Film alleges Houston was molested by cousin
New allegations that Whitney Houston’s much older cousin Dee Dee Warwick sexually abused her as a child have cast new light on the late singer’s troubled life.
The allegations come from members of Houston’s inner circle and are presented in the new documentary “Whitney,” which premiered Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival and which comes to theaters July 7. “There was something very disturbed about her, because she was never comfortable in her own skin,” the documentary’s director Kevin Macdonald told Vanity Fair in an interview Wednesday.
“She seemed kind of asexual in a strange way,” he added. “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 thatwas reminiscent to me of that sort of shrinking — a lack of comfort in her own physicality that felt, maybe that is what itwas.”
About three-quarters of the way through the documentary, Houston’s longtime assistant Mary Jones reveals that the late singer told her that Dee Dee Warwick, the sister of Dionne Warwick, molested her. Dee Dee Warwick, who was 18 years older than Houston, died in 2008, Page Six reported. Houston’s brother Gary Garland- Houston also said he was molested between the ages of 7 and 9 by an unnamed female family member, according to Vanity Fair and Page Six.
In the film he recalls, “Being a child — being 7, 8, 9 years old — and being molested by a female family member of mine. My mother and father were gone a lot, so we stayed with a lot of different people … four, five different families who took care of us.” He claimed the abuse led to his own problems with addiction.
Whitney Houston likewise dealt with substance abuse issues, which she never publicly acknowledged but which contributed to her death in 2012 at age 48.
The singer was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton. Coroner’s officials ruled that her death was caused by an accidental drowning but cited heart disease and drug use as contributing factors.