I’ve been a Whitney Houston fan since I was 8 years old. I would sing all of her songs in every talent show I was in and even when Oscar Meyer Wiener was on the hunt for someone to sing their jingle, I will never forget I got in front of the camera dressed in all white prepared to sing Dance With Somebody. The producers were so confused because what they wanted was the Oscar Meyer jingle. But that’s another story. Long story short I was committed to Whitney, she was like auntie I never had, I loved her. So you can imagine when I heard Whitney the documentary was coming to the box office I could not wait! I prayed that this documentary would do Whitney justice because when someone reaches the status of Icon, you just don’t drop the ball on their legacy. We all remember the Aaliyah movie, which was so disappointing as well as the Michael Jackson movie, that was equally horrible. I sat and waited until all the previews ran, holding my breath and praying Whitney would not be done like this. This was someone I loved and admired and if this documentary was not done with perfection, I had already made up my mind that I would be contacting the directors and producers. Kevin Macdonald, Simon Chinn, Lisa Erspamer, and Johnathan Chinn THANK YOU! You made this documentary made me love Whitney so much more even in her death. This documentary was nothing like Aaliyah or Michael. They depicted her life in the most authentic way that it brought me to tears. I truly loved her and watching this 2 hour documentary brought me back to why I loved Whitney in the first place.
The Whitney documentary gave me a lot insight of Whitney Houston that I never knew from her childhood to the days leading up to her death. I can say while watching some parts were very surprising to me like her close friends/family called her Nippy and she was apart of the Me Too movement before it ever became a movement. I loved how Macdonald let Whitney’s family and friends have so much freedom during this documentary. There were definitely no question off the table and no regretful answers. I was actually surprised by Whitney’s brother Michael when asked about Robyn that his response was “she was a nobody, she was an opportunist.” I was very surprised because Robyn played a very influential part in Whitney’s life, some would argue that Robyn was the glue that kept Whitney in tact. Now to be honest, I wish that they spent more time on Robyn during this documentary but when Robyn was “spotlighted” in this production it seemed very authentic. I have watched other documentaries on Whitney Houston, Robyn is in all of them. It has really amazed me that there were so much disgust almost for someone who kept Whitney in tact. Bobby Brown stated that if Whitney and Robyn would have never ended their friendship, he believes that Whitney would still be alive to this day. How do you call someone a nobody that kept your sister afloat when she needed it Michael? It just goes to show that even one of the biggest superstars that the world will ever know still battled with her family and family’s beliefs on not accepting someone Whitney knew truly cared not only for her but for her well being.
There were so many takeaways for me while watching this documentary of Whitney and in the back of my head I dreaded the transitioning to the latter years of her life. Those were the days I did not want to remember. In those times for me, the term “ignorance is bliss” was so fitting. I did not want to hear of her and this battle of drugs, so I ignored it. I did not want the news media to taint the image of someone who in my heart was AMAZING. This was the first time that I would MAKE myself hear about what happened throughout her life that started this lifelong battle with drugs. I had always side-eyed Bobby Brown because I felt that he was the reason she started using drugs and spiraling out of control. To my surprise, Whitney was introduced to drugs at the age of 16 by brothers Michael and Gary. Now, again, this documentary is one I can appreciate because it gave me new and detailed information I wasn’t entirely familiar with about Whitney’s life. Michael Houston really rubbed me the wrong way the whole documentary because when speaking on Robyn he was very cocky and he displayed the same cockiness when proudly saying that they would “run circles around Bobby when it came to using drugs.” Even at one point you would be, for whatever reason, proud of running circles around someone for doing the most drugs, when it played a significant part in your sister’s demise, something YOU introduced her to, you would think one would be a little more humble. The documentary did not linger too much on this part of Whitney but they did tastefully tell the truth about Whitney’s life surrounding drug usage and I was okay with that. Another takeaway for me, as mentioned previously, Whitney was a part of the Me Too movement well before it was made a movement. It was said that in Whitney’s younger childhood days that she was molested by her cousin, Dion Warwick’s sister, Dee Dee Warwick for years while in her care. Was the drug usage a coping mechanism for situations like this? Was this the reason why drugs played a part in her latter years because it was all too familiar to escape to?That’s a question we may never have an answer to.
No matter what takeaways you yourself have while watching this documentary, it can not be denied that it will take you on a roller coaster of emotions listening to Whitney herself, and hearing from close friends and family talk about her. Whitney to this day STILL holds records no one has came close to breaking! She was a trailblazer, a talent God laid his hands on just for us, and an icon. No matter how you remember her, auntie Whitney was UNMATCHED. She was a beautiful soul who let life get in the way of her greatness.
Nippy. Whitney. Icon. Legend. YOU WILL FOREVER BE MISSED!
