Three years ago in June, I sat in a cramped courthouse deliberation room with 11 strangers, attempting to decide the fate of a misdemeanor case. I Noticed the red notification light was flashing on my pink flip phone. It was my sister.
“did you hear Michael Jackson died!?”
“and Farrah Fawcet?”
“and Ed McMahon!!??”
Surely we were being punked by the media, right?
These were the days before smartphones and my blog and all that. I scoured E!Online the best I could. The deliberation took an eternity. I raced to my car and tried to find a station talking about it on my XM radio. I got home and watched coverage of the unfolding story while running on the treadmill. I felt an unexplained sense of sadness and loss for this person who I not only didn’t know, but had made fun of in the not-so-distant past.
The same feeling came over me on Saturday night, riding home from dinner, reading once, twice, three times a Breaking News retweet from my brother-in-law (we keep celebrity scooping in the family, apparently.)
I was at first stunned. Next I felt profound sadness. As the details poured from the Internet, Twitter and television, I felt pity.
Whitney Houston was found unconscious and unresponsive in her Beverly Hilton suite bathtub, just hours before she was scheduled to appear at Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party. Champagne and beer were found in her suite, along with various prescription and over-the-counter pill bottles, including Xanax and Midol – with some of the prescription medications coming from the same pharmacy linked to celebrity deaths of Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith. The unofficial report, pending toxicology results that won’t be finalized for up to 6 weeks, says Whitney died from a fatal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs.
I couldn’t help but think of how sad and unglamorous her death was — dying naked in a bathtub, alone — compared to her stunning, but short, life.
Whitney had been seen out partying in LA in the days preceding her death. At LA nightclub, she was seen disheveled and sweaty with blood dripping down her leg. She took the microphone that night to sing an impromptu performance of Jesus Loves Me. She spent a few days by the Beverly Hilton drinking poolside. She had been spotted going in and out of local doctors offices before her death Sunday.
Whitney’s death shook me mostly because her songs are the soundtrack of my young adulthood. I remember listening to The Bodyguard soundtrack on repeat and singing “One Moment in Time” with my middle school choir and going to see The Preacher’s Wife at the movie theater. Music can bring back memories easier than just about anything else.
Whitney had a pure voice — arguably one of the most beautiful voices in pop. Before Britney, Christina and Avril produced songs auto-tuned within an inch of their lives, Whitney stood on a stage and belted out magic. I hope her spirit lives on in singers like Jennifer Hudson and Adele, who also bring flawless vocals and passion to their performaces. I hope Whitney’s music is her legacy rather than her tragic and bizarre death.
RIP Whitney. I hope you’ve met Jesus and he’s as cool as you said he’d be.
Much like Clive Davis’s Grammy pre-party, the Roundup must go on.
- Want your man to look like THE GOS? Here’s a tutorial for him. You can thank me later.
- Hugh Hefner’s son Marston Hefner was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, playmate Claire Sinclair. That’ll get you uninvited to the next Playboy Bunny party.
- Oprah Winfrey came under fire after she begged her followers on Twitter (especially those with Neilsen boxes) to watch the OWN channel instead of the Grammys to boost her ratings. Wait, are we talking about OWN or Lifetime, because this sounds like the plot of an Original Movie.
- Lil’ Kim called Nicki Minaj a “Stupid H*e” after Minaj’s controversial religious-themed Grammy performance. Oh hai. Nicki Minaj is Lil’ Kim and Lady GaGa’s crazy love child.
- Jason Bateman and wife Amanda Anken welcomed a new daughter, Maple Sylie, this week. Because naming her Maple Syrup is just too weird.
- Country star Randy Travis was arrested for public intoxication after cops found him sitting in a a car in a Baptist church parking lot in the middle of the night. But officers, he was just tying one on with his good friend Jesus! Water into wine!
- Charlie Sheen, star of the upcoming television show Anger Management [Fitting!], finally dropped the nice guy act and admitted he thinks Ashton Kutcher, who replaced him in Two and a Half Men, “sucks”. And if anybody knows about things that suck, it’s Charlie Sheen.
