The Primetime Special Edition interview was made to promote the album Just Whitney which was released in December 2002. The Interview aired on Wednesday Dec 4th 2002 on ABC. Whitney was interviewd by Diane Sawyer about the accusations, cancellations, standing Ovations. All the rumors and her very personal new music. Everything you want to know and you can watch it here on TheWhitneyVault just scroll down.

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Transcript

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS
(Voice Over) A very special “Primetime.” Whitney Houston, speaking out at
last.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) I’m going to show you the picture.

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER

Oh, yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) That anorexia, bulimia, that it’s because of drugs?

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED) (Voice Over) Her fans were frightened for her life.
Tonight, the rumors, the accusations, no question off limits.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills? All?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah, I’ll grant you, I partied.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Whitney dying. Crack rehab fails.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

First of all, let’s get one thing straight, crack is cheap. I make too much
money to ever smoke crack.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) She is perhaps the greatest voice of her generation.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) Back with her first original album in four years. Where has she
been? What about the cancellations? And her turbulent marriage to singer Bobby
Brown? He talks.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) Have you ever hit her?

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) And so does she.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) And this is forever.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

That’s what I said. Didn’t you?

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Tonight, Whitney Houston, on everything from the early days to
her father’s $100 million lawsuit against his daughter. A “Primetime” exclusive,
one night only. Whitney Houston as you’ve never seen her before.

ANNOUNCER

From ABC News, this is a special edition of “Primetime,” with Diane Sawyer
and Charles Gibson. Tonight, Whitney Houston. Now, from Times Square in New
York, Diane Sawyer.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Good evening. Charlie’s off tonight, as we welcome you to this
special edition of “Primetime,” a “Primetime” exclusive. Whitney Houston at
last. After years now of rumors and silence on her part, she’s going to talk
about the cancellations, erratic behavior, her explosive marriage, and the
headlines that she was near death because of drug use, or partying, as she
calls it. And after all, for nearly 20 years, the girl with the voice on fire
has fascinated us. Her 170 million records sold, six Grammys, two Emmys. Recently,
her hit “I Will Always Love You” voted the top love song of all time. Well,
now she has her first original album in four years hitting the stores next
week. And so, tonight, we traveled to her new home in Atlanta. She’s just
moving in. Where Whitney Houston not only shows up, but opens up about it
all.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) Even if you couldn’t see her, the voice alone could stop your
heart.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) And then open your eyes.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) Whitney Houston, the beautiful girl who doesn’t just sing the
ballads, but tear them from her soul.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) For half her lifetime, she’s been at the scalding center of the
spotlight. Intense, complicated, edgy, and then, in recent years, with a series
of high profile cancellations, it looked as if she might also be losing control.
The last time most of us saw her, the Michael Jackson concert. We gasped at
the skeletal frame that walked on to the stage. And the woman who seemed to
sing to us from the doorway to death. So when we arrived for the interview,
we didn’t know what we’d find. We were told she was suffering from laryngitis
because she’d been traveling, just back from Los Angeles. But like everyone
else, most of all, we wondered how frail she would look when she walked in
the room.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) You know that as we sit here and talk . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Everybody watching this . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Is going to be staring at you, physically.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And they’re going to be saying, how thin is she now?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) How, how many bones can we see? Is she sick? And how sick is
she?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I’m not sick, Diane. I am not sick. Let’s get that straight. I’m not sick.
Okay? I’ve always been a thin girl. I’m not going to be fat, ever. Let’s get
that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever. Okay?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) The Michael Jackson VH-1 appearance. I’m going to show you the
picture.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Well, that’s a bad shot.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Well, it may be a bad shot, but this is real. I mean, the, the
bones. That’s real.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah, my bones, yeah. I’m, I’m 5’7″ and thin. I can understand what you mean.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But that’s not just thin.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No? What is it, Diane, tell me. Do you know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) It’s scary thin.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I can believe what you, what you feel. I can believe that. But do you really
know? Do you really know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) No, you know.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Thank you.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Anorexia?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No way.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) They’ve written it.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No way.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Bulimia.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No way.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) That it’s because of drugs.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. Mm mm. Now, I’ll grant you, I partied. But there were times when I know
I was going through a lot of emotional stress and my eating habits were awful.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Whitney dying, crack rehab fails.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Crack is cheap. I make too much
money to ever smoke crack. Let’s get that straight. Okay? We don’t do crack.
We don’t do that. Crack is whack.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Which raises the question, what drugs has she done and how deep
did they take her? Later on in this hour, we’ll have a long conversation about
drug use. And the path that brought her here, nearly 40 years after she was
born to the sound of music in Newark, New Jersey. Houston’s mother is gospel
and blues great Cissy Houston, who was also the choir minister at New Hope
Baptist Church, where the congregation was the first to hear the little girl
with the great big gift.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Could you see the reaction on everybody’s faces when you sang?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

