Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (UPDATED)

By On 02/11/2012 · 344 Comments · In American Idol

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Grammy Live Clive Davis Red Carpet

OMG. This is tragic.

Whitney Houston died this afternoon … a rep for the singer told the Associated Press.
Houston won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards during her record-breaking career. Her album “Whitney” was the first female album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts. She has sold 200 albums world wide.

Houston had one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown were married from 1992-2007.

VIA TMZ

Here’s the Associated Press report. There is no information yet on the cause of death.

UPDATE: TMZ reports:

Whitney Houston was found in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills hotel yesterday … with her face underwater … people close to Whitney tell TMZ.

According to our sources, her stylist, hairdresser and two bodyguards were among the people in the room at the time. We’re told they became worried about Whitney because she had been in the bathroom for over an hour and it was time to start getting ready for the Clive Davis party.

Our sources say they began to knock on the door and there was no answer. We’re told the hairdresser, who is female, went in to check on Whitney. She immediately screamed and, according to our sources, one of the bodyguards came running in and pulled her out of the tub.

We’re told Whitney’s face was below the water and her legs were up … like she had slid down the back of the tub.

According to our sources, her body was very cold and the bodyguard attempted CPR. That’s when hotel security was called.

UPDATE: TMZ reports:

Our sources tell us a member of Whitney’s entourage found her in her room at the Beverly Hilton hotel … and called hotel security — who then dialed 911. When paramedics arrived Houston was found unresponsive.

We’re told police arrived to the scene within minutes and fire was already there on an unrelated call. According to our sources, paramedics performed CPR but it did not work and she was pronounced dead at 3:55 PM.

Our sources say there were no signs of obvious foul play, but a BH PD detectives have begun a full investigation. We’re told she was ID’ed by family and friends.

UPDATE: TMZ reports:

Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston spoke with Whitney Houston by phone just before she died and say Whitney seemed fine … TMZ has learned.

Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston, spoke with her daughter 25-30 minutes before she died and nothing seemed unusual … sources tell TMZ. We’re told they talked about attending the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party.

Dionne Warwick, Whitney’s cousin, called as well … several hours before Whitney died … to make sure they were sitting at the same table at Clive’s party. And again … there were no signs of trouble.

The people in touch with Dionne say she is inconsolable adding, “She is an absolute mess.”

From Los Angeles Times:

Whitney Houston’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown, father of their child, Bobbi Kristina, was reportedly “beside himself” Saturday after hearing that his ex-wife had died.

“He was sobbing, and by the end of the call, I was sobbing, too,” a family member told People after Brown called with the news. “He’s beside himself right now.”

From the Hollywood Reporter

Sony Will Release Whitney Houston’s Final Film ‘Sparkle’ as Planned in August – “Like all those who knew and loved her, we are shocked and saddened and the world has lost an incomparable talent. Right now our thoughts are with her daughter, her family and her friends,” Steve Elzer said on behalf of the studio.

Houston had completed filming on the project, a remake of the 1976 movie Sparkle, the show biz saga of a trio of singers, which, in turn, was loosely based on the career of the Supremes. The film could have marked the beginning of a feature film comeback for Houston, who shone briefly but brightly in the ’90s with starring roles in The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife.

UPDATE: from the Huffington Post

Bobby Brown Reacts To Whitney Houston’s Death, Breaks Down During Performance – Brown was scheduled to perform in Mississippi as part of New Edition. The controversial R&B star was said to be in “crying fits” over the news, and broke down shortly after taking the stage.

“First of all, I want to tell you that I love you all,” he said to the crowd according to the AP (via Entertainment Weekly). “Second, I would like to say, ‘I love you Whitney.’ The hardest thing for me to do is come on this stage.”

In another mini-tribute during an intermission in the show, Houston’s 1985 single “You Give Good Love” blared over the speakers.

Whitney Houston sings the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl 1991

Whitney Houston’s last performance Thursday night – Jesus Loves Me

From the Kelly Price & Friends Unplugged: For The Love Of R&B Grammy Party at Tru Hollywood in Los Angeles.

 
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  • Tess

    Amazing what you learn…so Whitney was always the problem and the rep Bobby Brown had before teaming up with Whitney was all fabricated.  Interesting, guess the “real” truth just hides amongst the facts.

