September 15, 2009

In her most open and candid interview to date, Whitney Houston opens up with a no holds barred interview yesterday on Oprah Winfrey’s 24th season premiere. Throughout the years we have seen Whitney Houston at her highest high and at her lowest low. At her highest she was one of the world’s best voices and respected artist. At her lowest we have seen her fall victim to fame, celebrity, and all the evils that come with being in the public eye. Through it all one thing that never changed was that she always stood by her man.

In the interview, Whitney came clean about her drug abuse and addiction telling Oprah that there’s somebody out there that has become very rich as a result of her addiction. Her drug(s) of choice, marijuana and cocaine. She explained to Oprah how she would lace her marijuana with cocaine and smoke it while her and Bobby watched television together often times not speaking for days. When asked how often she did drugs Whitney said “everyday”.  Whitney told Oprah that her drug use started shortly after making The Bodyguard in 1992 (she has just recently kicked the habit). That’s a long time to be addicted to drugs. We can now better understand that a lot of what we saw after that time had much to do with her addiction to the drugs.

When you’re as famous as she is and have access to millions and millions of dollars it’s easy to see how one can caught up in these situations. Whitney said that they weren’t buying bags of weed or coke but rather “ounces” and “kilos” at a time. That’s a serious amount of drugs. I wonder how she was able to take care of their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, if her and Bobby were high all of the time. What a hard life for a child that never asked to be brought into such an environment.

As I watched the interview and listened to Whitney talk about her love for Bobby it made me wonder “well what about her love for her daughter?” Was her love for Bobby and drugs stronger than that between a mother and her child? I have never been addicted to drugs nor am I a parent and while I understand that addiction is difficult how does a parent completely disregard their child and the child’s mental, emotional, and spiritual stability?

It was clear from the interview that Whitney takes full responsibility for her actions and is finally at a point where she is done with trying to make herself seem small so that her husband can feel like a bigger man. She mentioned how Bobby while he was not physically abuse was extremely emotionally abusive. So much so that she explains how he once spit at her in front of their daughter. ” He spit on me, in my face and left me very,very angry,” Whitney told Oprah. 

Throughout all of the hardships and media scrutiny Whitney stood by her man taking her matrimonial vows very seriously and trying to make it work at all costs. It is good to see that Whitney Houston has finally realized that at some point some things aren’t worth fighting for anymore. Her life, sanity, well being and daughter, now that’s worth fighting for. One thing that I realized from watching part 1 of the interview is that no one is immune from the hardships of life and marriage. How many everyday women find themselves in these same situations doing any and everything just to please their man at the expense of their own well being? A real man, a strong man does not need for his woman to be inferior to him in order for him to feel superior. But rather support, protect, and encourage her to be her best even if her best is better than his. What do you all think?