You know what I used to do, Diane? I would close my eyes like this, and I’d
sing. I was so afraid when I’d sing. Then when I would open my eyes, the people
would be what we call Holy Ghost fired out. They would be in such, spirit
of praise, I think I knew then that it was an infectious thing that God had
given me.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) By the age of 17, Houston was auditioning for studios, when the
powerful head of Arista, Clive Davis, heard her singing at a nightclub, and
became the controlling force in her life, choosing her music, crafting her
image, and giving her the confidence that made her a star. In 1983, her appearance
on “The Merv Griffin Show” would change her life. And she was only 19.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I’ll never forget. I sang “Home,” the song “Home.”

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And soon, she became the biggest-selling debut female debut artist
in history.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) At 21, got her first Grammy award. Her mom beams and the presenter
is none other than her famous cousin, Dionne Warwick.

DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER

Whitney Houston.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And the girl with the voice on fire still loves to sing, this
is from her new album.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) She says somewhere along the way, the thousands and thousands
of appearances around the world began to take their toll.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) While most musicians cancel some of the time, hers always make
headlines. She says sometimes it happens because of her fear of disappointing
her fans, who always expect a perfect voice. Then there’s her emotional reaction
to stress, even though everyone seems to think it’s all about drugs.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. It wasn’t always about the drug. I would stay in my room for days, for
days at times, just trying to get it together, to know what my next phase
was going to be.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) In the mid-’90s, you said “I feel old.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah, like I’ve been through a world, a lifetime of stuff.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And that it just wasn’t any fun anymore.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Mm mm. No. I enjoy what I do. I love to sing, but it’s just not fun anymore.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Because?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

People are different in the industry. It’s about the money. It’s about, get
it fast.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you think you’re not tough enough for this business?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Oh, I’m tough enough.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) That was a quick answer.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I mean, I’ve lasted this long. You’ve got to be tough.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) I want to ask you about the cancellations.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Did they tell you how many? Do you know how many? Look at my record, see the
concerts I’ve done, and see how many I’ve canceled in the 17 years of my career,
and add it up.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But when you read the articles and people talk as if you’re just
impossible, ’cause you may show, you may not show.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Not true. Not true. Not true. Not true.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But there’s some high profile things you didn’t show for.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

True.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) For instance, not showing up for a tribute to her old mentor,
Clive Davis, after he’d been forced out of Arista, leaving her on her own.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I cried. I cried. They just all of a sudden just say one day he’s not there.
He’s gone. That hurt, a lot.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But not showing up for Clive.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Oh, yeah, that was between him and I. We won’t discuss it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But what about the most famous no-show of all, at the 2000 Oscars,
reportedly after botching her songs during rehearsal?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Okay, the Academy Awards.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Okay. I was fired from the gig. I didn’t mind. I really didn’t want to do
it anyway. But I’m, I was past that, I’m past that, and it’s over now.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Why were you fired?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Because I was not getting along with the guy that was directing the whole
thing. Who I’ve known since I was a kid.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) I think you said laryngitis at the time. I don’t think that’s
what you said.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

It was, it was my, I had bronchitis. I asked him for just a day, just to get
it together. And I was kind of pissed off, and I had an attitude about it.
And rightfully so. You know, I should not have been on the show, and they
fired me. And that was it. And I went home.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And that’s all there was?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

