours and ten minutes
Should stay...
Kevin Costner had said to me:
"If I..."
"The Bodyguard".
Before she became really, really big.
She had to realise:
"I can't come out anymore,".
When it comes to the drugs.
It was no longer recreational.
How much has success changed you?
How different are you?
Probably...
Probably a lot more paranoid.
I am...
Success...
doesn't change you, fame does.
Fame does.
You've got a whole world of people
calling your name.
It's weird.
Is there...?
Is there a misconception of the fact,
People will tell you that who are famous.
You've got to find the
happiness in yourself.
That you probably don't even like.
Jesus, which is the...? Which car?
Her rise 10 fame
just took the wind out of her
and those were the times
when she turned to God,
Baby
lfl could
I think maybe the greater of them,
the greatest disappointment.
She felt that she had let him down.
Are we out here?
We're asking for a special,
special blessing,
Only you know what's inside.
We know there's power
in the name of Jesus.
We know that the blood
of the lamb covers all.
And we're asking
that you do not pass us by.
Can I take you someplace with me?
So, when we go to church,
Because we feel a joy
like a river in our souls.
And sing praises to the Almighty God,
you know?
Ldo
I love you, I love you,
I love you, I love you
I'll hasten to
I can run
I will always
Yes, I will
God, I love you
I sure do love you
I can't do without you
No, no, no, no, no, no
I cannot make it
I cannot make it without your love
And peace of mind
He'll give you joy
And peace of mind
He'll give you joy
He'll give you joy
Nobody, nobody can take it away...
There were moments when we and the
audience were transformed by her voice.
Whitney knew that she had that gift.
But then she could just caress a note
in such a way that it's like:
"It's a God thing."
Oh, Lord
Oh, Saviour
Don't pass me by
This is the home of the dancers,
the background singers,
- Make-up.
- Hello.
- Hair.
- Hi, Robyn.
Robyn, I wanna get this photo of you.
So what?
Robyn and Whitney were like twins.
They were inseparable.
They were inseparable.
Band and dancers,
up in the front here.
Right here. Excuse us.
On your knees. Yes.
And that was pan of his frustration.
And he wanted Whitney to remove Robyn
from their relationship.
Because Robyn cared for Whitney more than
she probably would care for anybody.
Money.
Don't mean to make you nervous, but
Roxy's locking that, everybody.
After a while you get sleepy.
You just go with the flow.
I kind of know
what Whitney wants to go on around her,
and sometimes it's a little difficult
to convey that to people.
So most people would say
I'm just about everywhere.
One, two, three, go.
If we take this chance
And extend to each other romance
I hope
You and you and you
I know that we're just friends
They would heme for her affection,
they'd battle for her attention,
mainly to identify with the hate
they had for each other.
We already met.
And that's Nicole. Come here.
There were numerous fights
between Robyn and Bobby Brown.
Bobby and...
Robyn had some physical altercations
and I think there were times
when he wasn't always the winner.
Yes.
But then Whitney would come
in between them and she would...
pour the oil on the troubled waters.
How will I know?
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.
I..-
Just so that I know
that she knows the real deal.
I ask her:
"Who put the sun in the sky?"
She says: "God did."
("My Love Is Your Love)"
If tomorrow is judgement day
And I'm standing on the frontline...
And the Lord asks me
what I did with my life
Go ahead, I'm here.
Clap your hands...
Clap your hands
Clap your hands...
Come on, Kris, come on.
Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump.
Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
I said the record is not over yet.
These days you have
to stay up with your children.
And Bobbi Kris
and I have a great relationship.
Really dying to get home
to see her little face.
It's worse to talk
sometimes than not to,
because you feel that longing,
you feel 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 the first half,
It just let...
It made me feel really good.
It made me feel really good to know
that she would miss me and love me.
Sweet kid, she really was.
I didn't think:
"The writing's on the wall for this kid. "
No, no chance for Bobbi Kristina.
She came into 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.
After a disastrous tour to Singapore.
Pad 0? My duty,
She had nodules on her throat.
Whitney overdosed while she was making
the film "Waiting to Exhale."
That's when you've got a problem.
Everybody was on drugs.
I put it down on paper.
"Thank you very much."
"Ms Houston has decided she doesn't need
anyone of your calibre and experience again."
