This has been getting rave reviews from movie critics and I keep hearing it's out in theatres. I'm in Michigan and I can't find it!!! Very interested in seeing it. Has anyone else seen the documentary? What are your thoughts?

kitbradley said:

This has been getting rave reviews from movie critics and I keep hearing it's out in theatres. I'm in Michigan and I can't find it!!! Very interested in seeing it. Has anyone else seen the documentary? What are your thoughts?

Unfortunetly it's limited release. Most documentaries are!

I would like to see it though, I also live in the midwest.

It is a limited release, but it's even at two theaters in my area - one independent theater, one in a Regal Cinema theater. It might get a larger release, or go quickly to somewhere like Hulu or Netflix or Prime. It has 90% on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes. I love documentaries, especially about musicians, etc., but I feel stand-offish about this one. Not sure why.

Funny they managed to show the documentary AMY here, but WHITNEY isn't showing anywhere!

i haven't seen it, but it's showing at the cinema in my neighborhood. The Grace Jones documentary screened here also. Sadly, I didn't have time to see the latter and won't have time to see the former either.

I loved it. Shame on Pat Houston for saying Bobbi disliked her mother smh. Otherwise it was great, depressing and touching most of the time. I really think...if allowed she would have just came out the closet. She really did try to have the perfect life and tried to help everuyone she can forgetting about helping herself.
I also liked the part where LA Reid snapped on people making jokes about her issues (Mad TV, Family Guy). Wasnt expecting that.

[Edited 7/8/18 12:17pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

It is a limited release, but it's even at two theaters in my area - one independent theater, one in a Regal Cinema theater. It might get a larger release, or go quickly to somewhere like Hulu or Netflix or Prime. It has 90% on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes. I love documentaries, especially about musicians, etc., but I feel stand-offish about this one. Not sure why.

Me, too. Maybe reluctance to re-open such a sad story... I was aghast back in the the day when I watched "Living With Bobby Brown" late at night on cable at a friend's house. At first, it seemed sort of amusing in a bizarre way...then after a few episodes, it was pathetic and I didn't want to watch any more...

I would consider seeing it if it was playing in my area, but it is not. It is doing poorly at the theatres it is playing in according to 'The Numbers", so it is likely to lose theatres than add them. I get sad just thinking about her even though I wasn't much of a fan. I don't envy the lives of most superstars, especially if they are already fragile!

gandorb said:

I would consider seeing it if it was playing in my area, but it is not. It is doing poorly at the theatres it is playing in according to 'The Numbers", so it is likely to lose theatres than add them. I get sad just thinking about her even though I wasn't much of a fan. I don't envy the lives of most superstars, especially if they are already fragile!

The episode of "Living With Bobby Brown" that broke my heart was when Whitney disappeared into her bedroom and Bobby was supposed to take Kristina out for her birthday...but he didn't and gave Krissie money to spend with her friends at the mall... Some friends... I think she was 13 or 14 at the time and I felt so sad for her... Couldn't watch anymore....

purplethunder3121 said:

gandorb said:

I would consider seeing it if it was playing in my area, but it is not. It is doing poorly at the theatres it is playing in according to 'The Numbers", so it is likely to lose theatres than add them. I get sad just thinking about her even though I wasn't much of a fan. I don't envy the lives of most superstars, especially if they are already fragile!

The episode of "Living With Bobby Brown" that broke my heart was when Whitney disappeared into her bedroom and Bobby was supposed to take Kristina out for her birthday...but he didn't and gave Krissie money to spend with her friends at the mall... Some friends... I think she was 13 or 14 at the time and I felt so sad for her... Couldn't watch anymore....

Yuuuup that whole series was depressing

Goddess4Real said:

purplethunder3121 said:

The episode of "Living With Bobby Brown" that broke my heart was when Whitney disappeared into her bedroom and Bobby was supposed to take Kristina out for her birthday...but he didn't and gave Krissie money to spend with her friends at the mall... Some friends... I think she was 13 or 14 at the time and I felt so sad for her... Couldn't watch anymore....

Yuuuup that whole series was depressing

I remember thinking ti was a good idea at first but by the end of the series it was just watching a train wreck and Whitney was in no mood. Just going through the motions it seemed.


They never discussed this show in the film.

[Edited 7/9/18 11:42am]

I heard that Cineplex is showing this documentary soon in SASKATOON, so hopefully that means more Canadian theatres from that chain will show it.

paisleypark4 said:

I also liked the part where LA Reid snapped on people making jokes about her issues (Mad TV, Family Guy). Wasnt expecting that.