That I can remember.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) People were saying that sometimes you just didn’t, you didn’t
seem there.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Really?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Yeah.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Probably, that probably was it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Once more, she says a lot of it is emotional turmoil, and explains
what she calls her physical reaction to stress.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I’m the kind of person, if, if I have a day that is nerve-wracking, or my
week has been bad or something’s going down, I won’t eat. Some people eat,
I don’t eat. And it shows in my physical frame.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Can I ask how much you weigh now?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Sure.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) How much do you weigh now?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I ain’t telling you.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) I think I got just sucker-punched. Do you work at it now? To
keep your weight up?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. You know what?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Yeah, but if people are going to be looking, and people are going
to be pointing.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

But they always have. From the moment I stepped out there. They always have.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And looking back, the do you apologize, do you want them to .
. .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah, there are things I apologize for. But the things I apologize for, like
my concert dates, those are things I apologize for, because the people really
matter to me. They matter to me. And I know they came out to see me. And I
apologize for that. I’ll make it up to you.

ANNOUNCER

In a moment, the truth about her drug use.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) How scared did you get?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Scared.

ANNOUNCER

And the truth about her marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Has he ever hit you?

ANNOUNCER

When “Primetime” continues.

commercial break

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Someone said every marriage is a foreign country. But for those
looking on, few marriages have seemed more mysteriously tempestuous than that
of Whitney Houston to high voltage singer Bobby Brown. He, right off the mean
streets of Boston, she, the high-gloss beauty, who broke racial barriers,
not just in music, but in Hollywood, too.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) It was 1992 when “The Bodyguard” made Whitney Houston a stunning
pioneer. Kevin Costner chose her to be his romantic counterpart in the movie,
a love affair on screen that had nothing to do with or even mentioned race.
The movie made a staggering $400 million, and an unacknowledged barrier fell
down, arguably paving the way for romantic leads by other African-American
stars.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) You said you were scared to death on “The Bodyguard.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Scared to death. Terribly frightened. I mean, Kevin Costner. I said, why me?
He said, because you’re the only one that can sing.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) She says it was her husband who pulled her through.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I’d wake up in the morning and I’d go, “I can’t do this. This is too much
for me. Bobby, I’m going to quit today, okay, I’m gonna quit.” He said, “No
way are you going to do that. If you quit now, you’re going to blame me for
the rest of my life. You’re going to do this movie and you’re going to do
it well. You can’t quit now. You can’t turn back.”

MALE ONE, PREACHER

To love and to cherish.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

To love and to cherish.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) You’re looking at their wedding videos, never before seen publicly.
Whitney Houston, regal queen of soulful pop, marrying Bobby Brown, streetwise
star of a raunchy brand of R&B.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

With this ring, I thee wed.

MALE ONE

I now pronounce you husband and wife.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) She in her $40,000 wedding dress, 800 guests, and a lot of people
around the country wondering, why him?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

We did it.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

You just never pictured Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston together. Who did?
Love is where you find it. It’s where you find it, and I found it in him,
and he found it in me.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Brown, a kid from the rough part of Boston, first became a star
with New Edition.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Then, he had five number one hits as a solo act, with his own
signature dancing.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) They met at a party.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

He was sexy, smooth, a gentleman, and a nice guy, contrary to popular belief.
A very nice guy. Treated me like a lady. We’re, we’re opposites in so many
ways, but we’re so much alike.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) How are you alike?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

He’s family oriented, I am. And they didn’t give us six minutes to last. We’ve
gone ten years.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But there’s also been a decade of headlines for this marriage,
reports of jealousy, rumors that he hit her. And then his drug use, in and
out of rehab, and court, and prison, while she runs to his side.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) On the way down here, a flight attendant came up to me and said,
“I’d just like to ask her why she stays with him. Why doesn’t she just leave
him?”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Well, I’d like to ask her why she stays with her man. I’d like to know how
her utopia is, then we can talk.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Has he ever hit you?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No, he’s never hit me, no. I’ve hit him, in anger.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) They have separated twice, but always come back to each other.
And some people have worried that it’s because he has a controlling hold on
her, stemming from the days when Houston was under fire from black critics,
who accused her of selling out, of being too white.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) At the 1989 Soul Train Awards, a black audience briefly booed
her name.

