Whitney Houston’s estate has issued a statement refuting Oprah Winfrey’s recent statements claiming that the late singer fell off stage while she was up. The Oprah Winfrey Show.
“From a 2009 interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Whitney completely fell off the stage, but that was during sound check and that was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. It wasn’t loud at all,” the post on Houston’s official Instagram account read. “This story has been picked up by many media outlets. Like many people, she has faced personal battles, but it is inaccurate and unfair to link this struggle to every performance or every chapter of her life.”
The two-time Oscar nominee shared the story at Cannes Lions on Tuesday, where she spoke about Houston’s recent performance in her show.
“Whitney did what I think was her last show with us, and she went back to using drugs,” Winfrey said. “The first interview I did with her…she was clean, but the day she came to my show to perform in front of the audience, she wasn’t, and she fell off the stage.” “I knew that if that story about her falling off the stage got out, she would be devastated by it, and even though the audience was there and the audience had cameras, I begged them not to release those pictures because it would ruin her life, and they didn’t.”
Grammy Award winner Malakiya also addressed the audience in attendance about her fall. The statement concluded, “What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent and commitment, not the assumptions made by others. Whitney’s humanity included triumphs and struggles, but on that day, she emerged as the professional and talented artist she had always worked to be. We owe her the dignity of telling the truth and not repeating myths.”
Hollywood Reporter She reached out to a representative for Winfrey, but did not hear back by press time.
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