Note: This program was produced without the cooperation of Whitney, her family, or staff.

Dateline NBC, 7:00 PM


HOST: Stone Phillips

Announcer: Tonight on DATELINE:

(Clip of Whitney Houston singing "I'm Every Woman")

Announcer: But she's certainly not just any woman. Whitney Houston, with a powerhouse voice and supermodel looks, was born to be a diva.

TOURE: It's like the stars are coalescing to create the bionic singer.

Announcer: So how did this multi-platinum star of stage and screen fall so far? What happened to Whitney?

Mr. KEVIN SKINNER: Whitney Houston was like Barbra Streisand. Now Whitney Houston is a joke.
[Note: Skinner is suing Whitney for $100 million of her money and his comments about her are slanted by that.]

Announcer: Tonight, with exclusive footage, a look at Whitney's wild ride, from bizarre behavior...

Mr. NICK MAIER: She couldn't remember the words to the song or even what song to sing.
[Note: This is referring to Whitney's cancelled appearance at the Oscars in 2000.]

Announcer: ...to those rumors of drug use...

HODA KOTB reporting: Have you ever see her do drugs with your own eyes?

Mr. SKINNER: I'm not going to say that on camera.

Announcer: ...to questions about her marriage to one of music's bad boys.

Ms. WENDY WILLIAMS (Radio Host, WBLS): They love each other and they share the secret.

KOTB: Which is?

Announcer: Now, after a CD that flopped, being sued by her own father and a milestone 40th birthday, where does she go from here?

Ms. ISABEL WILKERSON: The last two years have probably been among the most difficult for her in maybe her entire life.

Announcer: Go along on the strange emotional pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Will it help her fight her way back? Can she hit the high notes again?

(Clip of Whitney Houston singing "The Greatest Love of All")

Announcer: Hoda Kotb with Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert when DATELINE continues.

(Announcements)


WHITNEY HOUSTON: DIVA IN THE DESERT

Announcer: From our studios in Rockefeller Center, here is Stone Phillips.

STONE PHILLIPS: Good evening. She grew up with gospel music and can sing like an angel. At age 22, Whitney Houston's first album sold 22 million copies. But this multi-talented, multi-octave singer has been through some highs and lows in the years since, both personally and professionally. And some of the lows have been very public: missed concert dates, forgotten lyrics, a run in with the law. For many of her fans it's been puzzling and painful to watch. Now, at age 40, she has embarked on a spiritual injury, one that has taken her to faraway places and may be taking her to a new place in her life. Where is Whitney headed? Here is Hoda Kotb.

(Audio excerpt of Whitney Houston singing)

HODA KOTB reporting: (Voiceover) We met her when she was 20.

(Excerpts of Whitney Houston videos and photos)

TOURE: A voice lets loose, it's like Michael Jordan leaping from the free throw line.

KOTB: (Voiceover) She just turned 40. In the last two decades we've seen her meteoric rise to the top.

(Excerpts of Whitney Houston videos and photos)

Mr. KEVIN SKINNER: Whitney Houston was like Barbra Streisand. Now Whitney Houston is a joke.
[Note: Skinner is suing Whitney for $100 million of her money and his comments about her are slanted by that.]

Offscreen Voice #1: Good morning, Ms. Houston.

KOTB: (Voiceover) We also saw her seemingly self-destructive plunge to the bottom.

(Video excerpt of Whitney Houston song)

KOTB: (Voiceover) She is now more frequently seen in gossip columns than concert halls. Her image selling tabloids not CDs. Drama, dirt, and drugs.

(News clippings; video excerpt; tabloid headlines featuring Houston)

Ms. WENDY WILLIAMS (Radio Host, WBLS): The only question that I always have for Whitney, 'Is she high? Is she high?'

KOTB: (Voiceover) There is the good Whitney, the bad Whitney, and the question. Forty years old, it's not right, but is she OK?

(Video excerpt of Whitney Houston song)

KOTB: Tonight, we will look back at Whitney Houston's turbulent career and show you the star like you have never seen her, up close, through exclusive footage.
[Note: Most of the four-month-old Israel footage is not exclusive.]

(Voiceover) This past May she and husband Bobby Brown went on a week-long spiritual journey halfway around the world from Jerusalem to the Jordan River. In this hour we ask, was this just the latest strangest thing she has done, or a last-ditch effort of a deeply religious woman to finally turn her life around? It is quite a long way from home for the beautiful girl from Newark, New Jersey, singing here in 1975 at the New Hope Baptist Church. She was called "Nippy" then, still in the shadow of cousin pop star Dionne Warwick and mother, famed gospel singer Cissy Houston, who warned her daughter from the very start about the vicious industry that she was going into.

(Whitney and others in Israel; Whitney singing; Whitney singing with others; video excerpt of Houston as a teen singing in church; Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston album covers; Whitney and Cissy on magazine cover; video excerpt of Houston singing in church)

Ms. WHITNEY HOUSTON: (From July 9, 1985 interview) When I decided to become an entertainer, she said, 'Oh, you want to be a singer, huh? Mm-hmm.' And she said, 'Well, do you want to be in show business?' And I said, 'Well, isn't that the same thing? I mean, I want to sing, so that's what I want to do.' And she said, 'No, no, it is a different world.'

KOTB: (Voiceover) But as Rolling Stone contributing editor Toure says, Whitney was on an inevitable course from birth.

(Toure reading)

TOURE: To have a gospel singer as your mother and--and also to have, you know, the same gene pool that Dionne Warwick has...