FEMALE ONE, AWARDS ANNOUNCER

“Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” Whitney Houston.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) So the critics say Brown gave her street credibility, though
it does seem at times she goes out of her way to defer to him, even when she
won her 2000 Grammy for best R&B performance.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

And honey, this one’s for you, the original R&B king. I love you. This for
y’all.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Come back to the feeling that people have, that your husband
is controlling, and that you can’t get away from it any more than an abused
wife can get away from it. Because you can’t see it. It’s a magnet that pulls
you back.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

The magnet that they’re talking about is my love and my protection for him.
I cannot say that there wasn’t a time where, yeah, it was like that. You know?
But I was new at it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) When?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Five, four, five years ago. You know? I was that wife that wanted to be there,
to make sure, you know, everything was cool and that, you know, no other women
were around and, da-da-da-da-da-da, ba-ba-ba- ba-ba. This is my first love,
remember. I had never really ever been in love with anybody like I was in
love with Bobby, so I went through all the changes that any girl would go
through, you know? I did. I did. But I’m older and I’m wiser now. I’m wiser
about it. He can go away and I’m fine. I can go away and he’s fine. It’s not
the Svengali tactic anymore.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Once somebody’s done that, though, it is hard to let go.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I don’t want to let go of him.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) No, it’s hard to let go of . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

He doesn’t want to let go of me.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) A Svengali relationship.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I did with Clive.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) At this point, someone has slipped into the room, sitting on
the sofa, listening. It’s Bobby Brown, hearing me ask if he’s jealous of her.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) True? Not true?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Sometimes.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) She says sometimes, but from the sofa, he says, “Never.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

But sometimes I am of him.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Come over here. Come over here. I can’t do this anymore. You
have to come over here.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) Time to talk together about this famously turbulent marriage.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) But why is it so turbulent?

BOBBY BROWN, SINGER

I think marriage is turbulent you know? We’re just in the public eye. You
know? A lot of people, you know, that are married go through worse problems
than us.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Have you ever hit her?

BOBBY BROWN

No, no, no, no, no, no. I wouldn’t, I would never.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

What does, what is this hitting me business?

BOBBY BROWN

I have four sisters. Four aunts, a mother. You know? Two daughters. I would
never raise my hands in, in any kind of way to them. I love, I love the beauty
of woman. And this is mine. No, no, no. Now, I admit, I’m, I’m, you know,
I’m a wild guy. You know, sometimes, you know. I like all the attention. You
know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Does it bother you when she gets all the attention?

BOBBY BROWN

No, that doesn’t, at all.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Yeah, but you’re in the same business. How do you not compare?

BOBBY BROWN

No, but, but she’s, she’s a female. And no one can touch me as an entertainer.
No one. You know, so I don’t worry about that.

BOBBY BROWN

I know no one can touch her as Whitney Houston. Her voice, no one can outsing
her, you know, no one can outperform her, no one. So she has her part and
I have my part, and you know, that’s what makes it easy.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

We share that.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And they also share the notoriety about his drug use. He has
admitted that he’s an alcoholic.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

And it’s hard, because we’re rock ‘n’ rollers, man, I mean . . .

BOBBY BROWN

That’s the life we live here, you know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And this is the Atlanta courtroom where, just last week, a judge
refused to throw out six year-old charges against Brown for speeding and driving
without a license. While, in fact, the morning we arrived, he’d been arrested
again for the same thing, and this time, with marijuana in the car.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Tell me about you and drugs.

BOBBY BROWN

Me and drugs, we’re not friends. We’re not friends at all. I used to, I used
to smoke a lot of marijuana, a lot.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But marijuana is still in your life?

BOBBY BROWN

Yeah, because I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m the type of person that I’m a very high,
high, high-strung person. I’m bipolar. It seems to help me from going up and
down.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) You’re diagnosed bipolar?

BOBBY BROWN

I’m, I’m diagnosed bipolar. And it helps me to keep, keep, keep the, keep
a level in my life, you know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But is there lithium? Did you get it treated?

