https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/friday-ju...ight-1.4735325
I do look forward to seeing this film. Whitney is a home-girl, born & raised barely 5 miles from me. I think we keep looking for answers ...
I see the article says the movie shows some different side of Whitney and the abuse continues to cause trouble for Gary
Is this the movie directed by Angela Bassett? I believe there is more than one biopic on her life.
I managed to catch an early press screening of the doc last week and it was tremendously well done, although of course quite sad. The intense build-up to the end of her life really got to me and brought back the deep sadness I experienced when she had passed. It was truthful without being trashy. It did not go into a ton of detail about her various albums, music and awards. It focused more on the human side of Whitney and what she went through. It also covered the social impact of some major career moments, such as her singing the Star Spangled Banner and visiting South Africa during the Bodyguard Tour. The way they were able to piece together different interviews, audio and video clips really made you feel the impact of these historical events in the context of the era.
For those who are hoping for a mostly positive and upbeat documentary, I would kindly suggest to steer-clear of this. You will not enjoy it. It does however provide an honest account of her life and her family, from those who loved and knew her best. Unfortunately she did not live an overwhelmingly positive life. There was a lot of self-destructive behaviour, which is explained by her family history and the abuse. It connected the pieces of the puzzle for me, such as the real reason of why Robyn left in the end. There have been various stories over the years of how this went down, but this documentary finally puts to rest many of those stories. Whitney was always a mysterious woman.
Being a big fan of Whitney, I would have also loved a glowingly positive documentary, but at the same time, I think we needed the truth from the estate in order to finally put all of the controversy and rumours to rest. There are so many different versions of stories out there. This doc will hopefully allow her to finally rest in peace. You will feel sad after watching it, but I also walked away with a deeper love for her. She tried to be so strong for so long and still managed to give us more than we could have ever asked for.
Some have suggested that her devoutly religious, and anti-gay, family has concocted the story of abuse by Dee Dee. As it is preferable for them to have the public believe that she was abused and this caused sexual confusion, rather than her just being a woman who desired a same-sex relationship. Her "confusion" also takes some heat off the family for being judgmental and disapproving of her relationship with a woman. After all, she wasn't really a lesbian, she was just "confused."
Many people fault her family for her demise because they were unsupportive, burdensome and contemptuous. In the process, it is a final insult to Dee Dee who was ostracized by her family for openly being in same-sex relationships. Dee Dee also had debilitating addiction issues.
Or...it could be just as presented in the documentary. How will we ever know what is true?
In the film, someone described her as "sexually fluid" and another said she was sexually active with both men and women. In the previous docu, they said she was bisexual.
Her family, as far as I know, are still in denial over a same-sex relationship with Robyn in the film so it doesn't "solve" anything.
Many LGBT folks have been sexually abused, don't mean we're confused.
Abuse is abuse. It doesn’t cause sexuality. Whitney was a drug addict because she had the disease of addiction.
I 100% believe Whitney was sexually abused. A lot of sexual abuse victims become drug addicts.
Hmmm that is true. However it would not surprise me if they did the reality show in order to quickly pay off some major debt linked to Whitney's estate. Unfortunately her finances were not in good shape when she passed and while they could have pursued some other project to generate the needed funds, it would have likely taken some extra time, and perhaps they were desperate. But I agree that doing the reality show just did not look good...
Cissy has issued a statement on behalf of herself and Dionne, about the film and the allegations made against Dee Dee. Everything she is saying is very fair and I can't disagree.
https://people.com/music/whitney-hou...e-dee-warwick/
Yes, sounds like denial for sure. I only think that it is unfortunate that the entire situation could not have been handled better, amongst the various members of the family. Gary admitted he was abused by Dee Dee in the film, and Cissy and Dionne only found out two days before the first screening, likely when they were watching the film for the first time. Sounds like Gary and Pat are not on speaking terms with the rest of them. She doesn't seem to address Gary's confession at all in her statement.
When a famous family tries to show too much unity and harmony, chances are, they are far from it.
she says pretty plainly that Dee dee Warwick never babysat her children and named who took care of them.Dee Dee Warwick was "on the road " pretty much too.People doing films ALWAYS have to spice them up but this is really going too far if not true & confirmed.
