Doc reveals Whitney Houston was abused
In a new documentary about the life and career of Whitney Houston that premièred Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, friends and family of the singer allege she was sexually abused by her cousin and Grammy-nominated musician Dee Dee Warwick, sister of Dionne.
The film, titled Whitney, was made with the support of her family and features commentary from many, including Houston’s halfbrother and former NBA player Gary Garland-Houston, who claims Warwick abused both, when he was between seven and nine, and she was still a toddler.
Houston’s assistant Mary Jones backs up the claim, saying Houston had mentioned being “molested at a young age” by a woman. Jones adds that the trauma led her to question her own sexuality and contributed to her later drug addiction.
Jones continued, “(Houston) looked at me and said, ‘Mary, I was molested at a young age, too. But it wasn’t by a man — it was a woman. She had tears in her eyes. She says, ‘Mommy don’t know the things we went through.’ I said, ‘Have you ever told your mother?’ She says, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, maybe you need to tell her.’ She said, ‘No, my mother would hurt somebody if I told her who it was.’ She just had tears rolling down her face, and I just hugged her. I said, ‘One day when you get the nerve, you need to tell your mother. It will lift the burden off you.’”
Explaining why she felt Houston never spoke up about what happened before, Jones said, “I think she was ashamed ... She used to say, ‘I wonder if I did something
‘MOMMY DON’T KNOW THE THINGS WE WENT THROUGH.’
to make (Dee Dee) think I wanted her.’ I said, ‘Stop. A predator is a predator is a predator.’”
Houston died in 2012 at age 48 after accidentally drowning in a bathtub. A coroner’s report cited heart disease and drug use as contributing factors.
Warwick was 18 years older than Houston, and died in 2008.
While Houston never publicly discussed the abuse, Whitney producer Simon Chinn said “We always wanted our film to be a corrective to that tabloid story. These are specific revelations that I think will get people to a deeper understanding of who Whitney was and in many ways redeem her as a person.”
The documentary will hit theatres in July.