BOBBY BROWN

I can’t take lithium. Lithium has me like this.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

He was catatonic. You know, it took him to, like, his spirit was dead, you
know.

BOBBY BROWN

Every now and then, you know, I smoke a joint. Every now and then, you know.
It’s not an everyday thing. It’s maybe every other day. But it’s not an everyday
thing. But it, it, it keeps, it keeps, it keeps me calm.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) What about other drugs?

BOBBY BROWN

No. No. I never have. Never have and never will. That’s, that’s another thing
that used to get me so mad. I heard about . . .

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Yeah, they said you tested for cocaine.

BOBBY BROWN

But I tested, I tested for, I tested for a, a substance like cocaine, which
can be anything. It could be an aspirin. It could be a valium. It could be
anything. But it was not cocaine in my system. And this is what I know.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Hey, baby.

BOBBY BROWN

It has been ten years since we’ve been married, right? They didn’t think we
was going to make it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) On her new album, she has a duet with Brown, it’s called “My
Love.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I’ve learned so much from him as an artist.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) What have you learned?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

How to move, to be more fluid.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Free.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Free. You know what I mean? Don’t be so constrained. Nothing’s perfect. Nothing’s
perfect.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And this is forever?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

That’s what I said. That’s what I said. Didn’t you?

ANNOUNCER

Living the life of a star.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

My business is sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, you know?

ANNOUNCER

Until she was overwhelmed by the dark side of fame.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you think of yourself as an addict?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I don’t like to think of myself addicted. I like to think of, I had a bad
habit.

ANNOUNCER

When “Primetime” returns.

commercial break

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Now, we’re back with Whitney Houston, and the topic is drugs.
Questions about addiction, recovery, and how close she really came to that
shadowland between living and dying. When we arrived at the interview, we
had no idea if she would answer any questions at all on the topic. Right away,
she made it clear that her partying, as she calls it, is not about anyone
else. It’s her journey, her struggle.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

My business is sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll. You know? I mean, my friends, we
have a good time. But as you get older, you get wiser. You know? You stop
a lot of the kid stuff. I had no time to grow up, had no time to party. I
didn’t even date in my, date in my 20s. It was rough. It was rough. I think
I kind of reverted back as I got older. And I said, well I’m just gonna party,
you know? It was kind of a rebel in me, you know?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Did you think how dangerous it was?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. I wasn’t, I wasn’t like shooting heroin or anything.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) This says $730,000 drug habit. This is a headline.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Come on, 730? I wish. No. I wish that was making that money off of me, you
could share it with me. No, no way. I want to see the receipts. From the drug
dealer that I bought $730,000 worth of drugs from. I want to see the receipts.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

It has been. At times.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) All?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

At times.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) If you had to name the devil for you, the biggest devil among
them?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

That would be me. It’s my deciding, it’s my heart, it’s what I want. And what
I don’t want. Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to do. It’s my decision.
So the biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy. And
that’s how I have to deal with it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you think of yourself as an addict?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I am addicted to a few things.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Like?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Making love. I don’t like to think of myself addicted. I like to think of,
I had a bad habit, which can be broken.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But it’s hard. In 1999, her mother, blues singer Cissy Houston,
tried to intervene, after reports that Whitney and Bobby had a wild fight
in a hotel room.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

And she gets in my door, there’s some people I want you to meet. I said, mommy,
you’ve raised me with the love, and with God. Now, if I can’t make it with
you and with the love of God, I’m not putting my, my, my life in someone else’s
hands. I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it. And nobody else, I don’t care where
they’re from, what counsel service, or whatever they’re from, if you did this
to me, I will go and leave the country, take Krissy with me, and we’ll just
go. And I was very serious. And she said, everybody leave, please. Wait a
minute. Because she’s serious.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But flash forward. It didn’t work. Here is September, 2001. Again,
the night of the Michael Jackson concert. Whitney Houston insists that the
story of that period in her life is not just one of drugs. She says she was
upset about the plane crash that had just killed the young singer, Aaliyah.
And then, there’s the ongoing pressure of that career.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But tell me about you that night. First of all, had you been
partying? Is that part of it?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Was I, I can’t say it was like an everyday kind of thing, yeah. I hung out
with some friends and I partied.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Did it seem to ease the pressure? Did it quiet the voice in your
head?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Seemed.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Seemed?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Seemed, yes.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But there she is, skin and bones, in photos taken live that night,
even though by the time the tape of the show was broadcast on television,
Houston had been electronically fattened up. Pounds had been added to her
frame.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) Did you see that they took electronic devices and changed it
for the air?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

They did it for me and a few other people.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Other people, too? Other people, yes? Because that sparked that
whole thing, when the headlines were saying “Whitney is dying.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. “Whitney was dead.”

