By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
June 8, 2000
Whitney Houston ignored the pleas of her mother, friends and drug specialists who hoped that an intervention last summer would persuade the singer to seek professional treatment, US Weekly reports in an issue hitting newsstands Friday.
In the cover story, US says Houston wouldn’t listen to her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, “who had often told her, `Whitney, you have to have standards. If you don’t, people won’t respect you. You must let everyone know, this is how far I go.’ ”
Whitney Houston’s publicists had no comment. Singer Dionne Warwick, Houston’s cousin, responded to a similar report in April by denying she had participated in an intervention. “There’s no reason,” she said.
Houston’s behavior has been erratic for a while. On Jan. 11, airport security officers in Hawaii allegedly found 152 grams of marijuana in her purse. Houston and her husband, singer Bobby Brown, flew off before police arrived.
She has since canceled several concerts, citing illness. In March, Houston failed to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was honoring Clive Davis, the CEO of Arista Records and the man who nurtured her career. She was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards but was replaced after a bad rehearsal.
During another Davis tribute in April, Houston spoke rather than sang many lyrics and abruptly stopped for water during the final notes of “I Will Always Love You.”
Jane magazine reported earlier this year that Houston arrived hours late for a photo shoot, appeared confused in an interview, dozed off and used racial slurs.
“I think she got a real bad beating in the press [after my article ran],” says Tony Romando, who wrote the Jane cover story. “Who isn’t on some kind of drug? Was she smoking pot in front of me? No. Bobby supposedly doesn’t drink anymore, but there he was drinking a Budweiser and dancing around. She didn’t drink anything.
“Other people at the photo shoot claimed she was on drugs . . . Everyone kind of daydreams a bit, but when a $30,000 photo shoot is involved, they usually pay attention.”