KOTB: Mm-hmm.

TOURE: ...it's like the stars are coalescing to create potentially, like, you know, the bionic singer.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) By 17, Whitney was appearing in New York night clubs with her mother.

(Night club advertisement; photo of Whitney and Cissy singing)

TOURE: And then the best ears in town comes by, Clive Davis, and he says, 'Yes, you're right. I am taking her to the top. You know. We are going to make a million dollars on this one.'

KOTB: (Voiceover) Arista President Clive Davis would take Whitney as a protege and guide her to one of the most successful careers in music history. She was barely more than 20 years old when her first album became the best-selling female debut album in history. And since then eight multi-platinum albums, over 100 million sold. Whitney's songs would become the soundtrack of a generation.

(Clive Davis; video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"; photo of Whitney; Whitney on People magazine cover; CD cover; Billboard album ratings list; photo of Whitney; video excerpt of Whitney singing; CDs; video excerpts)

Ms. HOUSTON: ("The Bodyguard:) I started betting my friends 50 bucks each that some day I would win an Oscar.

KOTB: (Voiceover) By 1992 she became a bankable movie actress starring in "The Bodyguard." The movie sound track became the most successful ever released.

(Video excerpts from "The Bodyguard"; "The Bodyguard" soundtrack CD)

TOURE: "I'll Always Love You" is beautiful in the way of like a woman on her wedding day. Like, it begins with this ornate, delicate acappella space where she is just singing.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You")

TOURE: And it is so perfect, and then it grows, and grows.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You")

TOURE: You are building toward that sonic climax the whole time.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You")

TOURE: And then she comes to that note, right? And the drum kicks, boom.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You")

TOURE: And it's like Michael Jordan leaping from the free throw line, and we're all like, 'Oh, my God I wish I could do that. That is so amazing.'

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You")

KOTB: (Voiceover) She smiles at us from one magazine cover to the next. But gradually, year after year, her public image cracked to reveal her looking like this. By the end of the '90s her career plunged, too. Fewer concerts, fewer CDs sold, no new movies. [Note: Whitney's last album of the 1990s, "My Love Is Your Love," sold 10 million copies worldwide, and she performed over 60 concerts for that one album alone. She also toured between projects in the late 1990s, performing multiple shows despite the fact that she wasn't promoting a new album. Since the late 1990s, Whitney's production company has produced three very successful projects for Disney. "The Princess Diaries" alone grossed over $100 million in the U.S.] So this past May, Whitney packed up her troubles, her husband, her daughter--and we saw 30 suitcases--and went halfway around the world. Was she just escaping her life or was she finally ready to confront it? She flew from the desert city of lights, Las Vegas, to the desert town of Dimona. Don't be embarrassed if you haven't heard of it. First, it's in Israel. Second, it's a map dot in the middle of the desert, so out of the way it's actually where Israel is rumored to safe keep its nuclear weapons.

(Magazine and tabloid covers featuring Whitney; Whitney in Israel; news clipping; CDs; Whitney and Bobby Brown waving to fans; men unloading suitcases; Whitney and Brown in bus; fans; Whitney and Brown waving to fans; maps; map highlighting Dimona; desert scene; map of Dimona; radiation warning sign)

KOTB: I don't really get Dimona. OK, is Dimona a place that Israelis go and visit?

Mr. GUY PINES: No.

KOTB: (Voiceover) For answers we consulted immediately with the anchor of Israel's leading entertainment news show.

(Reporter and Guy walking)

KOTB: So most people don't go and most people don't even drive by this place?

Mr. PINES: Mm-hmm.

Ms. JENNIFER LOPEZ: Hi, Guy.

KOTB: (Voiceover) This guy is so well known here even the stars call him by his first name. As for Guy's last name, we'll let him explain it.

(Video excerpts of celebrities saying 'Hi, Guy.')

Mr. PINES: My last name is--is--it's spelled P-I-N-E-S, it's Pines.

Mr. RICHARD GERE: Are you serious?

Offscreen Voice #2: I am very serious.

Mr. GERE: What do they call him?

Voice #2: Guy Penis.

Mr. GERE: Hi, Guy Penis.

KOTB: (Voiceover) But, back on point.

(Israeli TV logo)

KOTB: Why on earth, Guy, was Whitney Houston going to this tiny desert town in the middle of nowhere?

Mr. PINES: It's funny. We were asking the same thing.

Unidentified Reporter #1: Whitney, what is the reason for your visit?

KOTB: (Voiceover) Her hosts are the African Hebrew Israelites, a group of African-Americans who 35 years ago left Chicago, Detroit and DC to follow this man.

(African-American people in Israel)

KOTB: If I were to ask the people in this community about you, 'Is he the Messiah?' they would say?

Mr. BEN AMMI (Spiritual Leader, African Hebrew Israelites): Yes. Because to them I am the Messiah.

KOTB: Carter Ben Ammi was a bus driver in Chicago when in 1966 he had a vision. He was a member of the Lost Tribes of Israel who ended up in America as part of the slave trade, and he decided it was time to go home. So his followers packed up and settled in Dimona, where Whitney is now visiting. [Note: Whitney isn't visiting Israel now.] This community prides itself on clean healthy living, even reforming addicts by mixing spirituality with mandatory exercise and a strict vegetarian diet. So was Whitney here for religion or rehab?

(Photo of Ben Ammi; people dancing and singing; buildings in Dimona; religious gatherings; people exercising)

Unidentified Man #1: Back up, back up, back up. It's OK. You can get your shot, no blocking, just back up.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Whitney's hosts are extremely protective of their guest. This makes it even more of a mystery, though it seems the spirit of the Holy Land has set in rather quickly.