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And Houston says something in those headlines brought her to
a turning point. Other people looking at her forced her to look at herself.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) How scared did you get?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Scared. When they said that I had died, I did, I changed my mind. I changed
my mind. Yep. Because I didn’t want to look like the rest of them. I didn’t
want to be like them. It frightened me. I don’t ever want to be in the realm
of, where I’m caught in a mold and I can’t get out. Never. That’s over. I’m
beyond it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you think you came close?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I think as close as anybody, I think, can get. I know folks who have come
closer. But that’s as close as I want to be. That’s as close as I think it
gets.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And how sure are you that those bad days you talked about are
behind you?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I know that I’m on the right path, because I’m back home where I started,
in here. I can’t tell you it’s all going to be perfect, Diane, and I can’t
say . . .

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Yeah, because every, everybody says it’s day by day, day by day.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But now do you say, not at all, or do you say, I can . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Well, I’m not going to tell you that. I can tell you that I am not self-destructive.
I’m not a person who wants to die. I’m a person who has life, who wants to
live. And I always have. And I wouldn’t mistake it for anything else other
than that.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Are you strong enough to do that now?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I think so.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And not let it get you?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Mm hmm. Yes, I am.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) ‘Cause most people . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I pray everyday that I am. I’m not the strongest everyday, but I’m not the
weakest, either. And I won’t break. And I won’t break.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Is today a good day?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Today’s a great day. It’s a blessed day.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) No temptations today?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I have a few temptations, but it’s not about drugs, it’s about kicking ass,
but, you know.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Mine?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

No. This is a blessing.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) But we kept wondering how hard will it be for her to change her
life when drug use is so close in those she loves, not only her husband, her
two brothers have each been caught with cocaine and marijuana. And this past
May, her cousin, Dionne Warwick, stopped at an airport with marijuana, too.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Your cousin.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Jesus.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Your cousin did.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Very isolated incidents. One had nothing to do with the other.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And even though she’s not in conventional rehab, Houston insists
that today in Atlanta, she’s surrounded by something just as strong, a prayer
partner, Perry Nixon(PH) She calls her Sister Perry. And her belief in a higher
being, who she says rescues those who need help.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I talk to people who have been through rehab, and a lot of people that come
through it, come through it with God. They tell you in a rehab that 90 percent
of you are gonna return. That’s not nice. That’s not nice. So what I did is
I looked in my soul to see what was missing.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So for the people out there who say we want to help, we want
to help build a barrier between her and drugs, what do you want them to pray
for?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Don’t pray about the drugs. Leave the drugs alone.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Why? Why?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Don’t, don’t, pray for me, as a person, for my soul, that I’m stronger. And
man, I don’t care what anybody else says or did or what they claimed I was,
I know I’m a child of God, and I know He loves me. Jesus loves me, this I
know. Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And when we come back, why did her father bring a $100 million
lawsuit against her? And his daughter dissolves in tears.

commercial break

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) As we said, Whitney Houston’s new album, “Just Whitney,” comes
out next week, and it’s a new chapter in her life. In the past two years,
she’s not only lost her mentor, Clive Davis, she became estranged from her
oldest friend, and then from her father. As so often in her life before, song
is mixed with sadness, pain mixed with joy.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) That voice, someone said once it’s a Stradivarius among ordinary
violins. As we said, this is her first album without the man who molded her,
Clive Davis, this one, supervised by the new head of Arista, LA Reid. Even
though the day we talked, as we said, she had a case of laryngitis, she said
her voice in the music is the portrait of a woman 19 years into stardom and
100 years wiser. But as her mother once said, singing is one thing, the music
business is another. It can bruise relationships, even with old friends like
Robyn Crawford, friend and employee. Once so close to her, Houston had to
deny rumors the two of them were gay. She still denies the rumors and says
Crawford left two years ago, after arguing with Bobby Brown about who should
advise Houston.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

