Latest / DISGRACELAND / Whitney Houston: Cracks in the Mirror, Crack on the Mirror, and One Fateful Choice

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Whitney Houston: Cracks in the Mirror, Crack on the Mirror, and One Fateful Choice · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
0:15
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston, America's Sweetheart, are insane. Among other outrageous anecdotes
0:21
Speaker 1: from her roller coaster life and career, Whitney Houston smoked
0:24
Speaker 1: crack in the presence of her five year old upstaged
0:28
Speaker 1: F sixteen fighter jets with her powerful voice and free
0:31
Speaker 1: based her way off of the charts. She was a
0:34
Speaker 1: natural talent. Her voice, like her image, represented both power
0:38
Speaker 1: and grace. But behind that image, the truth was another
0:42
Speaker 1: story entirely. Whitney Houston, despite her chart topping, glass ceiling
0:46
Speaker 1: shattering success, lived the not so secret secret life of
0:50
Speaker 1: self destruction, pining for true love, unable to practice self love,
0:55
Speaker 1: and making great music.
0:56
Speaker 2: Along the way.
0:58
Speaker 1: That music you heard at the top of the sh
1:00
Speaker 1: show that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop
1:03
Speaker 1: from my melotron called Mellow Royal Exit MK two. I
1:08
Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights
1:11
Speaker 1: to the look by rock set. And why would I
1:13
Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of Swedish look sharp Cheese?
1:17
Speaker 2: Could I afford it?
1:19
Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on
1:22
Speaker 1: April thirteenth, nineteen eighty nine, and that was the day
1:26
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston met Bobby Brown, marking a pivot point in
1:29
Speaker 1: the career of a squeaky clean pop songstress, but a
1:32
Speaker 1: point that would mark the beginning of a long descent
1:35
Speaker 1: into drugs heartache instruction. On this episode, Royal exits look
1:41
Speaker 1: Sharp Cheese, Cocaine, a broken heart, and Whitney Houston, I'm
1:46
Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and this is this Graceland. Kim Kardashian turned
2:15
Speaker 1: heads on the red carpet, Whitney Houston did not. Tom
2:19
Speaker 1: Hanks borrowed a serving tray from a waiter and loaded
2:21
Speaker 1: it with martinis for the guests at his table. Whitney
2:25
Speaker 1: Houston was not one of them. Jane Fonda gave Richard
2:28
Speaker 1: Branson an award on stage, Whitney Houston missed it. Sean Diddy, Combs,
2:32
Speaker 1: and Piple reminisced about their day's partying with Whitney Houston,
2:36
Speaker 1: and Whitney Houston.
2:36
Speaker 2: Could not recall.
2:38
Speaker 1: Tony Bennett was in fine form on stage that night
2:41
Speaker 1: and Whitney Houston was not. Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus
2:44
Speaker 1: had enough class not to show, and Neil Young didn't
2:47
Speaker 1: even know why he was there, and Whitney Houston didn't
2:50
Speaker 1: know anything at all. Diana Ross was clueless, just like
2:53
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston. And upstairs on the fourth floor, Ray J
2:56
Speaker 1: banged on the door to the suite furiously demanding to
2:59
Speaker 1: be let in, but Whitney Houston wasn't seeing anyone downstairs.
3:04
Speaker 1: The Royal Music Industry Court was held together by host
3:06
Speaker 1: of Clive Davis, the iconic record executive who had signed,
3:10
Speaker 1: among others, Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, and Whitney Houston herself.
3:14
Speaker 1: Clive proclaimed the show must go on his annual pre
3:18
Speaker 1: Grammy Awards gala at the Beverly Hilton had been months
3:20
Speaker 1: in the making. Whitney Houston, along with a packed room
3:23
Speaker 1: of other A list Hollywood celebs, were tapped to attend
3:27
Speaker 1: and the performances were set. The sponsors had already forked
3:30
Speaker 1: over a barrel of cash and the people wanted a show,
3:34
Speaker 1: but Whitney Houston didn't want anything any more, and she
3:36
Speaker 1: definitely wouldn't be talking to the press. The reporter from
3:40
Speaker 1: v H one spotted an assistant to Whitney Houston who'd
3:43
Speaker 1: helped set up an interview. She was outside of the
3:45
Speaker 1: hotel a few yards from the red carpet, talking nervously
3:48
Speaker 1: into her cell phone, doing her best to stay out
3:50
Speaker 1: of the fray of the flash and pop of the
3:52
Speaker 1: paparazzi's cameras, and the reporter button holder ignored the fact
3:56
Speaker 1: that she was on the phone in mid conversation and
3:58
Speaker 1: blurted out, where's Whitney, She's late? What about my interview?
4:02
Speaker 1: And the assistant let her hand with her phone dropped
4:04
Speaker 1: to her side. She stood silent, blank faced, and took
4:08
Speaker 1: a beat, and then she said, Whitney can't make it.
4:11
Speaker 2: She's dead.