Much as I love and admire Cissy Houston shes the one who told Oprah Winfrey that shed never accept her daughter Whitney as a lesbian lady. If Whitney had been allowed to have an open and loving relationship she would still be alive today imho. Miss Cissy showed her homophobic side to Oprah and thats not real Christian imo.
Whitney moved with Robyn immediately after graduation because she and Cissy were at odds if it's true that it was because Cissy cheated on her father though her father had cheated on her as well. Just a mess. And I'm sure she had issues because Robyn was openly gay. But yeah Cissy was one of those old school religious folk...
It seems improbable that she would confide this to a casual friend but wouldn't tell her husband. If Bobby [[or Robyn) said it, I would believe it.
I still believe that Whitney was the victim of childhood sexual trauma. I only doubt the facts [[and the culprit) as presented by this family.
I heard a CBC interview with the Director of this film; I have not seen the film.
The Director said that it was Cissy that was driven to make Whitney a star - not Whitney that was driven to make Whitney a star.
And he said he was not comfortable going to Dionne to ask about her deceased sister but that Whitney's assistant was absolutely adamant that the story of the abuse be told.
I will see if I can find the interview and post it.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/friday-ju...ight-1.4735325
The interview is there.
I got Cissy's book, apparently she probably would agree with this in some degree. Cissy was a huge success in gospel and as a rock and roll background vocalist and the Sweet Inspirations were one of the greatest all female vocal groups ever [[it was their version of Ike Turner's "I'm Blue" that Salt N Pepa sampled for "Shoop"), but she could never break through on her own as a pop singer [[she was the original vocalist behind "Midnight Train to Georgia" when it was "Midnight Plane to Houston"). So Whitney begins to sing and Cissy saw herself in Whitney and molded and shaped her to be the greatest vocalist ever [[which is true in retrospect IMHO).
Whitney was the voice!
I saw the movie! It was Mary Jones who said Whitney told her she was sexually abused by Dee Dee Warwick. She also said Whitney did not want her mother to know. I think her wish to not let Cissy know should have remained. Her brother said he was abused at the age of 9 or 10 by a female, but I did not hear him say who. Either way, I guess this may have been why Dionne was not interviewed for the movie or didn't do an interview for the movie.
And, what was Al Sharpton "boycotting" Whitney??? I don't remember that, but that was ridiculous in my opinion.
Apparently there was a typo "Ralph Sharpton" instead of "Al Sharpton", but it's been corrected. He took out ads in publications to boycott "Whitey" Houston, claiming she's making music for non-blacks. So ridiculous! But people booed her after this at the Soul Train Music Awards and it shows the clip in the film. So I wonder what Al Sharpton thinks about Sarah Vaughn, Nat "King" Cole, Tina Turner, Charley Pride, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Harry Belafonte and on and on....none of them made gospel or R&B records either. That was ridiculous and I wonder how I missed it back then. It was in the 90s.
Because she was a black woman who had a huge white following and had "turned" on her black audience, which was far from the truth to begin with. This was the same thing aimed at Michael Jackson but he didn't get a huge backlash like Whitney [[maybe because none of the civil rights leaders ever called him a "betrayer"). MJ was at the same Soul Train Awards as Whitney that year and when he received one of those lifetime honors, they all cheered and clapped for him.
It's what is called a false memory created by a nasty rumor. It never happened, folks!
You missed it because it didn't happen.
People, we are living in an age where people who weren't there, or don't remember second-guess their memories, and fall to false news that is often repeated with absolutely no evidence.
And, now, things are convincingly Photoshopped and otherwise, digitally created to fool people into thinking things happened that never did. These are dangerous times.
People may have booed poor Whitney Houston for not being "Black" enough, But, if you don't remember any Boycotts, or remember Al Sharpton calling for one, it's a good bet that it never happened! And, you know the deal: tell, or hear a lie enough, and people start to believe it without one shred of evidence. It especially works when the lie is placed on a disliked person among a significant portion of the population. We all know how the lies of President Obama being born in Kenya are steadfastly believed by those who hate him, right? Well, enough people hate Al Sharpton to believe that he led a boycott of Whitney Houston.
Doesn't ring true.
I doubt he'd be able to tap into much willing money to be shed toward such a noble "cause".
What would they be chanting?!
"Sound more black! Sound more black!"??? Lol!