Next Chapter | Cissy Houston (FULL EPISODE) - Video Dailymotion
Ah. So it was this month a year ago (February 11, 2012) that Whitney Houston died. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, people often wonder why celebrities get so much "hype" about them. Well, they're celebrities. I guess, by definition, whatever they do, "hype" surrounds them. So when they die, wow. But celebrity or not, nowadays, dying at 48 years old is fairly unusual. That's considered "young". And Whitney was only 48. Young.
The reason it has significance to me, is because, for a number of years, I was in the employ of Whitney Houston. That is, I worked for her. She signed my paycheck. I saw her, I saw her family... I know her family... I know a few things that the general, adoring public does not know...
When I see these folks on TV, like her mother, Mrs. Houston, in this Oprah interview (and that's how I generally referred to her, Mrs. Houston), and her brother Michael on TV sitting for interviews with the "biggies" like Oprah, I think... wow, did I really know them? Meaning, was I, little ol' me, a part of these people's lives??? 'Cause, they are celebrities... Whitney Houston was one of the BIGGEST ("hypest") celebs in the modern day!! Yep. I know them...
Her persona influenced my life every single day... 24/7, Whitney Houston was in my brain. Because I worked for her. So, Monday through Friday, I saw images of her, heard her voice... thought and spoke her name several times a day. And on weekends, or any day I was NOT working, well, she was "Whitney Houston: MegaStar", so her songs were being played on the radio and interviews, as well as her image were being recorded or televised or printed... Every day, everywhere... So, yes, after I left being in her employ (which has been more than double the amount of years I worked for her) yes, I still stop and listen to everything Whitney. Before her death, after her death...
I don't know if I am any different from my co-workers at the time. I wonder if they feel the same way. I am in touch with a couple of them. Maybe I'll ask them one day.
What I do know is, I am still genuinely and deeply saddened that Whitney Houston died. I was genuinely and deeply saddened that smoking and drugs had taken her voice away many moons ago. I sometimes wonder if she was genuinely and deeply saddened at her choices... and if so, if that's what kept her gripped by drugs -- the sadness of ruining her gift... Maybe I'm superimposing my thoughts into her departed psyche... you think?!
(Sigh...) Whitney. Nippy... Well, thank goodness I live in the age of recordings. I, we... we ALL will still be able to hear your liquid voice. And many of us will still remember all that you gave the world. You gave an awful lot, Miss Whitney. You sure did.