4:15
Speaker 1: Ed Winter the La County corner had seen some weird
4:18
Speaker 1: ship before. After all, he was on the scene after
4:21
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson died. He'd never forget it. He was surreal,
4:25
Speaker 1: the most recognizable star on the planet, dead and devoid
4:28
Speaker 1: of any pomp or vanity. Michael was almost unrecognizable, absent
4:32
Speaker 1: in his wig and with his thin delt, balding scalp,
4:35
Speaker 1: his tattooed hairline, tattooed eyebrows and tattooed borders of his eyelids,
4:40
Speaker 1: and the pink liner tattooed around his mouth.
4:42
Speaker 2: Jacko was wacko. Normally death didn't rattle the corner.
4:47
Speaker 1: It was his job, but Michael Jackson's dead body had
4:50
Speaker 1: him shook in two thousand and nine, his altered appearance,
4:53
Speaker 1: deteriorating physicality and cosmetic tattoos.
4:56
Speaker 2: It was a shocking transformation.
4:58
Speaker 1: It was clear that the Michael j the world knew
5:01
Speaker 1: it died a long time ago. This was something else.
5:04
Speaker 1: This was a new death twice over. This was death squared.
5:09
Speaker 1: The puncture wounds in his arms and the small pharmacy
5:12
Speaker 1: surrounding him and his rented Beverly Hills home administered to
5:15
Speaker 1: him by a doctor field Good on retainer. It was
5:18
Speaker 1: a messed up death scene, even for an LA County corner,
5:21
Speaker 1: and that was saying something. But it was nothing compared
5:23
Speaker 1: to the Whitney Houston shit he was seeing now, not
5:26
Speaker 1: even three years later. The corner cut his way through
5:29
Speaker 1: the crush of arriving celebrities, fans, and paparazzi at Beverly
5:33
Speaker 1: Hilton and made his way to Sweet four thirty four,
5:35
Speaker 1: where Whitney Houston was staying prior to the Galla event
5:39
Speaker 1: downstairs that she had planned to attend while Clive Davis
5:43
Speaker 1: and his celebrity guests yucked it up downstairs and celebrated
5:46
Speaker 1: their favorite pop art for themselves.
5:49
Speaker 2: Upstairs, the coroner took in the scene.
5:52
Speaker 1: Trays of uneaten food, open bottles of champagne on the table,
5:55
Speaker 1: a portrait of Marilyn Monroe hanging on the wall, and
5:58
Speaker 1: another portrait of Marlon brand on the opposite wall. A
6:01
Speaker 1: bit on the nose for the Beverly Hilton. But what
6:03
Speaker 1: did the coroner know? This business was death, not decorating.
6:07
Speaker 1: So back to the destruction. On the counter in the bathroom,
6:11
Speaker 1: a coke spoon, and a plethora of prescription drug bottles
6:14
Speaker 1: Xanax for anxiety and flexible to relax. The irony of
6:19
Speaker 1: the reveling partiers downstairs living it up while one of
6:22
Speaker 1: the expected attendees lay dead just four stories up was
6:26
Speaker 1: too rich to ignore. Regardless, the coroner went about his business,
6:30
Speaker 1: ignoring the chaos around him. Friends and family nervous, scared, crying,
6:35
Speaker 1: demanding to know what happened, as if they who were
6:37
Speaker 1: staying with Whitney were incapable of admitting what everyone in
6:40
Speaker 1: the world seemed to know. That Whitney Houston was a
6:43
Speaker 1: strung out mess whose days had been numbered. It would
6:47
Speaker 1: be weeks before he'd issue a formal toxicology or autopsy report,
6:51
Speaker 1: but on the site the coroner called it. Whitney, whose
6:54
Speaker 1: angelic voice and looks had once propelled her to more
6:57
Speaker 1: consecutive number one songs than the Beatles, lost track of
7:00
Speaker 1: her self medication, stuffed herself with prescription muscle relaxers, had
7:05
Speaker 1: a couple too many drinks, blasted a spoonful of cocaine
7:08
Speaker 1: up her nose, slipped into a bath that was too hot,
7:11
Speaker 1: somehow banged her head, passed out, and drowned in six
7:14
Speaker 1: inches of water. The National Inquirer's headlined from the most
7:19
Speaker 1: recent issue, Lying on the floor of Whitney's bathroom set
7:21
Speaker 1: it all. Whitney collapses, strung out, and broke. It's worse
7:25
Speaker 1: than anyone thought. The F sixteen's couldn't compete with the
7:52
Speaker 1: performance they had to follow. Normally, the F sixteen flyover
7:56
Speaker 1: at any event as the showstopper, but not at Super
7:59
Speaker 1: Bowl nineteen ninety one, not after Whitney Houston, whose performance
8:04
Speaker 1: of the Star Spangled Banner during the time of America's
8:07
Speaker 1: First Gulf War, a time of ferv and patriotism, a
8:11
Speaker 1: moment where the words of our national anthem carried particular weight.
8:15
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston delivered them effortlessly on the back of the
8:18
Speaker 1: infamously difficult to sing melody. There were no extraneous notes,
8:22
Speaker 1: There was no reaching, no hiding high notes under low octaves.
8:26
Speaker 1: It was more like what the f sixteens were trying
8:28
Speaker 1: to achieve. Power, grace, define nature. Whitney Houston was unnatural.