Over here. Over here. This way.
We're fine now.
We're going inside.
Lats of drinking, lots of partying.
When in his presence
it became a competition.
Can you tell me what tonight's all about,
why everyone's here?
Whitney was getting high
before Bobby ever came in the picture.
Bobby was notorious
for sleeping with the girls on the tour.
When Whitney got married,
Whitney got married forever.
Yes! Yes!
Get away, get away.
Bobby brought her down
because he wanted to be up,
How she was so worried
about her hair. Her hair...
Did Robyn try and keep Whitney off drugs?
She did.
They'd had dozens of arguments...
over...
Whitney getting high.
Right?
And something
that started as simple as...
Whitney smoking weed...
turned into...
ma monster,
All of the people
that had positions of power,
Was either not seeing
what was happening.
On page 128
you write about the first time.
"In the late 1980s
Robyn came to visit me."
I wanted to kill her, I really did.
At one time
Whitney wasn't even taking to her mum.
Nobody wanted to blame Whitney.
But Cissy made it no secret
she wanted to beat Robyn under something.
She wanted to kick Robyn's arse.
You know, every opportunity she got,
she wanted to do something to Robyn.
They needed to blame somebody.
Did she shut off from it?
Did she try and shut off it?
For her own sanity,
her own peace of mind.
Would that kind of pressure
being brought on her by others.
Yes, it did.
There was nothing I could do
1 also spoke to oiher peopie
in her camp.
People forget
that they're human beings.
And she felt deeply.
That's how she could bring
what she did to songs.
How many times did you change?
She would have to pm!
And sing from every mace in he(.
And then to couple that with the emotion?
Who does that at the level
that Whitney Houston did it?
There will always only be
one Whitney Houston.
And ail you can say is "drug addict"?
Come on, please'.!
Just remember it was you
Who said goodbye
I learned from the best
I learned from the best
I learned from the best
Oh
All right. OK. You got it.
- Thank you.
- All right, there you go. I'm done.
Yes? Sure.
All right.
No, we're not leaving.
We're not leaving.
Get the cars organised.
They're not leaving. Get the cars.
It was from one disaster
to another disaster.
There was no order from chaos.
I can't remember
there ever being a good moment.
In my opinion them came a time
I'm coming.
That's it.
Come on, we've got to go to the bus.
Thank you, baby.
Love you too.
Robyn totally disappeared.
I'm assuming they paid her off.
I never saw her again
and she was everywhere with her before.
I think they prevented it. It was understood that they could not connect again.
1 wilt always say
that was the downfall of Whitney.
Robyn was the person
who was keeping her together.
3 think that's why the drugs
became so important to her.
The drugs sent her spiralling.
This is the 72nd
Annual Academy Awards.
We do the rehearsal Friday night.
She sings the first 12 bars of...
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
and she's singing her own notes,
basically, or changing the
melody substantially.
Then a couple of other
things just went wrong.
This was so dangerous.
If she sang in the wrong song
nobody would know what to do.
So, you know, the right decision was made.
To replace her.
That Michael Jackson concen,
And I could not believe what I was seeing.
And I could hear people saying:
"You look fabulous, "
1 take Whitney in the bathroom
and 1 close the door.
Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana?
It is cocaine? Is it pills?
It has been.
- At times.
- All?
At times.
If you had to name the devil,
That would be me.
Then, last September,
the biggest blow of all:
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.
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 it's the dad
who dressed you.
What are you thinking?
That moment...
- Can I stop, please?
- Sure.
I think the biggest change in her.
She was closer to her dad
than her mother.
"She was secure in the fact
that, "Daddy got my back.
That she could never repair.
She disappeared for a while.
I would ask people: "Where's Whitney?"
I heard that she'd moved to Atlanta.
It's a very fun piace
and I think there's less
spotlight on you there,
because she was away
from her mother as well.
I love you too.
I'm drinking water.
Hi, baby. Hi, baby. Come here.
She wanted to be normal.
She missed her dad.
She loved Bobbi girl so much.
Thai was her life.
We used to slide down that banister.
Me and Whitney used to slide down it.
That's probably why it's so... Yeah.
Remember when I told you that Cissy and
them came to the house for her rehab?
You see that balcony?
When I was backing up here
with the girls in the car,
Then she jumped out the back window!