[Edited 7/8/18 12:17pm]

Debra Wilson was absolutely brilliant as Nippy on MAD TV.

I saw it yesterday. It's great. I re-watched Whitney _Can I Be Me? On Showtime friday night too .

Together they are a good combo. The SHowtime one focuses a lot more on Robyn and more from Cissy. And mostly has footage from her 90s tour.

.

This one talks more about her earlier years and the end. IT has some really amazing rare footage (like when Whitney took over for her mother at a NYC concrt and sang some Dreamgirls stuff). I hope this footage sees the light of day as a DVD soon.

.

.

It reveals something new-ish about sexual abuse which I won't spoil and not sure how I feel about yet..

.

I had tears in my eyes at the end.

What's there to see and know about Whitney that we don't know already? She was a great talent but lived a miserable existence. She wasn't who she really wanted to be, and because of that she was very unhappy in life, and we all saw how it ended for both her and her daughter....so sad to keep dwelling on her life since it's over and she's no more. Why dwell on her past life that was just so sad? They should just let her rest in peace.

Seen Cissy on TV last night, she denies knowing anything about the sexual abuse by Dee Dee Warwick and still doesn't think it happened. Even though Whitney's brother said it happened to him with Dee Dee too.

PennyPurple said:

1contessa said:

What's there to see and know about Whitney that we don't know already? She was a great talent but lived a miserable existence. She wasn't who she really wanted to be, and because of that she was very unhappy in life, and we all saw how it ended for both her and her daughter....so sad to keep dwelling on her life since it's over and she's no more. Why dwell on her past life that was just so sad? They should just let her rest in peace.

I got to know her family more and their experiences with her I never knew about. Footage I never seen. How she felt when Al Sharpton was calling her Whitey. Her possible relationship with Robyn and how Bobby was insecure. There was much to learn I as a casual fan did not know about and made me feel closer to her as a person and not just an entertainer. Many of us sing songs of people we hardly know. What is wrong with talking about a legend? Legends are meant to be discussed at length...look at Elvis.

^^^^^ THAT!

Read Cissy Houston's Emotional Full Statement About Claim That Whitney Houston Was Molested https://people.com/music/...e-warwick/


Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick’s full statement:

My niece Dionne Warwick and I make this statement to raise our voices above the din surrounding the release of the film, Whitney. Although the film is marketed as a Houston Family approved/endorsed project, neither my son, Michael, Dionne nor I knew of the allegations of abuse, the direction the film would take, until two days before the screening at Cannes.

To begin we want to state clearly that the horror of what victims of sexual abuse experience is unimaginable. We make no attempt to minimize the pain, the trauma and perhaps lifelong damage to the psyche of abuse victims. We understand and acknowledge that there are no rules governing a person’s reaction to trauma and every person reacts differently. By this statement we do not intend to defend, condone or excuse the crime of molestation.

We cannot, however, overstate the shock and horror we feel and the difficulty we have believing that my niece Dee Dee Warwick (Dionne’s sister) molested two of my three children.

I’ve been told—as justification for the invasive theme of this film—that Whitney was a public person and therefore the public has a right to know any and everything about her. I say, NO, she was a famous person … a singer, an actress, a quiet but generous philanthropist. She wasn’t running for office, asking for money or trying to win the right to run anyone’s life. Her job does not entitle the “public” to know every intimate detail of her life beyond what she herself revealed during her lifetime. Although she spoke about her struggle with drugs, the interventions, her daughter Krissi and issues in her marriage, she never PUBLICLY spoke about her father’s stealing from her or revealed any claim that she had been molested. IF she was molested I do not believe she would have wanted it to be revealed for the first time to thousands, maybe millions of people in a film.


I know the woman who was identified as Whitney’s “close confidante”. If she was my daughter’s “close confidante” it would seem she chose to betray Whitney’s confidence by publicizing rumors and hearsay. In any case Dionne, Michael and I do not know her the way we knew and loved Dee Dee Warwick. Dee Dee may have had her personal challenges but the idea that she would have molested my children is overwhelming and for us unfathomable. We cannot reconcile the Public’s need to know about Whitney’s life as justification for invasion of her privacy or the charge against Dee Dee, a charge which neither Whitney nor Dee Dee is here to deny, refute or affirm. Neither I, Dionne, nor my son Michael who was very close to his sister, and in the film is VERY candid about their drug use, has ever heard these allegations; we have never heard anything remotely connected to the crimes charged against Dee Dee in the film. How can that be fair to my daughter, to Dee Dee, or to our family?

