Whitney Houston’s estate blasted Oprah Winfrey for claiming the late singer appeared high on drugs during her final appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The pushback comes after Winfrey, while speaking at Cannes Lions, recounted Houston’s 2009 appearance on her talk show, claiming the singer relapsed and fell off the stage while under the influence of drugs. Houston died in 2012 at the age of 48 from accidental drowning.
Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s estate manager and sister-in-law, rejected that account in a statement to TMZ.
“Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but it was during a sound check, and it was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. She was absolutely not high,” she said.
“Like many people, she faced personal battles, but it is inaccurate and unfair to attach that struggle to every performance or every chapter of her life. What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent, and commitment—not the assumptions others project,” Houston continued.
She added, “Whitney’s humanity included triumphs and struggles, but on that day, she showed up as the professional and gifted artist she always worked to be. We owe her the dignity of telling the truth, not repeating myths.”
Recalling Houston’s final appearance on the program in 2009, Winfrey described a private conversation she had with the singer before the interview.
“We did the whole, ‘Hey girl, how you doing?’ greeting thing and then I stopped the cameras, and I went behind stage, and I said, ‘So tell me, what do you want to happen here? And I’m gonna tell you what I want to happen here,’” adding, “And that was one of the most powerful interviews.”
Winfrey claimed that when Houston returned to perform later, the singer had relapsed.
“I had such trust from The Oprah Show audience… I think it was her last show with us, and she had gone back on drugs,” Winfrey said. “The first interview I did with her when we’d gone behind stage and I asked her about her intention, she was clean, but the day she came to my show then to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off of the stage.”
Winfrey also said the incident was never publicly revealed at the time because she feared the fallout for Houston, explaining, “I knew that if that story got out… she would be destroyed by that.”
“And so even though the audience was there and the audience had cameras, I begged them not to put those pictures out because it would ruin her life, and they did not. That would not happen today, I can tell you that,” Winfrey said.
Houston openly discussed her addiction struggles during her 2009 interview with Winfrey, including her drug use during and after her marriage to Bobby Brown.
The singer died in February 2012. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors.
The Daily Beast has contacted a representative for Winfrey for comment.