8:36
Speaker 1: Her voice seemed physiologically designed to deliver soaring, anthemic pop
8:40
Speaker 1: melodies to the widest audience possible. Clive Davis recognized this
8:46
Speaker 1: the first time he heard her sing at that little
8:49
Speaker 1: shithole in the village had a show set up by
8:51
Speaker 1: Jerry Griffith, aristis head of A and R. Jerry was
8:56
Speaker 1: put onto Whitney by her mom, Sissy, who, when she
8:58
Speaker 1: saw Clive, was quick to remind him that they'd met
9:01
Speaker 1: years earlier while they were both working with Aretha Franklin.
9:04
Speaker 1: Whitney called Aretha Aunt Reed, and like her most famous aunt,
9:08
Speaker 1: Whitney's mom, Sissy was a gospel and soul singer as
9:11
Speaker 1: well Aretha.
9:14
Speaker 2: Clive missed his chance with her. He got to her
9:16
Speaker 2: too late.
9:17
Speaker 1: She'd already been too established as the powerhouse diva that
9:21
Speaker 1: she was the queen of soul. Too black, too strong.
9:24
Speaker 1: America already knew her as one thing he wasn't going
9:27
Speaker 1: to buy the pop makeover. Same thing went for Whitney's cousin,
9:30
Speaker 1: Dion Warwick, Sissy's niece and another former employer. By the
9:35
Speaker 1: time Clive showed up, Dion had too much of.
9:37
Speaker 2: That Burt backerack sheen on her.
9:39
Speaker 1: She was too well known, a commodity and frankly not
9:42
Speaker 1: young or exciting enough for the pop market. But nineteen
9:46
Speaker 1: year old Whitney Houston sure she'd been born into the
9:49
Speaker 1: drug torn streets of Newark, New Jersey, but her parents
9:52
Speaker 1: were in the business and moved the family out to
9:54
Speaker 1: suburban Orange. The drugs followed from Newark, and Whitney, who
9:58
Speaker 1: was being raised in the church with that gospel energy
10:01
Speaker 1: and guidance Spanish to keep her nose clean for the
10:04
Speaker 1: most part. In nineteen eighty three, Clive Davis was one
10:08
Speaker 1: of the powerbrokers in the music industry. He'd taken control
10:11
Speaker 1: of Columbia Records when Whitney was still in diapers, and
10:15
Speaker 1: by eighty three had consolidated his power at Arista Records.
10:18
Speaker 1: He was in the market for a fresh talent that
10:21
Speaker 1: he could make into a star. Whitney Houston was perfect
10:26
Speaker 1: already a signed model when she'd appeared in Vogue and
10:29
Speaker 1: on the cover of seventeen magazine. She was gorgeous, tall, thin,
10:32
Speaker 1: caramel skinned, with a dazzling, wholesome smile, and despite the
10:36
Speaker 1: rough and tumble street she came up on her looks
10:39
Speaker 1: screamed suburban girl next door. Whitney Houston looked like the
10:43
Speaker 1: all American girl you'd root for in the movies, the
10:46
Speaker 1: cheerleader you'd tried talking to in study hall but who
10:49
Speaker 1: barely ever talked back. She'd smiled politely, but then go
10:52
Speaker 1: about her business, putting you squarely back where you started
10:55
Speaker 1: on the Pino mind list, which of course made you
10:58
Speaker 1: want to even more. She was both approachable unattainable, a
11:02
Speaker 1: perfect natural combination for potential pop stardom provided she had talent,
11:08
Speaker 1: which of course she did church singings where she cut
11:11
Speaker 1: her teeth, and her mom, Sissy, due to her own
11:13
Speaker 1: experience in the music industry, was driven to make sure
11:16
Speaker 1: her daughter's talent was recognized in a way that her
11:19
Speaker 1: own talent was not. Thus, the showcase with the one
11:22
Speaker 1: and only Clive Davis sitting at a beer stained low top,
11:25
Speaker 1: sipping a Perrie.
11:26
Speaker 2: With lime in his tinted shades and bespoke sup None
11:29
Speaker 2: of it intimidated Whitney.
11:31
Speaker 1: She went on stage and did what came natural to her,
11:34
Speaker 1: blew minds. With that powerful voice in hers, Clive was convinced.
11:38
Speaker 1: Immediately he went to work, signing her to the first
11:41
Speaker 1: of a series of record deals with Arista that would
11:44
Speaker 1: eventually climax in a contract worth one hundred million dollars.
11:47
Speaker 2: In two thousand and one.
11:49
Speaker 1: This first deal, though, also gave Clive creative control and
11:53
Speaker 1: access to Whitney with its key person Clause, effectively terminating
11:57
Speaker 1: her contract with Arista. Davis, ever, left Floe and allowing
12:01
Speaker 1: Clive to take Whitney with him wherever he went. Clive
12:04
Speaker 1: Davis was Whitney Houston's Rabbi, and Clive Davis wasn't gonna
12:09
Speaker 1: fuck this up. Life gives you cards, the trick is
12:12
Speaker 1: how you play them, and Whitney Houston was the.
12:15
Speaker 2: Fourth ace in Clive's hand.