(Whitney, Brown and others in Israel)

Unidentified Reporter #2: Just a few words. How do you like it so far?

Mr. BOBBY BROWN: We love it.

Ms. HOUSTON: We are love. We are love.

Mr. BROWN: We are love.

Ms. HOUSTON: We are love.

KOTB: I mean, was this visit really just a circus?

Mr. PINES: It was a circus, yes.

Unidentified Reporter #3: Whitney, we love you and God is going to bless you.

Ms. HOUSTON: Yes, he is.

Reporter #3: (Foreign language spoken)

Ms. HOUSTON: (Foreign language spoken)

Unidentified Translator: With the help of God.

Ms. HOUSTON: With the help of God. That's me, I need it.

Unidentified Reporter #4: How do you like the desert?

Ms. HOUSTON: I love it.

Reporter #4: Really.

Ms. HOUSTON: Love it. It's going to flourish, it's going to bloom very soon like a rose.

Reporter #4: That's right.

Mr. BROWN: Let's walk, guys.

Ms. HOUSTON: It's land, our land, that's right.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Their hosts are taking Whitney and Bobby to tour the desert by bus, heading to spiritual moments, tense moments, strange moments, and the occasional mandatory stop of any scenic route.

(Bus; Whitney and Brown touring Israel; Whitney and Brown with Ariel Sharon; Whitney and others taking pictures)

Ms. HOUSTON: You got it? You got the background?

Offscreen Voice #3: Make sure you get the background.

KOTB: (Voiceover) So is Whitney on the road to salvation or just heading further into oblivion?

(Whitney and others taking pictures, sightseeing)

Announcer: Whatever the destination, how the journey began...

Mr. KIRK WHALUM: There's a madness that people would never believe that happens to an individual who gets that famous.

Announcer: ...when Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert continues.

(Announcements)

Prince ASIEL: And I don't know if you slept on top of the mountain.

Ms. HOUSTON: Zion.

Mr. BROWN: Yes, we did.

Prince ASIEL: All right, and you woke up...

Ms. HOUSTON: Woke up this morning singing a Zion song.

Prince ASIEL: That's right.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Faith has always kept superstar Whitney Houston strong. But in the past, she didn't have to travel all the way to the Holy Land to find it.

(Whitney, Brown and others in Israel)

Mr. WHALUM: First conversation I had with her was about the Lord.

KOTB: (Voiceover) This is sax player Kurt Whalum here at Arista's anniversary concert. He accompanied Whitney at the height of her career.

(Kurt Whalum and Whitney performing)

Mr. WHALUM: I kind of had the unofficial position of--of chaplain of the group. She called me "Bishop."

KOTB: (Voiceover) He was there in the background watching the daily grind of success slowly chip away at the icon.

(Photos of Whitney performing)

Mr. WHALUM: I was praying really, really hard for her during that period. There is a madness that people would never believe that happens to an individual who gets that famous.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

Ms. HOUSTON: Once things started to happen to me, once I became famous and all of these things, you know, people were saying about me, you know, that weren't true, and it hurt me.

Mr. WHALUM: There is nothing to describe it. It's just like you are spinning around, and there--there's nothing to hold onto.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) But many believe that the man that she ultimately grabbed onto did not anchor Whitney, he sank her.

(Whitney and Brown; Brown)

Ms. HOUSTON: Yes, Bobby is--is the man of my life, and I'm very much in love and I'm very happy.

(Video excerpt of Bobby Brown singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) Like her, he launched his career in his teens, and by the time they met he was well on his way to having four hits in the top five. They had stardom in common but she was buttoned up in sequined gowns. He, well, he liked taking his clothes off on stage. There seemed to be no connection and definitely no future.

(Video excerpts of Brown; photo of Whitney singing; video excerpt of Brown; tabloid headlines; Whitney and Brown wedding picture)

KOTB: When you first heard about that union, that they were getting together, Whitney and Bobby...

TOURE: Right, right.

KOTB: ...first thing you thought.

TOURE: No, I didn't think it was real. I didn't think it was real at first.

Ms. HOUSTON: (From November 1996 interview) 'Are they for real? Are they serious?' I mean--I mean, people had bets on us like we're going to make it. Like, 'Six weeks? No, try six months. No, six weeks, believe me.'

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: In 1993, Bobbi Kristina, Whitney and Bobby's only child, was born.

(Whitney holding baby)

Ms. HOUSTON: (To Bobbi Kristina) That's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Beautiful music. Beautiful, beautiful girl.

KOTB: (Voiceover) But reports of family bliss in glossy magazines only told part of Bobby's story. Police reports did the rest. Battery, more battery, simulating sex on stage, speeding, driving under the influence, twice he almost got killed in a deadly shootout, of course, drug possession, and if you can't make out the writing, that says he urinated in the back of a police car. [Note: Bobby was charged for battery once for something his bodyguards did to protect him from an assailant, and the urination incident happened when he wasn't allowed to use a restroom after that incident. He was charged again when he kicked a hotel security guard out his room after Bobby caught the guard sneaking in. His arrests for his stage performances only occurred in Atlanta and those performances were actually tame compared to other music artists. The shootings occurred in his hometown of Roxbury and involved altercations between other people. Bobby didn't cause the shootings and he didn't participate in them.] He served time for DUI and probation violations. And Whitney has been beside him through it all, 11 years of marriage and going strong. Is it a match made in heaven? It's certainly paparrazzi paradise.

(Whitney, Brown and Bobbi Kristina on Ebony cover; Brown; Brown in court; video excerpts of Brown singing; Brown under arrest; prison photo of Brown; video excerpts of Brown singing; photos of Brown in court; police report; video excerpts of Brown singing; video excerpt of Whitney singing; photos of Whitney and Brown; tabloid; video excerpt of Whitney singing)

TOURE: The continuing circus with Bobby, while not meant for that purpose, has definitely given her an edginess.

KOTB: (Voiceover) She is there for the perp walks, the court appearances.

(Whitney and Brown at court appearances)

TOURE: It just kept people interested in her when they may have said, 'OK, we have heard enough. Oh, wait a minute.'

Ms. HOUSTON: Stay strong, baby, I got your back.

KOTB: (Voiceover) She is seen sending him off to jail, and here in 2000, waiting for him as he comes out.

(Whitney in court; Brown leaving jail; Whitney greeting Brown outside jail)

TOURE: 'Oh, wait a minute she is outside the prison waiting for Bobby. Oh, wait a minute, here they are making out on stage in some show. Oh!'

KOTB: (Voiceover) And these pictures are from just last month, Whitney coming to Bobby's most recent court hearing.

(Whitney in car)

Ms. HOUSTON: Good morning.

Offscreen Voice #4: Good morning Ms. Houston, how are you?

Ms. HOUSTON: Mrs. Brown.

Voice #4: Mrs. Brown.

KOTB: She's standing up before the people saying, 'He is mine.'

TOURE: (Laughing) Right.

KOTB: 'I love him.'

Ms. HOUSTON: How are you?

Voice #4: Real fine, thank you.

Ms. HOUSTON: We--you and the camera. Man, please back up. Man, you're doing good today. You got footage, baby. You're the only one.

Voice #4: Well, it's good to see you.

Ms. HOUSTON: You too, take care.

Voice #4: Take care of yourself.

Ms. HOUSTON: I will.

Voice #4: Tell Bobby we said hello, OK?

Ms. HOUSTON: I will. Now, take care, goodbye.

Voice #4: Thank you.

Ms. HOUSTON: God bless you.

KOTB: (Voiceover) In their visit to Jerusalem, Whitney was there for her man again.

(Whitney, Brown and others in Jerusalem)

Prince ASIEL: You want to see the Stone from Calvary?

Ms. HOUSTON: OK. I got you.

Prince ASIEL: OK?

Ms. HOUSTON: I heard you.

Prince ASIEL: All right.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Their hosts took the couple to see Christ's burial site, and unpredictable as always, it was Bobby who broke down.

(Whitney, Brown and others walking; Whitney and Brown crying at burial site)

KOTB: It's hard to see what happens next, because the cameras were all pushed aside, but right here, on the steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the spot where Jesus was buried, Bobby Brown fell to his knees and wept.

(Voiceover) The couple so solid, so volatile, had several awkward moments during their visit, but none more public than this.
[Note: This was an emotional moment, not an awkward moment.]

(Whitney, Brown and others kneeling at holy site; Whitney and Brown sitting at a meal; Whitney, Brown and Ariel Sharon)

KOTB: Ariel Sharon.

Mr. PINES: Yeah.

KOTB: We are used to seeing him in big photo ops with bigwigs.

Mr. PINES: Yeah.

KOTB: I mean, George Bush, various dignitaries from overseas.

Mr. PINES: Whitney Houston.

KOTB: Whitney, what's this?

(Voiceover) The spiritual journey of Whitney Houston takes her to the home of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The star first runs into the bush, she fidgets to find her place. OK, now she is settled. And then, cameras ablaze, she decides to make a statement, not so much about the Middle East conflict as about the peace process in her own household.

(Whitney and Brown with Sharon; cameramen; Whitney and Brown with Sharon)

Mr. PINES: He gives her his hand.

Mr. ARIEL SHARON: You are among friends.

Ms. HOUSTON: Thank you so much.

Mr. BROWN: Thank you.

Mr. SHARON: And you are most welcome.

Ms. HOUSTON: Thank you.

Mr. PINES: She, like, pulls Bobby's hand very, very strongly, and she doesn't want to, like, give the prime minister her hand, and he--she makes Bobby shake his hand.

Ms. HOUSTON: Thank you.

Mr. PINES: It is very strange. If you had a dollar for every time I said strange in this interview, I would be rich by now.
[Note: Whitney didn't want to shake Sharon's hand and therefore did not do so.]

Unidentified Man #2: We nominate you as--as an ambassador for--to Israel.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Handshake or no handshake, in these turbulent times, Israel was so happy to have Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Brown visit.

(Man presenting Brown with plaque)

Mr. BROWN: I like red you like white?

Man #2: OK.

KOTB: (Voiceover) The couple received a title of sorts.

(Brown and others with glasses of wine)

Mr. BROWN: We have become the ministers of tourism.

Unidentified Woman: Ambassadors.

Mr. BROWN: Ambassadors of tourism.

Offscreen Voice #5: Good for you.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Ambassador of Tourism Bobby Brown still has to complete his court-ordered community service in the state of Georgia.

(Brown in prison)

Announcer: The superstar has her say, talking about drugs and the drama that her life has become.

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) Whitney you--you keep yourself in the headlines.

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) No, Wendy, you all keep me in the headlines. You all want to know what I'm doing all the time. I don't give a...(word censored by network)...what you're doing all the time.