Crazy.
She was an addict.
'It was an everyday thing.
'I would still read my Bible.
'I was definitely...
I wasn't happy by that point in time.
'When it gets to the point
where you're sitting in your home
'and you're just trying to cover
what you don't want people to know,
'Or let anybody see
that, you know, we're unhappy.'
Whitney said to me...
her heart was broken.
She was broken-headed, you know?
This was my friend, my sister.
Why isn't anybody out
there rallying for that.
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 wanna be in
some rich, extravagant treatment facility.
All she wanted to do.
"I wanna take care of my daughter."
- Baby girl.
- What?
I know.
Who...?
I'm ready to go work out.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Come on.
"This stuff that my wife is doing,".
She stated saying no.
Your fathers a nut.
Because she said:
19, Can you please tell me.
It Can they find their way home?
Back to the open arms
of a love that's waiting there?
Hook In your eyes
At the end,
'He was my drug.
I didn't do anything without him.
'He and 1 being together.
Whatever we did, we did it together.
It No matter how my
You're always on my mind...
So 1 thflnk that's why
she reverted back to drugs.
Because when you're using,
you don't care about nothing,
! have to say,
That she had passed.
When I opened the door...
it was dark.
But...
she wasn't in the bed.
She wasn't in the bed.
So...
I walked into the bathroom.
My baby was in the tub.
Go, go, go, go, go.
'Cameras were there tonight
when Whitney Houston's family,
Oh, God.
It probably doesn't even matter anyway.
You know, somebody who cared,
You know.
" Whatever you want"
it Whatever you need
on, baby
14 Anything you want done, baby
I will do it...
It's all in me
It's all in me
Come on, come on, come on.
Motion Picture Solutions
People say Whitney died
from an overdose of drugs.
1 know Whitney Houston
actually died from a broken heart.
She died from a broken heart.
(NU Heeeey, oh!
Hallelujah.
Thank you.
I'm tired. Let's do this show.
- Well, sir...
- Now, that's a crowd.
It's my prerogative
It's my prerogative
- Yes! Yes!
- I can do it!
'M
And I hope
And I wish you joy
And happiness
But above all this
I wish you love
And I
I'll always love
You
You...
I'm sitting... I'm playing drums
behind her, right?
And that's how she sang.
Every night, every song.
Whitney's voice,
you know, unparalleled.
She was totally brilliant.
Totally brilliant, but...
everything came so naturally to her.
Whitney was created by God.
There was this timbre, a sound
to her voice that was just angelic.
There were many, many times
when Whitney's voice was just gone.
Whitney's voice broke barriers.
We did not have Beyonces.
People may not know ii.
They wanted to present her
as the princess.
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 of people.
Whitney was very in touch with her...
her spiritual, you know, her...
Jubilation
Celebration
Jubilation
Oh yeah...
It was fresh, it wasn't stale.
Singing Gospel was an energy, a passion.
I sang from the heart.
Sing, I guess they learn their way,
She was spoiled. She was the baby.
Nobody messed with her. Anyway.
They didn't have the heart to.
They didn't have the heart
to mess with Nippy.
1 think she was closer to her dad
than her mother.
She felt that love
more from her dad.
Cissy is no joke.
Cissy is straight, stern.
Her mother made her decisions.
She guided her, she chose
the people that were around her,
Cissy was everything.
We were the first
black family up here.
House has been painted. It was white.
It's amazing. It's amazing.
"Daddy gonna whoop your arse!"
I'm, like...
My God.
We were always, like you say,
being together most of the time
and her following behind me.
Like I say, at 10 years old
I tried drugs, you know?
When Whitney and I me!
We were in our teens, like 18, 19.
I mean, you know, my mother had.
When you're raised in church and you're raised
in a background of God-fearing religions,
I've been working with Whitney
1 have a friendship,
that's our foundation.
I knew her brothers,
went to school with them,
And she was pretty low-key, smart.
She's funny.
Young, and you'd think
she would be like: "Check me out."
But she'd do strange things like that.
She's...
She is... I would say
that Whitney's sort of strange.
When {met them.
I think Whitney had gust moved
into her very first apartment.
Robyn was older than Whitney and I think
people were picking on Whitney at school.
I first met Whitney.
She was...
She was a sweet kid at the time.