12:17
Speaker 1: He could stack it next to the three others he'd
12:19
Speaker 1: already accumulated to that point, experience, power, and vision. Whitney
12:24
Speaker 1: was Ace number four. Pure young unfuck upable talent. He
12:31
Speaker 1: set up gathering material. Hit songwriters like Michael Master were
12:34
Speaker 1: brought in. Ace material was chosen, material that would suit
12:38
Speaker 1: Whitney's uniquely powerful voice, materials she could not only impress with,
12:42
Speaker 1: but used to pierce listeners emotionally. A roster of producers,
12:47
Speaker 1: including Jermaine Jackson, were brought in to make sure Clive's
12:50
Speaker 1: vision was brought to life, a vision of a black
12:52
Speaker 1: pop princess who white America could fall in love with.
12:56
Speaker 2: Whitney.
12:56
Speaker 1: Her looks and her voice were perfect, so the material
12:59
Speaker 1: had to be perfect, as did the production. Nothing too
13:02
Speaker 1: R and B sounding, which in the mid eighties want
13:05
Speaker 1: to black sounding. No George Clinton or James Brown or
13:08
Speaker 1: even Atlantic era Aretha. It needed to sound pop, which
13:12
Speaker 1: is to say, it needed to sound happy, big, anthemic, positive,
13:17
Speaker 1: nothing blue unless it was strictly anchored in the pop
13:19
Speaker 1: ballad tradition shades of Cole Porter, Yes, Lou Rawls, hell No.
13:25
Speaker 1: The result was her self titled debut Whitney Houston. Just
13:29
Speaker 1: like in a good round of poker, Clive Davis's winning
13:32
Speaker 1: hands started quiet, but didn't take long to draw a
13:35
Speaker 1: huge kitty. After the first single, You Give Good Love
13:39
Speaker 1: antied up in early nineteen eighty five. The album spent
13:42
Speaker 1: over a year slow burning its weight to number one
13:44
Speaker 1: in the back of five more singles, Whitney winning a
13:47
Speaker 1: Grammy and setting a historic record as the first female
13:50
Speaker 1: solo artist to hold the number one selling album of
13:53
Speaker 1: the year, breaking that particular glass ceiling. In nineteen eighty six,
13:58
Speaker 1: Clive Davis's hand had paid it off. Whitney was everywhere
14:03
Speaker 1: in constant rotation on MTV as part of the network's
14:06
Speaker 1: first wave of massive selling black artists, alongside Michael Jackson
14:10
Speaker 1: and Prince. She appeared on magazine covers from Ebony to People,
14:14
Speaker 1: and her hits Saving All of My Love for You
14:17
Speaker 1: and the Greatest Love of All could be heard on
14:19
Speaker 1: radio stations and in middle school gymnasium dances all over
14:23
Speaker 1: the country. By nineteen eighty six, just three years after
14:27
Speaker 1: Clive Davis first saw her perform, Whitney Houston was a
14:31
Speaker 1: record breaking star, a star with a pristine image known
14:35
Speaker 1: simply as the Voice, an image that Bobby Brown didn't
14:41
Speaker 1: give a damn about.
14:44
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word.
14:51
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston, America's sweetheart, slipped the glass crack pipe from
14:56
Speaker 1: her purse. She hit it and passed it to the
14:58
Speaker 1: man beside her Brown, her husband. Whitney waited to exhale,
15:04
Speaker 1: and then the curls of smoke filled the limousine. The
15:07
Speaker 1: orgasmic rush gave Whitney sweet relief, relief from the depressing
15:11
Speaker 1: come down from the last hit. Bobby Christina Whitney and
15:15
Speaker 1: Bobby Brown's five year old daughter jumped on the seats,
15:18
Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars earrings jangling from her ears. Whitney was
15:22
Speaker 1: paranoid and Bobby Brown was irritated. Settle there, Whitney instructed
15:27
Speaker 1: her daughter. Then she hit the pipe again. What are
15:31
Speaker 1: you doing, mommy, Whitney hesitated. Mommy and daddy are doing
15:36
Speaker 1: adult things. Then she hit the pipe again and it
15:41
Speaker 1: was dark. What drove the darkness? Smoking crack in a
15:45
Speaker 1: limo alongside her five year old inhaling secondhand smoke, Unable
15:49
Speaker 1: despite her love for her child, to prohibit the child abuse.
15:52
Speaker 1: The cycle of darkness, freak, smoke, crash, repeat, The cycle
15:58
Speaker 1: shouldn't have been the reality. She was an international superstar,
16:02
Speaker 1: immensely talented and immensely likable to black and white America.
16:06
Speaker 2: Alike.
16:07
Speaker 1: Yet here she was addicted, desperate, and lonely. Despite her family,
16:12
Speaker 1: she was pining, she missed her. Bobby Brown was not her.
16:17
Speaker 1: He was not the oasis Whitney had hoped for. The
16:19
Speaker 1: relationship was complicated, to say the least, the longing. Why
16:24
Speaker 1: does she feel so alone despite the company of her family?