Announcer: When Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert continues.

(Announcements)

Announcer: The superstar fires back about life, drugs and her right to privacy, when Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert continues.

(Announcements)

KOTB: (Voiceover) In a little town in the middle of the desert in Israel, a family watches out the window and sees one of the world's most famous singers performing a concert. Only, she's singing to herself in the back yard. She is on a spiritual retreat, the highlight of her trip is yet to come, but low moments like these, rarely seen and caught here exclusively on tape, suggest a star on her own planet.
[Note: Whitney was listening to the gospel song "Lord Of The Harvest" on her headphones and singing and dancing along. That's considered normal behavior by most people.]

(People looking out window; Whitney outside building singing)

Ms. WILLIAMS: There are two things that make Whitney not so reliable.

KOTB: New York radio personality Wendy Williams.

Ms. WILLIAMS: Number one, she's a superstar. Number two, the problem.

KOTB: (Voiceover) It first became noticeable in the late '90s, a string of appearances and disappearances raised the possibility that Whitney Houston may have a problem.

(Newspaper headlines; Whitney singing)

Mr. JAMES ROBERT PARISH: She would cancel concerts, she would be late on stage.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Biographer James Robert Parish can list one public appearance canceled after the next; throat problems, exhaustion, city after city, shorter and shorter notice. In Concord, California, just minutes before she was to go on stage. So what exactly was the problem? Well, Whitney wasn't going to offer a simple answer, as Wendy Williams found out earlier this year.

(James Robert Parish writing; video excerpts of Whitney singing; newspaper headlines; video excerpt of Whitney singing; newspaper headline; radio microphones; radio equipment)

KOTB: Ring, ring on your radio show. OK, on that day--you probably will never forget it.

Ms. WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KOTB: Right?

Ms. WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KOTB: "Wendy, Wendy, Wendy."

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) Oh, my gosh.

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Oh my Lord, have I waited for this day.

KOTB: That was the most erratic, weird interview I had ever heard.

Ms. WILLIAMS: I was shocked that Whitney actually called.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Whitney actually called WBLS, one of the nation's top urban radio stations, to promote her latest album. But she barely even mentioned it.

(Radio microphone; CD)

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) Do you live a relatively normal life?

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) No.

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) Whitney, you keep yourself in the headlines.

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) No, Wendy. You all keep me in the headlines. I mind my business. I try to maintain what I got. You all want to know that I'm doing all the time. I don't give a...(word censored by network)...about what you doing all the time.

KOTB: Wasn't like one of your girlfriends. She's loving you, you--you're loving her.

Ms. WILLIAMS: Yes.

KOTB: 'I love you."I love you more.'

Ms. WILLIAMS: Yeah. And she's threatening...

KOTB: What was that?

Ms. WILLIAMS: ...to meet me downstairs and beat me up.

KOTB: Yeah.

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Wendy, I love you because you support me, and you've been--you've been good to me on the radio. However, you know, watch what you say, baby girl.

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) But Whitney, watch what you do. And if...

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) I know--it's not--you don't even know what I do. Like you said, you never met me, you don't know me, you haven't been in my house, you don't live with me, you don't sleep with me, you don't do...(word censored by network)...with me, but talk about me. So watch what you say. That's all, baby girl, that's all I'm asking you is to watch what the...(word censored by network)...you say.

KOTB: Why are you smiling?

Ms. WILLIAMS: Drama.
[Note: Dateline and Kotb removed Williams' questions from the radio interview that angered Whitney. The clips that NBC aired don't show the offensive nature of the interview.]

KOTB: (Voiceover) But if in her interview she seemed more and more defensive, in her daily life she seemed increasingly oblivious, both behaviors feeding the rumor mills. In Israel, the dogged reporters were chasing the bus because you never knew what would happen once the passengers got off.

(Photo or Whitney and Brown; tour bus in Israel; Israel scenery)

Mr. PINES: First of all, they drive for a long time.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Take, for example, on afternoon in the heart of the desert.

(People getting off bus in Israel)

Mr. PINES: And they just stopped in the middle of nowhere to probably go to the toilet.

(Voiceover) She was--like, she had her earphones and she was like dancing her way and singing.

(Whitney singing and dancing in Israel)

Mr. PINES: I don't know if she was that happy about going to the toilet, which I can understand after driving so many hours.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Here's an international superstar at a pit stop in the middle of the desert in the middle of the Middle East singing herself to the toilet. And she's not just listening to one song, she's dancing her way through the whole album.

(Whitney and others in Israel walking to bathroom; Whitney singing in Israel)

Mr. PINES: To me it looks like she doesn't really know where she is and she is not really attached to the situation.

KOTB: (Voiceover) And what's interesting is that those around her either ignore her or pretend it isn't happening.

(Whitney in Israel singing)
[Note: She was listening to gospel music on headphones and singing and dancing to it. Most people do this when they listen to music.]

Mr. PINES: I don't have the answers, just more questions. At least she didn't wave her baby out of the window.

Ms. HOUSTON: I would tell anybody they got a problem with me, they can kiss my...(word censored by network)....And I love you, but I don't live for you. I don't live for you.

KOTB: (Voiceover) She does live for Bobby, the only one who seems to have control over here. Here he eventually takes her aside. What is the secret of their success? Well, some say it all goes back to Whitney's so-called "problem."

(Whitney and Bobby walking in Israel; video excerpt of Whitney and Bobby singing together)

Ms. WILLIAMS: It is my belief that Whitney and Bobby will be together forever. They love each other and they share the secret.

