Whitney Houston’s Estate Furiously Denies Oprah’s Drug Claims, Says Singer Was ‘Absolutely Not High’

It has been more than a decade since singing icon Whitney Houston’s tragic passing. Now, a fresh controversy erupted after Oprah Winfrey claimed that Houston had relapsed and fallen offstage ahead of a 2009 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, Houston’s estate has strongly disputed those remarks, with longtime manager and estate executor insisting that Oprah’s version of events is simply not true.

What did Oprah Winfrey say about Whitney Houston’s fall from the stage?

During a recent appearance at the Cannes Lions festival in France, Oprah reflected on Whitney Houston’s final appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Speaking directly to the audience, the media mogul stated that Houston had previously been sober during an earlier interview. However, when the singer returned to the show one last time in 2009 before her death, she had allegedly relapsed.

Houston’s decades-long battle with drugs is no news, and the singer herself had opened up about her repeated relapses and rehab attempts before tragically dying in 2012. Sharing her experience with the music icon during her 2009 appearance, Oprah says Houston had “gone back on drugs.” Oprah said:

“I think it was [Houston’s] last show with us, and she had gone back on drugs.The first interview I did with her when we’d gone behind stage and I asked her about her intention, she was clean, but the day she came to my show then to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off of the stage.”

Oprah further alleged that Whitney Houston fell off the stage before her performance, following which she pleaded with audience members not to release photos or discuss the incident publicly, because it could have devastated the singer’s reputation. She continued:

“I knew that if that story got out … she would be destroyed by that. And so even though the audience was there and the audience had cameras, I begged them not to put those pictures out because it would ruin her life, and they did not. That would not happen today, I can tell you that.”

Whitney Houston’s estate fires back at Oprah’s narrative of her viral fall

Needless to say, Winfrey’s explosive claims about the late singer spread like wildfire, bringing renewed interest in some of the darkest and deeply personal phases of the I Will Always Love You singer’s life. And the remarks did not sit well with the late singer’s estate. Not long after Oprah’s statement went viral, Houston’s sister-in-law and current CEO of her estate, Patricia ‘Pat’ Houston, released a statement strongly refuting those claims.

In a statement shared with TMZ, Pat Houston strongly disputed Oprah’s version of events, insisting that Whitney’s fall had nothing to do with substance use. While the singer indeed had fallen off the stage, it was absolutely not because she was back on drugs. Pat told the publication:

“Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but it was during a sound check, and it was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. She was absolutely not high.”

More than being the music icon’s sister-in-law, Pat Houston also served as Whitney’s manager and a trusted confidante. For a long time, she has played a central role in preserving and promoting Whitney’s legacy through documentaries, biopics, and hologram tours. She has served as the singer’s manager since the late 1990s, and saw everything happening in Whitney’s life firsthand.

While acknowledging Houston’s well-documented struggles with addiction throughout her life, Pat argued that it is unfair to connect every incident involving the singer to substance abuse. Further speaking about the incident, Pat continued in her statement:

“Like many people, she faced personal battles, but it is inaccurate and unfair to attach that struggle to every performance or every chapter of her life. What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent, and commitment — not the assumptions others project.”

See the video here.

Whitney Houston’s final appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show

Houston’s final appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show aired in September 2009 and featured an emotional performance of I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, a song from her comeback album, I Look to You. At the time, the album experienced a significant sales boost following the televised appearance, which many fans viewed as a powerful moment in the singer’s career resurgence.

Houston died in February 2012 at the age of 48 after accidentally drowning in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Her struggles with addiction have since been explored in several documentaries and biographies, making Oprah’s recent comments all the more sensitive for those tasked with preserving her legacy.

After Oprah’s now-viral claims, Pat insists that people should report the accuracy of events when discussing the legendary singer’s life.

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image courtesy: oprah.com, whitneyhouston.com