16:27
Speaker 1: Did she miss her? The limo driver, disgusted in the
16:32
Speaker 1: front seat, couldn't help but wonder what it was exactly
16:34
Speaker 1: that Whitney Houston's husband brought to the relationship, or, as
16:38
Speaker 1: Bobby Brown thought of it, to the party. But whatever
16:41
Speaker 1: influence Bobby had, Whitney Houston chose on her own to
16:45
Speaker 1: make him part of her life. April thirteenth, nineteen eighty nine,
16:50
Speaker 1: Shrine Auditorium, the third annual Soul Train Awards. Bobby Brown
16:55
Speaker 1: was reveling in a successful solo career and performing that
16:58
Speaker 1: evening he was nominated for Best Male R and B Album.
17:02
Speaker 1: His image was almost all sex, the dangerous kind, too
17:05
Speaker 1: hot to handle, too cold to hold. Bobby leveraged his
17:09
Speaker 1: roots growing up in the Orchard Park projects in Big
17:12
Speaker 1: Bad Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. He brought hood culture to the
17:16
Speaker 1: mainstream he was backstage practicing his performance of My Prerogative,
17:21
Speaker 1: a song that had gone to number one on Billboard's
17:24
Speaker 1: Hot R and B hip Hop chart, A song that
17:26
Speaker 1: was very explicitly about not giving it damn about what
17:29
Speaker 1: other people think.
17:30
Speaker 2: It was pure Bobby Brown.
17:33
Speaker 1: Bobby Brown with his tight new jack fade, the white
17:36
Speaker 1: silk suit, high waisted baggy pants pegged at the bottom,
17:40
Speaker 1: Chloe blouse, her shirt opened at the collar, covering his
17:43
Speaker 1: cut chest and abs that he would soon expose to
17:45
Speaker 1: the audience on stage. Bobby was hyped. He wasn't sure
17:49
Speaker 1: how the Knight would turn out, whether he'd win Best
17:52
Speaker 1: Male R and B Album or not, but he was
17:54
Speaker 1: sure one thing tonight. He was the flyest motherfucker in
17:58
Speaker 1: the building. Whitney Houston was nominated too, for Best Female
18:04
Speaker 1: R and B Signal.
18:06
Speaker 2: Whitney had reached the mountaintop.
18:09
Speaker 1: Bobby had been performing since he was in short pants,
18:11
Speaker 1: but he hadn't experienced anything close to the celebrity stress
18:14
Speaker 1: and scrutiny heaped on Whitney. Bobby's bad boy nature could
18:18
Speaker 1: still be a charming asset for his career, but where
18:21
Speaker 1: Whitney's career was concerned, any perceived misstep for deviation from
18:25
Speaker 1: the official narratives set out by the press was considered
18:27
Speaker 1: a potential death blow. There was simply too much riding
18:30
Speaker 1: on her immense success. James Ingram stood behind a pastel
18:35
Speaker 1: podium with Heather Locklear, who was wearing a sparkling black dress.
18:39
Speaker 1: She read off the nominees Vanessa Williams, the Right Stuff,
18:43
Speaker 1: Karen White, Superwoman, Anita Baker giving you the best that
18:47
Speaker 1: I Got.
18:48
Speaker 2: After each nominee of.
18:49
Speaker 1: Music, video clip played while the live audience whipped it up.
18:53
Speaker 1: Then Heather read allowed Whitney Houston's name and her nomination
18:57
Speaker 1: for Where to Broken Hearts Go, and the crowd did
19:00
Speaker 1: something unexpected.
19:02
Speaker 2: They boomed.
19:03
Speaker 1: One of the most popular entertainers on the planet, A
19:06
Speaker 1: rolling wave of booze and jeers silenced Whitney's clip. Somebody
19:09
Speaker 1: in the balcony even yelled Whitney. Heather was a pro.
19:13
Speaker 1: She finished her scripted patter as if nothing had happened,
19:16
Speaker 1: opened the envelope Anita Baker.
19:22
Speaker 2: Part of Whitney was relieved.
19:24
Speaker 1: At least now she wouldn't have to accept the award
19:26
Speaker 1: in front of a hostile crowd, But the rejection from
19:29
Speaker 1: one of the most important black audiences in the music
19:32
Speaker 1: industry rattled Whitney to her core, and it wasn't all
19:35
Speaker 1: that surprising. Nineteen eighty nine was a core rattling year.
19:39
Speaker 1: It was the year of not only rejection but a rumor.
19:43
Speaker 1: From the first days of working with Clive Davis, Whitney's
19:46
Speaker 1: most trusted companion had been her roommate and best friend,
19:49
Speaker 1: Robin Crawford. Robin was from the same hood, tall, broad shouldered,
19:55
Speaker 1: a basketball player, she carried herself with authority. She and
19:59
Speaker 1: bubbly Whitney were inseparable. Even back in the block. People gossiped,
20:03
Speaker 1: but they laughed it off in private. Whitney told Robin
20:06
Speaker 1: that if Robin stuck with her, Whitney would take her
20:08
Speaker 1: all the way around the world, and in just a
20:11
Speaker 1: few years she had. But the tabloids and radio rumor
20:14
Speaker 1: mill exploded. Lazy music journalists smelled blood in the water.