KOTB: Which is?

Ms. WILLIAMS: You know, that's a huge secret.

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) You smoke weed?

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Oh,...(word censored by network)...

Ms. WILLIAMS: Isn't that the first thing that everybody wonders when they see Whitney? I wonder if she's high.

(Video excerpt of Whitney and Bobby singing)

Ms. WILLIAMS: Whitney's got a new album out. She's going to be at the Megastore signing it. I wonder if she's high. Whitney's going to be on "Oprah." Oo, let me turn it on. I wonder if she's high.

(Video excerpt of Whitney and Bobby singing)

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) So Whitney, is there drug use going on at this present time?

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Who are you talking to?

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) To you, Whitney, you.

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) No, you're not talking to me. I'm a mother. Only my mother has privy to that information. You talk to your child about that. Don't ask me no questions like I'm a child because I'm not a child, Wendy.

Ms. WILLIAMS: It's hard to pay attention to what Whitney wants us to focus on because we--well, all right, me--I'm so focused on, 'Is she high?'

KOTB: (Voiceover) By the late '90s, the tabloids were having a field day accusing her of marijuana and cocaine use. Editor Nick Maier from the National Enquirer says there are so many stories of stupors, binges and overdoses you need a book to cover it all, which is just what he's compiling. It's called "Out Of Control."
[Note: The National Enquirer is a tabloid.]

(Tabloid headlines; Nick Maier; tabloid articles and headlines; "Out Of Control" book cover)

KOTB: If she is a big cocaine abuser, where are all the police reports? Where are the arrests? This is happening day in and day out for years.

Mr. NICK MAIER: She has an entourage surrounding her that are paid to protect her.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) But starting in March 2000, a series of events took the rumor mill to the mainstream press. It began when Whitney was rehearsing to sing at the Oscars.

(Magazine and tabloid covers featuring Whitney; Oscar statue)

Ms. WILLIAMS: She showed up at the Oscars, and I forget the song that she was supposed to be doing, but she forgot it too. She did not know the words.

Mr. MAIER: Whitney Houston is supposed to sing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" at the Oscars.

KOTB: (Voiceover) These are photographs of the rehearsal.

(Photos of Whitney at Oscars rehearsal)

Mr. MAIER: (Voiceover) She gets up there and obviously she was somewhere over the rainbow because she couldn't remember the words to the song or even what song to sing.

(Photos of Whitney at Oscars rehearsal)

KOTB: (Voiceover) James Robert Parish, author of "Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography."

(Parish; book cover of "Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography")

Mr. PARISH: She just seemed to be playing an imaginary piano while she was waiting around, and just nobody could really make contact with her.

Mr. MAIER: Bobby Brown, her husband, was sitting in the front row, drunk, with a coat over his head.

KOTB: (Voiceover) By the time the show was on, Whitney was out. She was replaced. But it was another concert in August 2001 that suggested she was nose-diving. It was the Michael Jackson tribute concert. She did show up, or at least a fraction of her did.

(Photo of Whitney at Oscar rehearsals; Michael Jackson concert poster; video excerpt of Whitney's performance at Michael Jackson tribute concert)

Ms. WILLIAMS: Look how ridiculously skinny she is.

Mr. PARISH: She had gotten so emaciated that literally the bones in her chest were sticking out her rib cage.

KOTB: (Voiceover) She looked so bad, reportedly, even Michael Jackson told her he was concerned, Michael Jackson.

[Note: The only newspaper story with a reported Michael Jackson comment about Whitney's appearance did not express concern.]
(Video excerpt of Whitney's performance at Michael Jackson tribute concert; Michael Jackson)

Mr. PARISH: Towards the end of the summer there was a notice on the Internet that flew around: 'Whitney has died.'

KOTB: (Voiceover) She wasn't dead, but these reports, she would later claim, forced her to re-examine her life. Pulitzer prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson interviewed Whitney for Essence magazine.

(Newspaper clipping; Isabel Wilkerson; Whitney on Essence magazine cover)

Ms. ISABEL WILKERSON: She described herself as being in transition, of working and trying really hard to get focused on what's important to her.

KOTB: Last year she admitted publicly to drug use, insisting it was in the past. She said she was so thin due to stress, that she was never an addict. But the string of bad news did not come to an end.
[Note: Whitney admitted to drug use and addictions last year in her "Primetime" interview with Diane Sawyer. She didn't deny addiction. She said her weight loss was caused by stress.]

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) Late last year, her new CD came out called "Just Whitney." It was just awful, according to critics, and the buying public agreed, making it her worst selling album ever. [Note: The "Just Whitney" album was not panned by critics. It received mixed reviews, which is normal. It didn't sell more copies because of lack of marketing and advertising.] In show biz they'll tell you, when all else fails, it's time for a road trip. Perhaps that's what brought her here to Israel, so far away. But back in New Jersey there were still some unresolved problems, like this man.

(CD cover; newspaper clippings; video excerpt of Whitney singing; Whitney, Brown and others in Israel; Kevin Skinner)

Announcer: He was a close friend of Whitney's father. So why is he suing her? And hear what he shares with us about what went on between them years ago.

KOTB: You sold drugs to Whitney Houston.

Announcer: When Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert continues.

(Announcements)

KOTB: (Voiceover) In life, you may be able to change where you're going, but it's very hard to erase where you've been.

(Whitney and others on boat in Israel)

Ms. HOUSTON: Hi, America. I'm in Israel.