I spent many years in recording studios (sometimes with Dionne and/or Dee Dee) where I earned my living. I also went “on the road” with my group The Sweet Inspirations to try to help provide a good life for my family BUT my children always came first in my heart and in my life. When I was away they did not stay with four or five different families; they stayed at home where their longtime babysitter, Phyllis, or my dear friend Bae or their father took care of them. In all the years I traveled Dee Dee, who was 21 years older than Whitney, NEVER BABYSAT for them.

Dionne’s mom, my oldest sister Lee, was there for me after my mother died when I was eight years old, and during some of the darkest times of my young life. Lee died several years ago and although I miss her every day I am comforted by the knowledge that she is not here to live this experience

How I wish I could ask Dee Dee and Nippy what happened, but this film distinguishes itself from the other films about her by spreading rumor, innuendo and hearsay; leaving questions to which I’ll never have the answers.

Dionne and I are part of a family whose members have always worked hard for themselves and their children to be successful. The goal of most parents is to help their children achieve more than they did. The film treats my family’s aspirations with the heavy handedness of people who are viewing an African American family through a lens lacking in cultural sensibilities. Like most parents we gave our children names we liked … Gary Joseph, Michael Blair and our longed-for baby girl, Whitney Elizabeth, not for any other reason. We did not name our daughter because it was the name of a character in a “WHITE SITCOM” or because we were striving to be considered middle class as alleged in the film. I loved the name Whitney and Elizabeth was her grandmother’s name.


I am heartbroken that despite all she accomplished fans and haters alike are left with the notion that she lived her life as a victim. She made mistakes and in the last few years she did live her life in the grip of the drugs that drove her and all the consequences of that, both as a woman and as a mother. She loved Krissi with all her heart and she did the best she could as Krissi’s mother, but being in a struggle with drugs is inconsistent with being a great mother. She faced challenges in her life, exacerbated by fame, divorce and family issues but she was not a victim.

After people have seen the film they will draw their own conclusions and we are not trying to change that. We just want people to know there is another side. While the filmmakers certainly had the legal right to make this film, I wonder at the moral right.

[Edited 7/12/18 21:59pm]

1contessa said:

rogifan said:

1contessa said:

What's there to see and know about Whitney that we don't know already? She was a great talent but lived a miserable existence. She wasn't who she really wanted to be, and because of that she was very unhappy in life, and we all saw how it ended for both her and her daughter....so sad to keep dwelling on her life since it's over and she's no more. Why dwell on her past life that was just so sad? They should just let her rest in peace.

Is this documentary claiming she was a lesbian?

Don't know, but I'm pretty sure we've all heard the rumors.

1contessa said:

rogifan said:

1contessa said:

What's there to see and know about Whitney that we don't know already? She was a great talent but lived a miserable existence. She wasn't who she really wanted to be, and because of that she was very unhappy in life, and we all saw how it ended for both her and her daughter....so sad to keep dwelling on her life since it's over and she's no more. Why dwell on her past life that was just so sad? They should just let her rest in peace.

Is this documentary claiming she was a lesbian?

Of course she was. Rumors don't linger that long unless there is truth to it. There was nothing wrong with her being gay.

kitbradley said:

rogifan said:

1contessa said: Is this documentary claiming she was a lesbian?

Of course she was. Rumors don't linger that long unless there is truth to it. There was nothing wrong with her being gay.

To Whitney and her family, there probably was, because they came from a very religious background.

kitbradley said:

rogifan said:

kitbradley said:

Of course she was. Rumors don't linger that long unless there is truth to it. There was nothing wrong with her being gay.

I do think it’s wrong though to make these claims when she’s no longer here. If she was and wanted it to be public she would have done so while she was alive. These documentaries should focus on the music not gossip about her private life.

plus with these type of docos (and tell-all books) its common knowledge that in order for it to stand out and get media attention.....one needs to add something new....and the allegations against Dee Dee Warwick who cannot defend herself, acheives that goal.

[Edited 7/14/18 22:33pm]

It wasnt just Whitney though apparently, her brother also said it was true so it not so far from a lost cause. I would be upset if I were her as well especially if she did not know. Robyn refuses to talk to anyone anymore either so the question will always be out there.

[Edited 7/15/18 5:05am]

1contessa said:

paisleypark4 said: