Whitney Houston!: The Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall of the Woman Whose Voice Inspired a Generation by Mark Bego

Author:Mark Bego [Bego, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Music, Nonfiction, Retail, Singer, Musician
ISBN: 1620872544
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2012-03-02T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“IT BEGINS TO UNRAVEL”

As Whitney and Bobby were vacationing in Europe during the summer, something very interesting was reported. While floating on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea off the island of Capri, something happened that was never fully explained. On July 21, 1997, Whitney was brought to Capilupi Hospital where a doctor had to sew up a two-inch cut on her cheek. Two stitches were required to close the wound. When she spoke to the Italian police, Whitney tried to blame it on a swimming accident when she hit a rock. However crew members on the rented yacht insisted that she sustained the wound while on the boat. It was surmised that Whitney and Bobby had simply gotten into one of their trademark physical fights. These had reportedly become a regular occurrence.

On October 5, Whitney Houston was the star of her own massively promoted live concert performance on HBO. Firsthand witnesses claimed that she “appeared stoned” when she hit the stage and started rambling to the audience in some unrehearsed monologue. According to Entertainment Weekly, “she strained to sing her tunes, reeled off a random, bewildering medley of tributes to dead celebrities—including the Notorious B.I.G. and Princess Diana—and dripped more flop sweat than Nixon.” One of the press reviewers said that watching the concert was like “a tape-delayed near-death experience.”

Record producer Andrew Skurow claimed, “I was shocked watching that HBO debacle from Washington D.C. I think it aired only once because it was so bad. She appeared to be wasted during the whole thing.” Audience members were reportedly sinking in their seats in sheer discomfort, wanting to escape.

A songwriter of one of Whitney’s greatest hits—who was at the concert—confessed that he was “embarrassed” by what he witnessed during that particular concert. “She couldn’t hit any of the notes. She has ruined her voice,” he sadly proclaimed. “I couldn’t wait ‘til it was over. She was excruciating to watch.”

Whitney received her next bit of unflattering press when she suddenly canceled her appearance on the top-rated daytime TV talk program, The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Houston was scheduled to be the main star on the October 30, 1997 episode of the show, when, forty-five minutes before she was supposed to arrive for the taping, she announced that she was backing out of the appearance. Not to be stood up that easily, O’Donnell peppered the episode in question with snotty remarks about Whitney.

Since Houston claimed that she suddenly had a case of stomach flu, Rosie told her audience that day, “I hope she’s very ill.” To fill in the gap in the show, O’Donnell had to stretch the other guest segments to take up the slack. This was an extremely difficult situation, since this was the first day of the traditional November TV “sweeps” week in which advertising sponsors gauge the ratings. To completely rub salt in the wound, that very day that Whitney was too ill to be on Rosie’s telecast, she found time to accompany Bobby Brown to his own television appearance on another talk show, The Late Show with David Letterman.

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