I think the Bodygaurd soundtrack was my first CD ever. Harper Seven has way better clothes than me.
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Twitter: SurferWife
You go ahead and bite on Harper’s baby cheeks. I’ll bite on her daddy’s. (Butt cheeks)
Poor Whitney…
Maple Syrup – that is so funny, that is exactly what I thought when I first saw that too!! OH, and SW – save a nibble of that butt cheek for me…
Twitter: mytimeasmom
That little girl is so adorable! I think this is the first time I’ve seen a picture of her.
Twitter: KristenPGIP
I got so distracted after I read the name Jason Bateman that everything else was lost on me. I love him (in an innocent crush way not the stalky hide behind the bushes of the hospital while your child is being born in the rare chance of seeing him way).
Since Whitney was before his name was mentioned…oh, the heartache. So very sad!
Kristen recently posted..A Place of Calm…
Twitter: SaidKristin
This is a beautiful tribute to Whitney Houston – these were among my favorite passages:
“I couldn’t help but think of how sad and unglamorous her death was — dying naked in a bathtub, alone…” I said the same thing to my husband when that news came out – what a horrible way to die.
“…her songs are the soundtrack of my young adulthood…” They were the soundtrack to my childhood, along with Michael Jackson. I feel like I’ve watched a piece of my childhood die these last few years with both their deaths.
“I hope her spirit lives on in singers like Jennifer Hudson and Adele, who also bring flawless vocals and passion to their performances.” OMG, yes! They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.
All that said, my heart breaks for Bobbi Kristina and the life she’s had to endure with her two drug-addled parents. So even as I mourn Whitney Houston’s death, I can’t help but feel disappointed in her for asking her own child to bear that burden. Ado at The Momalog had an excellent post this week from this perspective.
The bottom line is that this woman died too soon – as both a mother and a performer with god-given talent – and that loss is tragic.
And Harper Seven’s cheeks are positively delicious! Lil’ Bit never had cheeks like that.
Twitter: jmomiller
I just think it’s insane the party went on in the hotel, while her body was still upstairs with the police! It’s so sad that she’s gone though.
Twitter: AlisonSWLee
Oh Whitney. Her songs have been playing in my head all week.
And OMG those cheeks on that Beckham girl!!
The picture of Harper Seven is so cute that I’m actually hoping she;s NOT made fun of in school. That;s just gorgeous.
Why didn’t Jason Bateman just name the kid Maple Syrup? That would have been awesome.
we’re watching the 20/20 report on whitney houston. whit was taking 2 Rxs I take. You CANT drink booze with those..EVER. ugh….so much talent lost.
Twitter: laurenweber84
Aww, love love love your tribute to Whitney. You pretty much captured my exact feelings into awesome words. You go girl!
And holy crap, that is a really cute baby! I could nibble on those cheekers too!
I remember trying to sing as good as Whitney while in my bedroom listening to The Bodyguard soundtrack! I also remember arguing with my cousins about who was better/could sing the highest… Whitney or Mariah Carey!
P.S. I love me some Randy Travis!
Twitter: JenAnnHall
Oh, alcohol was found in Whitney’s suite? I thought there wasn’t any, just the prescriptions.
That baby is ADORABLE.
They found an empty flute of champagne and an empty Heineken can with her lunch!
Twitter: kallaydoscope
I can think of nothing else but Harper’s adorable chubby little cheeks. (and those clothes!) <3
Twitter: mycrazybusylife
I was at a party last weekend when I read the news on Twitter about Whitney’s death. At first, no one believed me. Then, it spread to facebook so of course it was true then.
It didn’t really sink in what a loss it was until I started listening to the Whitney Pandora station. I started crying like a baby b/c like you said, so many of her songs are the soundtrack of our adolescence. I remember going to The Bodyguard in the theater with one of my first boyfriends.
Such an unnecessary loss.