She was very insecure.
She was very naive,
she was very insecure.
It was about how she looked
and how she presented herself.
'When Merv returns
Arista Records president, Clive Davis,
This girl is 19 years old, yeah.
But they were far too established
in their career as to who they were.
That we must look inside our hearts
To find
Yeah, we gotta find
A world full of love
Like yours, like
Like home
Home
The company
had this image in mind.
Translating to white America.
(Broomfieldi How did you
market Whitney for a white audience?
Put the past behind them
and don't focus on it.
You know, that sounds trite and small
and insignificant, but it's not.
As you said, this is a very racial country
and racism,
Normally folks are looking for something
in the background.
The news about Whitney Houston
is crackling through the music world.
She was who she was.
She came from where she came from.
From out the hood.
You're from the hood.
There are certain things you do,
certain things you like.
Present you to be another way to a mass
audience and you can play the part.
And Whitney played that part great.
Her music was deliberately pop.
OK.
Some of the criticisms of the album
were that your voice was so good.
I doubt it.
I went into the studio
wanting to make good music.
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
And if by chance that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
" I get so emotional,
baby, every time... "
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston!
Whitney Houston!
Whitney Houston!
I like the animal way you move
I get so emotional, baby
I get so emotional, baby
They told me...
They told me to take
as much time as I wanted.
Gosh. What can I say?
I'd like to thank my mum and dad
for their love and support.
I wouldn't have made it without you.
And Robyn.
Whitney and Robyn,
{hey fought those battles together.
They were close, they were tight.
Robyn was my go-to person. I love Robyn.
Whitney was at the top of the charts.
She was everywhere.
And to the black ear.
These records were not
natural R&B records
so for the black audience
the perspective was in the community
that Whitney had said out.
Whitney had been nominated
for either Record of the Year.
When her picture came across the screen,
there was this massive boo.
And the winner is...
Sometimes it gets down to
you're not black enough for them.
That moment of being booed on Soul Train.
It was devastating.
It was emotionally devastating.
Whitney insisted they crossed her
back over to black music.
Her favourite saying was: "Can I be me?"
In fact, she would say it so much
that we had it sampled.
Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-can I be me?
That was the conundrum,.
"Like:" Dammit, I have made all this money
and made all these people happy
"and I still can't be me."
I love you, Mummy and Daddy,
and my brothers. God bless you, Arista...
"This 'Ian'! Me. We been created
and I've been moulded into this."
Controlling family situation.
And who do you think
was controlling her, mainly?
Her mother, clearly.
Her records never achieved any real major
success and here comes her daughter.
I wanna say
To my daddy
I love you
80 happy birthday
Happy birthday
To you
You're surprised, aren't you?
I just wanna thank you...
for your love...
and for being the best daddy
any girl could ever have.
There was a deep, very
complicated relationship with her father.
One of the things
about being rich is that...
I love you so much
Hallelujah
After the second album...
and this phenomenal success...
folks really didn't realise,
Who she was hanging out with,
who she was going out with.
Sure. I'm seeing you
right now with my own two eyes.
- Has he actually what?
- Rung you up.
Has he actually rung me up?
Yes, he has actually rung me.
He has rung me and I rung him.
I said: "I want to fuck her."
Ila dit... Ila dit...
A lot of what I've learned,
a lot of what I know...
kind of takes the fun cm of it.
I enjoy doing what I do.
I enjoy singing,
I enjoy performing for people,
but there's a 101 of it.
That you're subjected to
and it's also never fair.
Then it started getting real intense
in terms of questions
I'd say: "Huh?"
Rumours had already started
about her sexuality.
When we travelied
Robyn was with us.
You have to understand the make-up
999999999 homophobic.
Um...
And the rumour goes out
that this woman is not a heterosexual.
They had a field day with that.
She's a damn good basketball player.
She's a very tall, very broad woman.
She's been my friend for years.
This was her friend
that she'd had around her.
Her mother was very much against it.
Clive was very much against it.
It became quite a conflict
and it's interesting.
They're not feeling it.
What?
- They hate it.
- Hey, Andrew.
Robyn provided a safe place for her.
In that Whitney found safety and solace.
I don't think that she was gay.
I think she was bisexual.
Do you believe that Whitney
and Robyn were in a gay relationship?