Prince ASIEL: The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Whitney may be in Israel on a fresh new start, but back home one man is trying to make her confront her past. His name is Kevin Skinner. He used to be partners with Whitney's father, John Houston, and he says that in 2000 the star asked them to help her troubled career.

(Whitney and others walking in Israel; Skinner talking on phone; legal papers)

Mr. SKINNER: She called us. We didn't call her.

KOTB: And what did she say?

Mr. SKINNER: 'Help.'

KOTB: (Voiceover) In this letter, obtained by DATELINE, John Houston writes his daughter, he "worked hard to save your name and reputation, the family's name and legacy and my granddaughter's future." It was shortly after reports circulated Whitney got a new $100 million recording contract, but talking here exclusively to DATELINE, her father's partner, Skinner, says salvaging Whitney's career wasn't about getting her on stage as much as getting her off drugs.

(Letter; highlights of letter; video excerpt of Whitney singing; Arista CD labels; video excerpt of Whitney singing; Skinner; photos of Whitney and Brown)

Mr. SKINNER: Do I think she's an addict? In my personal opinion, yes.

KOTB: Have you ever seen her do drugs, with your own eyes?

Mr. SKINNER: I don't say that on camera.

KOTB: Did you see her do it ever?

Mr. SKINNER: Have I ever seen Whitney Houston use? Yes, I have.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) Skinner says he was personally involved in clearing up the only public incident that firmly links the star to drugs. On January 11th, 2000, Whitney was at an airport in Hawaii on her way home when a security check uncovered marijuana in her bag. According to police reports, she was asked to wait for the police, but the star boarded her scheduled flight and took off.

(Police reports; highlights of report; Whitney)

Mr. SKINNER: She thought she was going to get arrested at the airport. 'Kevin, am I going to jail? Am I going to jail?'

KOTB: (Voiceover) In letters to Whitney, her father and his partner contend they worked with authorities in Hawaii and New Jersey to keep the singer from getting a criminal record. She plead no contest to a misdemeanor drug offense and eventually the charges were dropped. But Kevin says he became routinely involved in trying to keep Whitney away from drugs.

(Video excerpts of Whitney singing; letters; police reports; legal papers; photos of Whitney and Brown)

KOTB: How does somebody who is a big superstar like Whitney Houston--everybody knows Whitney--how does she get drugs?

Mr. SKINNER: She can get anything she wants.

KOTB: But everyone will say, 'It's Whitney Houston. Maybe I'll tell my friends.' Does she ever go out on her own and get them?

Mr. SKINNER: And Bobby, together.

KOTB: Would go where?

Mr. SKINNER: To Newark.

KOTB: Where?

Mr. SKINNER: To Clifton Avenue.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Skinner knows the drug world well. Maybe too well. DATELINE learned that in 1988 he served time for selling cocaine.

(New York scenery; Skinner arrest photos)

Mr. SKINNER: I was a cocaine distributor years ago, maybe 10, 15 years ago. And that's how I know Whitney.

KOTB: You sold drugs to Whitney Houston?

Mr. SKINNER: Years ago, yes. We used to engage a lot of activity with drugs.

KOTB: (Voiceover) But he says that is all more than a decade behind him now thanks in great part to Whitney's father.

(Skinner walking; photo of Whitney and parents)

Mr. SKINNER: He gave me a lot of self respect, and he made a man out of me.

KOTB: (Voiceover) So he says when Whitney's father wanted to quell the drug rumors about his daughter, Skinner went back to the streets to tell dealers to stop selling her drugs.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing; street signs and scenes of streets)

KOTB: How did you know how to be the clean up guy in that drug world?

Mr. SKINNER: Because I was once a drug dealer and I knew all the people.

KOTB: You know that world because you lived that world?

Mr. SKINNER: I lived that world.

KOTB: You can navigate through that world?

Mr. SKINNER: Totally.

KOTB: (Voiceover) In this letter to the singer, Skinner writes that he silenced a drug dealer who talked about her in the tabloids. 'You didn't need this problem. I took care of it.' So why is this man suddenly airing all this dirty laundry in public? Well, this may explain it. A lawsuit. In September 2002, her father's company filed a $100 million suit claiming Whitney didn't pay him and his business partner for their services. Yes, that is father suing daughter. Now increasingly ill, he even scolded her on TV.

(Skinner talking on phone; legal papers; John Houston; Whitney)

Mr. JOHN HOUSTON: ("Celebrity Justice) You get your act together and you pay me the money that you owe me.

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

KOTB: (Voiceover) So what does the diva have to say about all of this? In legal filings, she dismissed Kevin as a hanger-on, arguing she had no business with him. And as for her father, her lawyers argue that the advice she took from him was as "Daddy." And perhaps father and daughter would have been able to resolve this matter, but this February John Houston passed away. Whitney paid her final respects privately at his open casket, but did not attend his funeral.

(Legal papers; video excerpt of Whitney singing; photo of Whitney and parents; photos of John's funeral; video excerpt of Whitney singing)

Ms. WILKERSON: My sense is that the last two years have probably been among the most difficult in maybe her entire life.

KOTB: Two years of fending off rumors and allegations of drug use, insisting she is not an addict. And according to new reports, she is taking control of her life, not in rehab but through her faith. So perhaps that's why she decided to go to Israel.

Prince ASIEL: I wanted to make myself and the community accessible to her, her husband and her family.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Prince Asiel is the African Hebrew Israelite's liaison in the States, and two years ago he approached the star.

