Who was therealWhitney Houstonand what was it that haunted her so very deeply?
In the six years since the superstar’s untimelydeath at the Beverly Hilton Hotelon Feb. 11, 2012, questions continue to swirl about how the beloved once-in-a-generation singer withthe heavenly voicefound herself so entrenched in addiction that it killed her.
In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, family members and friends open up about Whitney’s shocking untold story. While some find the child abuse claim helpful in solving the mystery that was Whitney Houston, others, like her mother Cissy and Dee Dee’s sisterDionne Warwick, find the allegations in the film painful, exploitative and hard to believe.
For more on Whitney Houston’s shocking untold story, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
SHOCKING ALLEGATIONS
“We cannot overstate the shock and horror we feel and the difficulty we have believing that my niece Dee Dee Warwick . . .molested two of my three children,” Cissytells PEOPLE in a statementon behalf of herself and Dionne, revealing they first learned of the claims two days before the film’s May 16 premiere in Cannes.
Though the two share their support for all victims of child abuse, these are charges “neither Whitney nor Dee Dee are here to deny, refute or affirm … How can that be fair to my daughter, to Dee Dee, to our family?” (For Cissy and Dionne’s emotional full statement, visitpeople.com/cissyhouston.)
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“I was close to Whitney, she confided in me and I struggled tremendously deciding whether to share this secret or keep to myself,” Jones tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “I deeply love and respect Dionne, Cissy and their entire families, and my intention was never to embarrass anyone in the family, but rather to bring to light that Whitney was subjected to something painful and troubling as a child. And it’s something that happens to other innocent kids and goes unspoken too much.
She continues, “I decided to share the story so that people might understand that throughout her entire life Whitney carried this with her, and the weight of it was immense. Whitney was a wonderful woman, an angel, and she did not drag herself down all alone — there was a cause.”
Courtesy of The Estate of Whitney E. Houston
WHITNEY’S EARLY YEARS
She was bullied for having a slightly lighter complexion than her peers and began honing her talents early on. “We’d be playing pinochle when Nippy was 5, 6, 7 years old. She’d be down in the basement with her mother’s wig and the mop as a mic, singing at the top of her lungs,” recalls Ellen White, a family friend they call Aunt Bae. “I always felt that Nippy could sing but I never anticipated, never fathomed Nippy would be Whitney Houston.”
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Trouble started early for the star. According to her brothers Michael and Gary, Whitney first tried cocaine at the age of 16, and they were all using heavily as she catapulted to stardom in the mid-’80s, bringing them along for the ride.
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“When you come from nothing there’s a tendency to want to be the savior,” longtime music director Rickey Minor says of Houston’s large, family-filled entourage. Despite her partying, her voice soared and she landed seven consecutive No. 1 singles. “We were pinching ourselves over her success,” saysClive Daviswho first signed her to Arista Records in ’83.
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A STAR DIMS
“Over the years it was about, ‘Get her ready for a performance, get her ready for camera.’ When she was having her ‘downtime,’ she was having her ‘downtime,'” recalled a family source. “We were all accustomed to that code word.”
After she took the stage looking shockingly gaunt at a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute show, her family claims to have tried multiple interventions, but nothing worked to save her from her demons. The night of Clive Davis’annual pre-Grammy party, she was found floating in her hotel room bathtub, having drowned with cocaine and prescription drugs in her system.
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Despite the pain and darkness that plagued her life, the hope is she’ll be remembered most for her gift. “If I could, I would tell her, ‘I, along with millions of others, deeply feel the pain that took your life,” says Davis, “but your greatness will forever inspire.’”
“I think about her every minute of the day,” Cissy told PEOPLE in 2013. Now, in the wake of the film she confirms “She faced challenges,” but remains adamant, “she was not a victim.”
source: people.com