There isn’t competition. There’s no competition. That’s my husband. If you
want to be my friend, let’s remain friends. If you can’t handle that, sorry.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And in the pause, a message for Crawford.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

And I love ya.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And then, last September, the biggest blow of all, Houston’s
father, who managed his daughter’s finances, joined his business partner in
a lawsuit against her, demanding $100 million for management help, they say,
during her troubles, and in getting her a big new contract with Arista.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Your father’s filing suit against you, $100 million. Do you feel
betrayed?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

It hurts. They’ll never get $100 million out of me. I know that.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But they claim that you haven’t paid them for things they did,
like . . .

WHITNEY HOUSTON

They were never hired. But I won’t get into it.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Can you talk to him? What has he said to you?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

My father is, 81, very sick. His health is failing. Somebody is, who my father’s
associated with, has put fear in his heart, as if he’s not my father and I’m
not his daughter.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you still love him?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Absolutely. He gave me life. Before all of this, there were years that I can’t
forget. The bad part about it is that it’s about money, and that really sucks.
That’s, that hurts more than anything.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) When you think it’s the dad who dressed you and walked you down
the aisle, what are you thinking?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

That moment. Can I stop, please?

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Sure.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Thanks. I’ll be back.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Sure.

ANNOUNCER

The daughter who gives Whitney the strength to fight her battles, ahead.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Do you like to sing?

BOBBI KRISTINA, DAUGHTER

Yes.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Would you like it?

BOBBI KRISTINA

Yes, and I want to be like my mommy and daddy.

ANNOUNCER

And the dreams for the future. When “Primetime” returns.

commercial break

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And now, someone we told you you’d get a chance to meet. You
may have heard in the past about Whitney Houston’s difficult pregnancies,
her miscarriages. But then, almost ten years ago, she gave birth to a little
girl. And she and Bobby Brown say Bobbi Kristina is the happiest music in
their lives.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Early in the morning, she and I would have private time together when nobody’s
around. And I’ll sneak up to her room, about 6:00, and I’ll get in the bed
with her and I’ll say, okay, we gotta get up in a little while. And I’ll rub
her stomach, wake the stomach up, wake up your back, wake up the mind, wake
up the, you know, body. And talk.

BOBBI KRISTINA

You know, the perfect thing is like, on, like, a Sunday or something like
that, when we like, like, sit and, you know, we get to watch TV or like, listen
to gospel music or have breakfast together.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And what do you like about your mom’s voice?

BOBBI KRISTINA

I like her voice because it’s really nice and it makes me go to sleep.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) She sings you lullabies?

WHITNEY HOUSTON

I love you, I love you.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Ten years from now, give me the perfect life for Whitney Houston.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

Retired. Sitting, looking at my daughter grow up, become a great woman of
God, grandchildren.

DIANE SAWYER

(Voice Over) And perhaps, some measure of peace for Whitney Houston, a woman
whose ethereal talent is matched only by the uncertainties of her all too
human life.

WHITNEY HOUSTON

This is my time, now. You know, love me or leave me. But love me, ’cause I
love you.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And next Tuesday morning, Whitney Houston sings in concert on
“Good Morning America.” And you can find more of my interview with
Whitney Houston at abcnews.com.

News Articles

From Billboard.com

- Dec. 3 – Whitney Houston Acknowledges Drug Abuse – Whitney Houston admits she’s abused drugs in the past, but says she’s gotten beyond that experience through prayer. The Grammy-winning singer also discusses the pressures of stardom and her decade-long marriage to fellow performer Bobby Brown in an interview with Diane Sawyer on “Primetime,” scheduled to air at 9 p.m. EST tomorrow (Dec. 4) on ABC.

When Sawyer asks her, “Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?” Houston responds, “It has been at times.” “All?” Sawyer asks. “At times,” Houston says. “Uh-hm.”