(Whitney and Prince Asiel in Israel)

Prince ASIEL: One of the things we decided to do is not let there be anymore Billie Hollidays or John Coltranes, meaning these great genius entertainers who have to go out because they're isolated and the whole question of drug abuse comes up.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Can you and this community really rehabilitate somebody who has a drug problem?

(Ammi greeting Whitney in Israel)

Mr. BEN AMMI: I would like to respond to that in the affirmative and in the absolute.

KOTB: (Voiceover) And we're going to share with you the ceremony the community prepared for her, a spiritual highlight that would cleanse the star and bring her to tears.

(Whitney, Brown and others at River Jordan)

Announcer: A trip to the River Jordan and an emotional outpouring. Could it mark a new beginning? When Whitney Houston: Diva in the Desert continues.

(Announcements)

KOTB: (Voiceover) On August 9th, Whitney turned 40. There was a party planned for her in Atlanta where she and husband Bobby Brown now reside. From 10 PM on patrons could pay $50 to celebrate with Whitney. But would she bother to show up?

(People at Whitney's birthday celebration)

Ms. WILLIAMS: (On radio) And you're going to be 40 this year, right?

Ms. HOUSTON: (On radio) Oh, tell the world, why don't you. Oh, you lowdown dirty dog.

Mr. HARVEY GLEN (Event Promoter): It's 11:15 right now. It's not cool to be early or on time. It's called fashionably late.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Yes, still no birthday girl. And by midnight guests are starting to leave, including Whitney's cousin Dionne Warwick. The evening seems to be turning into yet another Whitney no-show episode.

(People at birthday celebration; people leaving birthday celebration; Dionne Warwick leaving)

Mr. GLEN: It's a quarter to one and Whitney's just leaving the house. So we don't know how long that will be.

KOTB: (Voiceover) An hour after her birthday has passed, Whitney finally arrives.

(Whitney arriving at birthday celebration)

Ms. HOUSTON: Yo!

Offscreen Voice #6: How do you feel about turning 40?

Ms. HOUSTON: Wonderful.

KOTB: (Voiceover) But many of her friends are not there. They didn't leave hours ago, they've been gone for years, pushed away by her behavior.
[Note: Whitney is still in touch with her friends.]

(Video excerpt of Whitney singing)

Mr. WHALUM: To see her go through those kinds of changes, I mean, that was--that was just difficult.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Kurt Whalum, here at the Arista concert, was once her trusted sax player.

(Whalum and Whitney performing)

Mr. WHALUM: The paradox is that inside her you know there's this wounded little girl and it's the individual that I would like to talk to.

KOTB: Why not pick up the phone and say, 'Whitney, I need to talk to you.'

Mr. WHALUM: Because you cannot get through.

KOTB: (Voiceover) His only way to connect to her now is through the music they once performed together.

(Whalum playing his sax)

KOTB: You close your eyes when you play, huh?

Mr. WHALUM: When you close your eyes, then you're closer to her. So maybe she should close her eyes more.

KOTB: Back here in Israel, Whitney Houston was about to do something she had only done once before in her life. The first time was in New Jersey. This time in the Jordan River. And this is the stuff of gospel music.

(Voiceover) The African Israelites took Whitney to be baptized in the river where tradition has it John baptized Christ himself.

(Whitney and others at river; plaque)

Prince ASIEL: A spiritually rooted person dipping in this historical body of water, it touches them to realize they are now standing in the water that Jesus stood in.

KOTB: (Voiceover) Yes, she is on a cell phone. Prince Asiel, her African Israelite host says she called her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston.

(Whitney talking on cell phone at the River Jordan)

Prince ASIEL: 'Hallelujah. I want to call my momma. Cissy, you ain't going to believe it. I'm in the Jordan River. Hallelujah.'

KOTB: (Voiceover) It has been a long journey for the Jersey girl from New Hope Baptist Church.

(Video excerpt of Whitney and Brown singing)

Ms. HOUSTON: I'm not Nippy anymore, I'm Whitney. That's funny, you know, I--I used to be able to go to church and I was like every other kid.

KOTB: (Voiceover) And here she is still growing up at 40.

(Whitney and others at River Jordan)

Ms. WILLIAMS: You know what my birthday wish is for Whitney Houston? That she drops every last person and leaves it a party of one, her. Because she is the only one who can clean herself up.

Mr. PARISH: (Voiceover) Well, she could become a major artist again, because the voice seems to still be there.

(Whitney and others at River Jordan)

TOURE: She's doing something that 99 percent of the globe cannot do, and we are marveling at that.

Mr. WHALUM: I want to say allow God to really do what he started. I want to see you happy, I want to see you healthy.

KOTB: (Voiceover) A rebirth in Israel, a birthday in Atlanta. Forty years old, she is still one step from the edge but also still just a step from greatness. And even if this trip didn't solve all her problems, at least she says it inspired her. She's heading back to the studio to record her first Christmas album.

(Whitney and others at River Jordan)

Ms. HOUSTON: You lose a little bit of love along the way. You kind of get hard a little bit, you know. You got to get a little firm and stiff, you know, so that you can take the blows, you know, and kind of bounce off of them and come back, you know? If you don't, they'll kill you and you just die, and that's not me.

PHILLIPS: We should mention that we wanted to talk to Whitney Houston for our report tonight. Our requests for an on camera interview were declined. Her representatives also chose not to comment on the record. As for the music industry, several insiders told us at 40 Whitney Houston's future as a pop star may have dimmed, but maturing as an artist could take her in any number of new directions, and they say given her talent, Whitney Houston's best work may still be ahead of her.