20:18
Speaker 1: Horn Dog Top forty DJs snickered. Whitney's god fearing mom,
20:22
Speaker 1: Sissy prayed it wasn't true. But anyway you cut it,
20:26
Speaker 1: Robin was clearly the person Whitney trusted the most. She
20:30
Speaker 1: was Whitney's oasis, and now that oasis had been discovered
20:33
Speaker 1: overrun with flashbulbs, innuendos, and trash. In nineteen eighty nine,
20:38
Speaker 1: bisexuality or homosexuality for a mainstream pop princess was potentially
20:43
Speaker 1: career suicide, and as such, Whitney was under tremendous pressure.
20:48
Speaker 1: The pressure was intense from the media, from her label,
20:51
Speaker 1: and from her church going family, who found any whiff
20:53
Speaker 1: of homosexuality to be deeply scandalous.
20:56
Speaker 2: Who was Whitney Houston with.
20:59
Speaker 1: The soul train an audience booing, claiming she'd sold out
21:02
Speaker 1: her black roots, lost touch, was a shill for the
21:05
Speaker 1: white man's music industry, was a secret lesbian. Her worst
21:08
Speaker 1: fears were being validated in real time. But when it
21:12
Speaker 1: came time to hit the stage to present, when he
21:14
Speaker 1: went out, head held high, she glanced side stage. She
21:17
Speaker 1: could see that signature haircut from across the way, that
21:21
Speaker 1: angled flat top, that looked like a New Jack remix
21:24
Speaker 1: of the classic rock and roll Pompadour. She was sweating
21:27
Speaker 1: under the spotlight. But he had already won. Oh, he
21:31
Speaker 1: was celebrating. He was a fly motherfucker. He wore his
21:34
Speaker 1: blackness proudly. He didn't give a fuck what anyone thought
21:37
Speaker 1: he was fun. He had the potential to deflect questions
21:40
Speaker 1: about her sexuality, to appease the homophobic fears of her family,
21:44
Speaker 1: publicity team, the critics, and there was something enticing about Whitney,
21:48
Speaker 1: the good girl getting with the baddest of bad boys.
21:51
Speaker 2: All of this flew.
21:52
Speaker 1: Through Whitney's mind in an instant intuitive She wasn't scheming.
21:57
Speaker 1: After presenting, she found him backstage. Bobby Brown took her
22:01
Speaker 1: in head to toe. Dig that swagger, Dig that long
22:05
Speaker 1: legged American pie action, dig that good girl presentation. She
22:09
Speaker 1: reminded Bobby of those nice girls from Newton, the ones
22:12
Speaker 1: as Roxbury friends who bust into the burbs for school.
22:15
Speaker 1: Told him about the type of girl who was innocent,
22:18
Speaker 1: pure on the surface anyway, but Bobby Brown.
22:22
Speaker 2: Could sense it deep down. Whitney Houston played dirty.
22:26
Speaker 3: Just like him.
22:43
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston's hotel room was littered with coke spoons, rolling papers, lighters,
22:47
Speaker 1: overflowing ash trays, beer cans, and junk food bags. What
22:51
Speaker 1: else to do in this god forsaken hot plate of
22:54
Speaker 1: a city Phoenix, Arizona. Hot as a motherfucker and twice
22:58
Speaker 1: as boring, Whitney was on the set of waiting to exhale,
23:02
Speaker 1: and she had finally received her latest hookup. Street price
23:05
Speaker 1: for an eight ball was eighty dollars. She was paying
23:08
Speaker 1: three hundred. Shit better be good.
23:11
Speaker 2: She did a.
23:11
Speaker 1: Mirror full of lines and zigzagged around her drug den.
23:17
Speaker 1: Then a familiar knock on the door. Whitney's bodyguard, David Roberts.
23:21
Speaker 1: He had bet her body man for years, through multiple albums,
23:24
Speaker 1: domestic and international tours, and, as of late, multiple movie sets.
23:29
Speaker 1: Though their relationship was strictly professional, David and Whitney's trust
23:32
Speaker 1: did inspire the bodyguard Whitney's mega hit breakout as an actress,
23:36
Speaker 1: starring opposite Kevin Costner, But David, the real life bodyguard,
23:40
Speaker 1: had taken issue.
23:41
Speaker 2: With her drug use.
23:42
Speaker 1: Whitney put her hand to her mouth, considered not answering
23:46
Speaker 1: the door, felt blood trickling from her nose. Another knock,
23:49
Speaker 1: more blood. She felt lightheaded, wanted.
23:52
Speaker 2: To rest her eyes. The knocking wouldn't stop.
23:55
Speaker 1: Whitney's eyes rolled to the back of her head and
23:57
Speaker 1: she felt herself falling.
23:59
Speaker 2: Backward, and then she hit the floor.
24:03
Speaker 1: Unlike the stories about her love life, the tabloids looked
24:06
Speaker 1: the other way. After Whitney's first major overdose. But in
24:09
Speaker 1: May nineteen ninety five, Whitney's lawyers reviewed the neat pages
24:13
Speaker 1: of bodyguard Dave Roberts's letter in a polished office full
24:16
Speaker 1: of leather bound books and rich mahogany. Even in this environment,
24:20
Speaker 1: the words before them felt radioactive, threatening to hit all involved.