The 39-year-old concedes she’s “addicted to a few things.” “Making love,” Houston says. “I don’t like to think of myself addicted. I like to think … I had a bad habit … which can be broken.”

Houston’s shockingly thin frame at last year’s Michael Jackson tribute sparked reports that she was ill, which she vehemently denies. She also says she’s not anorexic or bulimic. “Let’s get that straight. I am not sick. OK?” she says. “I’ve always been a thin girl. I am not going to be fat, ever. Let’s get that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever.”

Brown also appears in the interview, and says he’s frequently used marijuana because he’s been diagnosed as bipolar. The 33-year-old was arrested last month in Atlanta on drug and traffic charges. “Me and drugs. We’re not friends. We’re not friends at all,” Brown says. “I’m a very high-strung person. … [Marijuana] seems to help me … from going up and down.”

Houston says she’s done partying now, and has found strength through daily prayer. Her new Arista album, “Just Whitney,” is due Dec. 10. “I’m not the strongest every day, but I’m not the weakest, either,” she says. “And I won’t break.”

From ETOnline.com

Whitney Houston Answers Tough Questions
WHITNEY HOUSTON comes clean in an exclusive interview with DIANE SAWYER on a special edition of “Primetime,” airing tonight on ABC at 9.

In it, the five-time Grammy Award winner reveals her complicated, tumultuous marriage to BOBBY BROWN, which is both full of love and explosive feelings. “They didn’t give us six minutes to last. We’ve gone 10 years,” she shares.

She also deals with the rumors of her drug use, her no-show appearances, the death rumors in the press, and the lawsuit filed against her by her father. “I pray every day,” she tells Sawyer. “I’m not the strongest every day, but I’m not the weakest, either. And I won’t break.”

The “Primetime” host spoke to Houston in her Atlanta home, and on tonight’s ET, we have a preview of the much-anticipated broadcast.

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: How did you find Whitney as an interviewee?

DIANE SAWYER: She is completely fascinating. This is such an emotional ride. Sometimes she seems angry; sometimes she’s tearful, and always it is a no-holds-barred, I-am-going-to-talk-to-you-about-it-all tone.

ET: Did she appear healthy to you?

DIANE: Like everybody else, we wondered what she would look like. When she walked into the room, the first thing she said to me is, “I am healthy. Whitney Houston is never going to be a fat girl, so don’t suddenly expect me to balloon up.”

ET: Does she feel like she is being attacked by the press?

DIANE: There are all these rumors, and they are not true: That the album is not going to come out; that she is not going to appear; and it is not true. Everything is on course as planned, and I think she knows to some extent, because, at least for the last few years, it’s been a constant swirl of gossip around her all the time.

ET: You hit some very tough subjects with her. First of all the MICHAEL JACKSON concert and the question of whether she was digitally enhanced?

DIANE: We talk about the Michael Jackson concert. We talk about the fact that people actually gasped when they saw her, they were so terrified, and also that she seemed to be dying. There were headlines that said “Whitney Houston is dying,” in fact, some of them said she had died. We talk about all of that.

ET: Anything on the digital enhancement?

DIANE: She knows it was digitally enhanced. She talks about the discussion beforehand and what happened.

ET: Rumored drug use?

DIANE: She talks about everything: drugs, an admittedly turbulent marriage with Bobby Brown, her health, cancellations, the rest of her life and her music.

ET: You ask her if Bobby has gone so far as to hit her.

DIANE: I ask her if he has hit her, I ask him if he has hit her. To a lot of people, they have a mysterious relationship.

ET: Does she say anything about her cancellations?

DIANE: She talks about the cancellations and the different reasons for them. There is not just one reason, and she takes us through them. She is startlingly frank about what happened beforehand and after on some of them. At one point she has an apology to make, which she makes to her fans, because the ones she regrets, she says, are the ones where the fans showed and she couldn’t be there. For that she does want to say to her fans, “I love you, I love to sing, and I will be there.”

ET: What does she say about her father and the lawsuit?

DIANE: You see how hurt she is by what her father has done with the lawsuit against her. It’s about money. At one point she is very tearful, and she gets up, and we shut the cameras down, because it is so wounding.