"You can protect people from everything except themselves" was the sad excuse given by Whitney Houston's bodyguard. Tension, whether sexual (as in the movie) or existential, comes from within and explodes outward like a diva's voice. When asked about her drug and alcohol use, Whitney claimed that she was an adult, not a child answering to her mother. Sadly, her mother would not have been able to protect her any better than her bodyguard.
Unlike the spotlight, Whitney needed to love herself enough to behave in private, if not in public. She needed her own respect more than recognition from the industry. She especially needed the approbation of her soul mates rather than the Boos and Bobs, if you will. Selling out would have been safer than buying into the bad boy's aura. Hitting the high notes was never going to be the problem that getting high in spite of notes of advice from mentors would prove.
TV was not the way to face reality any more than traveling to the Holy Land was the way to find salvation from her demons. The emotional cocktail she mixed was as toxic as it was inebriating. The mix of everything but her musical compositions led to a long-playing fantasy of the mind rather than success on the stage.
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Raised with the Gospel, she was betrayed by the moneychangers. Empowered by the Spirit, she was given the gift of a voice to sing from the heart. But presented with the cross of being The Voice, she forfeited the gift and was left with a broken heart.
New Jersey is so close to New York. A saint in the making is so close to a goddess. Innocence is so close to the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. Acceptance is so close to success. Peace is so close to feeling numbed. Belonging is so close to being included. And home is so close to your heart's longing.
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I can understand an error in judgement when things are so close to being what you need them to be. I can understand wanting to believe in others when you need to believe in yourself. I can understand looking for a little relief when you need help to heal hurts.
Yes, I can understand that Whitney needed a bodyguard, but not to protect her from herself. Rather, she needed a way to guard her body from drug promoters that lacked concern for her and her needs even more than the promoters of her career. I just hope and pray that there is still a place for her in the gospel choir.