24:25
Speaker 1: Were it really hurt in the wallet like Robin Crawford
24:29
Speaker 1: and most everyone else in their entourage, The bodyguard had
24:32
Speaker 1: reluctantly come to accept the presence of Bobby Brown, who
24:35
Speaker 1: Whitney had married and had a baby with, and who
24:38
Speaker 1: now walked around with in a constant cloud of cocaine smoke.
24:42
Speaker 1: David had seen the carnival of drugs consumed the couple
24:45
Speaker 1: and the touring crew. He kept quiet after the waiting
24:48
Speaker 1: to exhale overdose. But then came the train wreck of
24:51
Speaker 1: Whitney's Asia tour career, threatening behavior like smoking so much
24:55
Speaker 1: weed right before a show in Singapore that her voice
24:57
Speaker 1: gave out, leaving Whitney on stage whispering her way through
25:01
Speaker 1: soaring ballads before canceling the rest of the show. In
25:04
Speaker 1: the next night's performance back home, the bodyguard furiously typed
25:09
Speaker 1: his report the lawyers reviewed as account of Whitney's growing
25:12
Speaker 1: recklessness in her crew's drug trafficking patterns. Eight balls smuggled
25:17
Speaker 1: internationally and tour members vaginas and assholes rendezvous with regular
25:21
Speaker 1: suppliers in the US. It was damning, but Whitney and
25:24
Speaker 1: her family and other business partners had the final say,
25:28
Speaker 1: so it wasn't long before David Roberts received a reply.
25:31
Speaker 1: With no future tours currently planned, his services would no
25:34
Speaker 1: longer be needed. Don't let the door.
25:36
Speaker 2: Hit you on the way out.
25:39
Speaker 1: Whitney lost her bodyguard, and in a few years after
25:43
Speaker 1: another tour in nineteen eighty nine, she lost her best friend,
25:46
Speaker 1: Robin Crawford, who lead the fray on her own accord.
25:49
Speaker 1: Losing Robin gutted Whitney. She tried staving off the loneliness
25:53
Speaker 1: with drugs, aided and embedded by her husband until she
25:56
Speaker 1: couldn't take the chaos any longer, and finally in two
25:59
Speaker 1: thousand six Z seven, Bobby Brown would be gone as well,
26:03
Speaker 1: but unlike with Robin, who clocked eight years of loyal
26:06
Speaker 1: service even after losing, Whitney to Bobby, but finally just
26:09
Speaker 1: found it too painful to stick around and watch the
26:12
Speaker 1: consequences play out. Bobby's departure was Whitney's choice. What began
26:17
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine as a third rail attraction, an
26:20
Speaker 1: emotional rabbit hole of insecurity and desperation, a relationship in
26:25
Speaker 1: part designed to help to avoid a personal and public
26:27
Speaker 1: relations apocalypse, finally arrived at its tragic conclusion, with Whitney
26:32
Speaker 1: Houston near broken, emotionally and heavily addicted to cocaine and painkillers,
26:36
Speaker 1: and alone, painfully missing her dearest friend, her rock, Robin.
26:42
Speaker 1: Whitney thought back on it all in twenty twelve years later,
26:46
Speaker 1: by this time even more alone, even more distressed emotionally,
26:50
Speaker 1: and quite possibly even more addicted. In her suite at
26:53
Speaker 1: the Beverly Hilton, readying herself for Clive Davis's pre Grammy
26:57
Speaker 1: gala that was about to start in the ballroom downstairs,
27:01
Speaker 1: then she did a line of cocaine. She locked eyes
27:04
Speaker 1: with the portrait.
27:05
Speaker 2: Of Marilyn Monroe on the wall.
27:07
Speaker 1: Marilyn impossible to ignore, exuding glamour and knee knocking sex
27:11
Speaker 1: appeal that only partly masked the vulnerability in her big eyes, vulnerability.
27:18
Speaker 1: It was the opposite of the strength portrayed in the
27:20
Speaker 1: framed Brando print on the other wall, wild One Era
27:24
Speaker 1: perched on his triumph Thunderbird motorcycle, all leather and grease, tough,
27:28
Speaker 1: proto rough trade style, but sexy as fuck. Nevertheless, Brando powerful, strong.
27:35
Speaker 1: That image of him in the moment reminded Whitney of Robin. Robin,
27:39
Speaker 1: tough as nails, tender when she needed to be, and
27:41
Speaker 1: like Brando, also sexy as fuck. Brando proxied Robin, just
27:46
Speaker 1: as Marilyn, with her glamour and vulnerability, always reminded Whitney
27:49
Speaker 1: of herself. Whitney did another line, closed her eyes tight,
27:55
Speaker 1: banged back a Xanax, sipped warm champagne from his sweaty
27:58
Speaker 1: glass bottle, stayed up at Maryland, then over to Brando,
28:02
Speaker 1: and they were both ignoring her, vibing off of the
28:04
Speaker 1: sparks between themselves. It was hot, electric, an electric coil,
28:10
Speaker 1: and out of this world magnetism, extending from one iconic
28:13
Speaker 1: superstar to another, from one wall to the other, and
28:15
Speaker 1: surging through the fading iconic star and the suite between them,
28:19
Speaker 1: whose soul was now raging with regret. The Xanax did
28:23
Speaker 1: its thing, and it was heavy. It bore down on
28:26
Speaker 1: the cocaine swimming upstream in her system, and Whitney held
28:29
Speaker 1: focus on Marylyn dipped her head down to her coke
28:32
Speaker 1: spoon and did another bump. Pulled on the champagne bottle again,
28:36
Speaker 1: kept it in her hand by her side, got out
28:38
Speaker 1: of her chair and stumbled over to the bath.
