Houston reflects on high, low notes in life

Date: December 15, 1996
By Cindy Pearlman

From Chicago Sun-Times
Submitted by: Larry A.


God works in mysterious ways, and so does Whitney Houston. If the diva wants to let her vocal cords rip, she ditches the rehearsal studio and just jumps in her car.

Tucked in her BMW, cruising around her New Jersey neighborhood, Houston has done some of her best duets. "I'll pull up next to someone who will have one of my songs blaring on their car radio," she says. "I glance over and the other driver might be this middle-aged woman who is just belting out, 'I-I-I will always love yooooooo.'"

In these moments, Houston will roll down her tinted window, smile patiently as the impersonator does a double take and then sing a few lines. "I'm told by people that if they turn up that song loud enough, they think they can sing real good," she says, laughing.

Of course, these days Houston is singing a new tune. She stars with Denzel Washington in "The Preacher's Wife" (in its opening weekend in Chicago), the story of an angel who comes down from above to help a forlorn minister (Courtney Vance) and his beautiful wife get into the spirit again.

She's also four months pregnant with her second child -- and hungry. Chomping on a tuna fish sandwich, she freely talks about keeping her spirits up in a year where she found heaven on earth and a little hell, too.

Q. There have probably been times in your life when you wished an angel could show up on your doorstep. What was the toughest time for you?

Houston: That's an easy one. It was probably 1988 in London during the "Greatest Love of All" tour. The tabloids were publishing all these horrible, vicious stories about me. It got so bad that I hated waking up in the morning for fear of what the day would bring.

Q. How bad did it get?

Houston: One morning I woke up crying and couldn't stop all day. My mother had to come. She was my angel. She took hold of my hand and began to pray with me. She prayed with me, never leaving go of my hand, for 17 hours. I could hear her over me when I dozed off for a few minutes. She just kept telling me, "God is good, and that's what you hold onto." God and my mom got me through that one.

Q. How do you address all of the tabloid accusations, which range from rumors about your marriage to questions about your sexual preference?

Houston: If I was gay I'd be proud to say so, to say this is my life. I have a husband, a beautiful daughter and a baby on the way, and I still hear and read the rumors. So now I just realize that there is nothing I can do.

Q. Your husband, Bobby Brown, has been in the press a lot the last few years for incidents ranging from an arrest to his attempted murder. How do you keep a marriage going when all this mayhem seems to surround it?

Houston: I have to put a wall up around my life and my marriage. Nobody is coming in and nobody is getting out. This is what I've had to create as a result of being under the microscope for almost 13 years. My husband and I are learning about marriage just like any other couple on earth.

Q. What to you constitutes a happy marriage?

Houston: Our role models are my parents. My father showed me how a man treats a lady. My dad was a man who demanded respect, and he got it. But he gave it, too. My parents were the best of lovers, but they could fight like cats and dogs. Yet they always went to bed laughing. That's what I am aiming for in my marriage.

Q. People look at Bobby and then look at you and say, "How can she be married to him?" Can you explain it?

Houston: People don't know Bobby the way he is. I know the man. I know he has a temper. I know he has a tender side. I know the loving strong side. Also, people have me wrong. If you look at me, you might think, "Oh, she's this pristine princess." I put on my jeans and my sneakers and I can roll.

Q. "The Preacher's Wife" must have been like going home for you. Didn't you start out singing in church?

Houston: It did take me back to the place where I started. I was 8 when my mother insisted that I sing in church. I was scared to death! But the thing about church people is that even if you're not a good singer, they're with you. And from that first moment singing gospel and watching my mother cry, I knew I was where I belonged.

Q. Is that when you decided to become a singer?

Houston: That happened when I was 12 or 13 and got my first solo in church. My mother couldn't be there, but she told my father he had to go because "Whitney is going to knock your socks off." My father didn't realize I could sing. I would just be screaming these songs in the basement, and he would scream down, "You're driving me crazy!" Then he came to church, and I'll never forget it. I could see my father was crying. To me that just did it.

Q. This is your third movie after two megahits, "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale." Have you set your sights on being a movie star?

Houston: I already have major success in music. I don't want to be a movie star. I had no idea these movies were going to be that big. Honestly, I fell into the movies. "The Bodyguard" was originally tailored for Barbra Streisand, who didn't want it. I had the "Preacher's Wife" script for a year before I said yes. I wanted a break, and I thought my character needed to be fleshed out a little bit more. She was too prissy and protected. Then we messed around with it a bit, and my husband, Bobby, finally said, "You gotta do this. You can't go wrong."

Q. Is your 3-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina exhibiting any singing talents?

Houston: Yeah, she's got my voice and Bobby's moves. It's really scary to see her developing. She seems like a little Bobby. She has his bullheadedness. I can definitely see her cutting a record someday.

Q. Is this the best time for you?

Houston: Everything is cool, but that does not necessarily mean it's great. I'm happy and I'm grateful. That's what makes things so cool. I do have joy.