I don't really know.
I thought, you know...
Absolutely.
- It would have bothered you?
- Mm-hm.
So were you happy
when Bobby Brown came into the picture?
I see nothing wrong
- Thank you.
- And the winner is Bobby Brown.
! Think 3 had won
three awards that night.
And I turned around
and it was Whitney Houston.
She was trying to get my attention
cos I was fly.
I knew it, she knew it, you know?
Bobby was street. Bobby was hood.
Bobby was... Bobby had...
As they say, Bobby had swag.
Whitney didn't grow up in Long Island.
Came from a similar culture.
I met Bobby Brown
in 1988, I believe.
One of whom was dressed.
Black loafers and white socks
scrunched up around his ankles,
What brings you
around this part of town?
You're doing great.
I wish I could be like you one day.
And as that evening went on...
she actually danced with him.
Robyn didn't take it especially well.
Come on
Come on
Come on...
Mr Bobby Brown.
Sing!
Boom
Oh, baby
One more time
Oh, one more time
Here we go...
Mr Brown.
The record is not over yet.
Bobby Brown.
Oh, yeah
Bobby
Bobby
Yeah, yeah
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
He loved her as herself.
She could come off that
stage and not have to be.
He understood that part of her.
What do 1 think
Bobby and Whitney gave each other?
Love?
You know? For who they were.
And that feeling of.
They had that.
Where are you
at this point of your life?
Um, married with a baby.
- Content.
- Hm?
Bobby...
was ready for the same things
I was ready for:
Commitment, loyalty,
And that's what he did.
More love than I've ever seen...
I think I'm a slave.
I'm a slave and a horse.
- I'm her horse.
- He's all I've got in this world
She's the most loving mother,
The craziest wife,
um...
for me,
Everybody knows me, knows of me,
It's like I'm...
I'm Bobby Brown.
I'm the original bad boy, they say,
My wife, to me, is just like...
She's just a joy to be around.
Hm.
That bond, people can say
what they wanna say,
but I lived in the house.
You know what I'm saying?
For years, so...
What were they like together?
They were funny.
They used to do skits from movies.
She'd be Tina Turner
and he'd be Ike.
I know, but see...
Hey, hey... Da-da-da.
It's on now.
Now I've got to cut you.
This is what Tina didn't do.
This is what we do all day.
- And eat.
- And eat.
Ooh, look how this ain't lovely.
What's this? What the hell?
Why?
1% Why oh why'? 34.
No sense in going forward.
Boo! Boo!
How long did you
work as bodyguard for Whitney?
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.
She was.
That film encapsulated
in two hours and ten minutes
Should stay...
Kevin Costner had said to me:
"If I..."
"The Bodyguard".
Before she became really, really big.
She had to realise:
"I can't come out anymore,".
When it comes to the drugs.
It was no longer recreational.
How much has success changed you?
How different are you?
Probably...
Probably a lot more paranoid.
I am...
Success...
doesn't change you, fame does.
Fame does.
You've got a whole world of people
calling your name.
It's weird.
Is there...?
Is there a misconception of the fact,
People will tell you that who are famous.
You've got to find the
happiness in yourself.
That you probably don't even like.
Jesus, which is the...? Which car?
Her rise 10 fame
just took the wind out of her
and those were the times
when she turned to God,
Baby
lfl could
I think maybe the greater of them,
the greatest disappointment.
She felt that she had let him down.
Are we out here?
We're asking for a special,
special blessing,
Only you know what's inside.
We know there's power
in the name of Jesus.
We know that the blood
of the lamb covers all.
And we're asking
that you do not pass us by.
Can I take you someplace with me?
So, when we go to church,
Because we feel a joy
like a river in our souls.
And sing praises to the Almighty God,
you know?
Ldo
I love you, I love you,
I love you, I love you
I'll hasten to
I can run
I will always
Yes, I will
God, I love you
I sure do love you
I can't do without you
No, no, no, no, no, no
I cannot make it
I cannot make it without your love
And peace of mind
He'll give you joy
And peace of mind
He'll give you joy
He'll give you joy
Nobody, nobody can take it away...
There were moments when we and the
audience were transformed by her voice.
Whitney knew that she had that gift.
But then she could just caress a note
in such a way that it's like:
"It's a God thing."
Oh, Lord
Oh, Saviour
Don't pass me by
This is the home of the dancers,
the background singers,
- Make-up.
- Hello.
- Hair.
- Hi, Robyn.
Robyn, I wanna get this photo of you.
So what?
Robyn and Whitney were like twins.
They were inseparable.
They were inseparable.
Band and dancers,
up in the front here.
Right here. Excuse us.
On your knees. Yes.
And that was pan of his frustration.
And he wanted Whitney to remove Robyn
from their relationship.
Because Robyn cared for Whitney more than
she probably would care for anybody.
Money.
Don't mean to make you nervous, but
Roxy's locking that, everybody.
After a while you get sleepy.
You just go with the flow.
I kind of know
what Whitney wants to go on around her,
and sometimes it's a little difficult
to convey that to people.
So most people would say
I'm just about everywhere.
One, two, three, go.
If we take this chance
And extend to each other romance
I hope
You and you and you
I know that we're just friends
They would heme for her affection,
they'd battle for her attention,
mainly to identify with the hate
they had for each other.
We already met.
And that's Nicole. Come here.
There were numerous fights
between Robyn and Bobby Brown.
Bobby and...
Robyn had some physical altercations
and I think there were times
when he wasn't always the winner.
Yes.
But then Whitney would come
in between them and she would...
pour the oil on the troubled waters.
How will I know?
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.
I..-
Just so that I know
that she knows the real deal.
I ask her:
"Who put the sun in the sky?"
She says: "God did."
("My Love Is Your Love)"
If tomorrow is judgement day
And I'm standing on the frontline...
And the Lord asks me
what I did with my life
Go ahead, I'm here.
Clap your hands...
Clap your hands
Clap your hands...
Come on, Kris, come on.
Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump.
Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
I said the record is not over yet.
These days you have
to stay up with your children.
And Bobbi Kris
and I have a great relationship.
Really dying to get home
to see her little face.
It's worse to talk
sometimes than not to,
because you feel that longing,
you feel 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 the first half,
It just let...
It made me feel really good.
It made me feel really good to know
that she would miss me and love me.
Sweet kid, she really was.
I didn't think:
"The writing's on the wall for this kid. "
No, no chance for Bobbi Kristina.
She came into 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.
After a disastrous tour to Singapore.
Pad 0? My duty,
She had nodules on her throat.
Whitney overdosed while she was making
the film "Waiting to Exhale."
That's when you've got a problem.
Everybody was on drugs.
I put it down on paper.
"Thank you very much."
"Ms Houston has decided she doesn't need
anyone of your calibre and experience again."
Over here. Over here. This way.
We're fine now.
We're going inside.
Lats of drinking, lots of partying.
When in his presence
it became a competition.
Can you tell me what tonight's all about,
why everyone's here?
Whitney was getting high
before Bobby ever came in the picture.
Bobby was notorious
for sleeping with the girls on the tour.
When Whitney got married,
Whitney got married forever.
Yes! Yes!
Get away, get away.
Bobby brought her down
because he wanted to be up,
How she was so worried
about her hair. Her hair...
Did Robyn try and keep Whitney off drugs?
She did.
They'd had dozens of arguments...
over...
Whitney getting high.
Right?
And something
that started as simple as...
Whitney smoking weed...
turned into...
ma monster,
All of the people
that had positions of power,
Was either not seeing
what was happening.
On page 128
you write about the first time.
"In the late 1980s
Robyn came to visit me."
I wanted to kill her, I really did.
At one time
Whitney wasn't even taking to her mum.
Nobody wanted to blame Whitney.
But Cissy made it no secret
she wanted to beat Robyn under something.
She wanted to kick Robyn's arse.
You know, every opportunity she got,
she wanted to do something to Robyn.
They needed to blame somebody.
Did she shut off from it?
Did she try and shut off it?
For her own sanity,
her own peace of mind.
Would that kind of pressure
being brought on her by others.
Yes, it did.
There was nothing I could do
1 also spoke to oiher peopie
in her camp.
People forget
that they're human beings.
And she felt deeply.
That's how she could bring
what she did to songs.
How many times did you change?
She would have to pm!
And sing from every mace in he(.
And then to couple that with the emotion?
Who does that at the level
that Whitney Houston did it?
There will always only be
one Whitney Houston.
And ail you can say is "drug addict"?
Come on, please'.!
Just remember it was you
Who said goodbye
I learned from the best
I learned from the best
I learned from the best
Oh
All right. OK. You got it.
- Thank you.
- All right, there you go. I'm done.
Yes? Sure.
All right.
No, we're not leaving.
We're not leaving.
Get the cars organised.
They're not leaving. Get the cars.
It was from one disaster
to another disaster.
There was no order from chaos.
I can't remember
there ever being a good moment.
In my opinion them came a time
I'm coming.
That's it.
Come on, we've got to go to the bus.
Thank you, baby.
Love you too.
Robyn totally disappeared.
I'm assuming they paid her off.
I never saw her again
and she was everywhere with her before.
I think they prevented it. It was understood that they could not connect again.
1 wilt always say
that was the downfall of Whitney.
Robyn was the person
who was keeping her together.
3 think that's why the drugs
became so important to her.
The drugs sent her spiralling.
This is the 72nd
Annual Academy Awards.
We do the rehearsal Friday night.
She sings the first 12 bars of...
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
and she's singing her own notes,
basically, or changing the
melody substantially.
Then a couple of other
things just went wrong.
This was so dangerous.
If she sang in the wrong song
nobody would know what to do.
So, you know, the right decision was made.
To replace her.
That Michael Jackson concen,
And I could not believe what I was seeing.
And I could hear people saying:
"You look fabulous, "
1 take Whitney in the bathroom
and 1 close the door.
Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana?
It is cocaine? Is it pills?
It has been.
- At times.
- All?
At times.
If you had to name the devil,
That would be me.
Then, last September,
the biggest blow of all:
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.
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 it's the dad
who dressed you.
What are you thinking?
That moment...
- Can I stop, please?
- Sure.
I think the biggest change in her.
She was closer to her dad
than her mother.
"She was secure in the fact
that, "Daddy got my back.
That she could never repair.
She disappeared for a while.
I would ask people: "Where's Whitney?"
I heard that she'd moved to Atlanta.
It's a very fun piace
and I think there's less
spotlight on you there,
because she was away
from her mother as well.
I love you too.
I'm drinking water.
Hi, baby. Hi, baby. Come here.
She wanted to be normal.
She missed her dad.
She loved Bobbi girl so much.
Thai was her life.
We used to slide down that banister.
Me and Whitney used to slide down it.
That's probably why it's so... Yeah.
Remember when I told you that Cissy and
them came to the house for her rehab?
You see that balcony?
When I was backing up here
with the girls in the car,
Then she jumped out the back window!
Crazy.
She was an addict.
'It was an everyday thing.
'I would still read my Bible.
'I was definitely...
I wasn't happy by that point in time.
'When it gets to the point
where you're sitting in your home
'and you're just trying to cover
what you don't want people to know,
'Or let anybody see
that, you know, we're unhappy.'
Whitney said to me...
her heart was broken.
She was broken-headed, you know?
This was my friend, my sister.
Why isn't anybody out
there rallying for that.
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 wanna be in
some rich, extravagant treatment facility.
All she wanted to do.
"I wanna take care of my daughter."
- Baby girl.
- What?
I know.
Who...?
I'm ready to go work out.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Come on.
"This stuff that my wife is doing,".
She stated saying no.
Your fathers a nut.
Because she said:
19, Can you please tell me.
It Can they find their way home?
Back to the open arms
of a love that's waiting there?
Hook In your eyes
At the end,
'He was my drug.
I didn't do anything without him.
'He and 1 being together.
Whatever we did, we did it together.
It No matter how my
You're always on my mind...
So 1 thflnk that's why
she reverted back to drugs.
Because when you're using,
you don't care about nothing,
! have to say,
That she had passed.
When I opened the door...
it was dark.
But...
she wasn't in the bed.
She wasn't in the bed.
So...
I walked into the bathroom.
My baby was in the tub.
Go, go, go, go, go.
'Cameras were there tonight
when Whitney Houston's family,
Oh, God.
It probably doesn't even matter anyway.
You know, somebody who cared,
You know.
" Whatever you want"
it Whatever you need
on, baby
14 Anything you want done, baby
I will do it...
It's all in me
It's all in me
Come on, come on, come on.
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