28:40
Speaker 2: She was trying and it was ready.
28:43
Speaker 1: She dropped her robe, alone, vulnerable, her thoughts drifted. She
28:47
Speaker 1: wondered what Robin was doing. Whitney turned back to Maryland
28:50
Speaker 1: and Brando on the walls outside the bathroom. She slurred
28:53
Speaker 1: to Norma, Jean, I'm ready for my close up, mister Davis,
28:57
Speaker 1: and laughed to herself while slipping into the tub. Brando
29:00
Speaker 1: did not laugh. He was preoccupied, still staring at Marylynd.
29:05
Speaker 1: It was Marilyn in her youth, five alarms, smoke, pure
29:08
Speaker 1: like Whitney once was. Branda wanted nothing to do with Whitney.
29:12
Speaker 1: Whitney had her chance, but those days were gone. But
29:15
Speaker 1: Whitney felt the sharp pain of rejection and then resentment
29:19
Speaker 1: toward Marilyn, toward herself, the sting of lost youth, lost love,
29:23
Speaker 1: where it had all gone, the promise, Who was she now?
29:26
Speaker 2: Who is she?
29:26
Speaker 1: Then? What? Had she lost her love, love of her life.
29:33
Speaker 1: I said, I'm ready for my close up, mister Brando.
29:36
Speaker 1: Brando offered nothing. Just sat up there. I fucking Norma Jean.
29:41
Speaker 1: Another swig from the champagne. Hey, I'm talking to you.
29:44
Speaker 1: Whitney's voice approached anger, but it didn't matter. Brando said nothing.
29:49
Speaker 1: She was too tired, too wasted to be truly angry.
29:52
Speaker 1: She mumbled, I said I'm ready, I'm ready, and her
29:55
Speaker 1: voice faded off again. There was no one there to answer,
29:59
Speaker 1: mister Brando. Robin Robin, Miss Robin Robin. I'm ready, Robin,
30:03
Speaker 1: I'm here. And then she wasn't there at all. She
30:08
Speaker 1: had slipped under the bathwater and off into sweet relief,
30:12
Speaker 1: no more searching for who she was.
30:14
Speaker 2: Whitney Houston was no more downstairs.
30:24
Speaker 1: In the chaotic hours after it became known that Whitney
30:27
Speaker 1: Houston had died upstairs, Clive Davis decided that the show
30:31
Speaker 1: must go on, and the mood at the show that
30:34
Speaker 1: night was haunted, surreal, But it was the best way
30:36
Speaker 1: to honor Whitney, he said. R and B sirens Brandy
30:40
Speaker 1: and Monica weren't so sure. Set to perform a medley together,
30:43
Speaker 1: that night. Instead, they declined to sing and stayed seated
30:46
Speaker 1: in the audience out of respect for the tragically past
30:49
Speaker 1: role model lying dead upstairs. If Whitney Houston had Marilyn
30:53
Speaker 1: Monroe to idolize in her sadness, now the next generation
30:56
Speaker 1: had Whitney herself, And today Robin Crawford lives with her
31:01
Speaker 1: wife and two children, is finally ready to speak.
31:03
Speaker 2: About her life with Whitney.
31:05
Speaker 1: She's a book coming today if you're listening to this
31:07
Speaker 1: episode on the day of its drop November twelve, twenty nineteen.
31:11
Speaker 1: And even Bobby Brown Is admitted he believes Whitney would
31:14
Speaker 1: still be alive if she and Robin hadn't become estranged
31:19
Speaker 1: the year after Whitney's death. Clive Davis would himself come
31:22
Speaker 1: out as bisexual. He lives happily with a male partner.
31:26
Speaker 1: Maybe Whitney's tragedy inspired him to stop pretending and to
31:30
Speaker 1: embrace his truth. Or maybe in his eighties in the
31:33
Speaker 1: twenty first century, he was less worried about the impact
31:36
Speaker 1: this would have on his career than when the same
31:38
Speaker 1: pr move simply wasn't on the table for Whitney thirty
31:41
Speaker 1: years earlier. Learning to love yourself. It's the greatest love
31:45
Speaker 1: of all. Whitney Houston didn't write those words, but she
31:48
Speaker 1: dropped them on as powerfully with that bomber Plane voice
31:51
Speaker 1: of hers, and inspired so many of her fans to
31:54
Speaker 1: find strength and love and celebration of their true selves.
31:58
Speaker 1: But Whitney Houston couldn't quite actice that same self compassion
32:02
Speaker 1: she advocated for the masses, and now she's dead, and
32:06
Speaker 1: that's disgrace.
32:09
Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan, and this this Disgraceland.
32:33
Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
32:36
Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
32:39
Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelamdpod dot com.
32:43
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Speaker 1: you for supporting the show.
32:47
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32:49
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