  • Miss Chaos

    But maybe she slipped and fell in the bathtub like Stephen Tyler did.  They didnt find any illegal drugs in her system, maybe it was just an accident, and she happened to be famous.  People fall in the bathtub and drown all the time, they just arent famous so it goes unreported.  Its now a shame all her problems in life will be splashed all over the news articles, and we have to hear and read about that, instead of just sorry the poor woman died.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Images for people in the public eye are just that, and can often give a very different perception to reality (which is often the point).

  • fuzzywuzzy

    “They didnt find any illegal drugs in her system,”

    If they are doing the autopsy today, then I doubt that the results of toxicology would be known so soon.  Apparently, they did not find any illegal drugs in her hotel room, but there were prescription drugs found there.

    Plus, if Whitney fell and hit her head, there would be external signs of the blow. The preliminary autopsy results would reveal gross physical trauma.

  • http://twitter.com/whiskey401 Whiskey

    Kesia Monteith, I’m from NYC and back in the day when drugs was rampant in the 80′s and 90′s it was no secret who did drugs. Back than the celebs were mingling with the public in the clubs. Today they seclude themselves in VIP sections. Everyone knew which celebs were coping from the dealers who frequent the clubs and who weren’t. You would be shock which celebs were doing drugs out in the open back then.

  • GS61

    I never heard this either, but I didn’t really follow Whitney. I knew she was from my area and about my age, I grew up about 20 min. from Newark, NJ.

    …This story just gets sadder and sadder. I hope her daughter is okay.

  • http://twitter.com/whiskey401 Whiskey

    Bobby Brown was a young pot head. Whitney was the one who actually introduced him to the hard drugs.

  • Anonymous

    whether Whitney had used drugs or not before getting involved with Bobby, I wouldn’t put all the blame on him. Did he force her to do drugs, hold her down and stick a needle in her arm or force her to sniff coke against her will or something? I somehow doubt it. Whitney was an adult — shouldn’t she have been held at least partially accountable for her own choices? 

  • Anonymous

    I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I have heard exactly the same thing Whiskey. Whitney had a deep relationship with cocaine long before she ever met the younger Bobby Brown. It was covered up because of her exalted status and her “goodgirl” reputation. Her whole adult life has been one of tragedy. So sad.

  • Jx223

     I was sorry to hear that this happened. This is very sad. Whitney was a very talented woman, it’s sad to see her die young. My condolences  go out to her family.
    I agree with points that Xentusk and Whiskey have made about Bobby Brown. Bobby has definitely made his share of mistakes but I don’t really blame him for Whitney’s death. I think that they were both ultimately responsible for their own choices, including their drug use. I think that they both really did love each other and their family, but that their drug use was one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing that drove them apart and tanked their marriage. Bobby has admitted that he did a lot of things wrong. But I think that a lot of the public/media likes to most of the blame on him for Whitney’s problems, because they never really thought he was good enough for her in the first place. (Even before most people found out about Whitney’s drug use).
    I have sympathy for him because I think he did love her and that she loved him, but ultimately they couldn’t get their stuff together to survive as a couple. I think he probably is really saddened that the woman he was married to for over a decade and mother of his child is dead.

    It is not known for sure how she died yet, but I wonder if maybe this ends up being another “accidental overdose” death that we have seen happen several times over the last few years with celebrities. Maybe Whitney did mix some type of prescription drugs with alcohol, lost consciousness and ended up drowning as a result.

  • Tess

    It’s funny that I can’t find any anecdotal evidence of Whitney being involved in drugs prior to meeting Bobby Brown in 1989.  I may be pretty naive but the club scene in New York wasn’t exactly a hub of discretion in the mid 80s and if Whitney would have been indulging then she would have been in the media just like all the other very visible and non-contrite cocaine heads of that era.  

    I do find it interesting that the web, today, is full of comments about how innocent Bobby Brown was and that he is being revered as a victim of this anti god, full blown druggie, older woman, practicing lesbian.

    She may well have been all of these things in her late teens and early twenties but I am surprised that no one ever talked about it, then.  Boy, she must have had one great PR manager who knew everyone that was anyone in the media to keep those abuses out of the press.

  • Anonymous

    There were all those rumors and yes she had great PR, the best money can buy. Whitney was a full grown woman when she married Bobby. almost 30, he didn’t introduce her to anything she didn’t know of. People had this idea of Whitney as being this sheltered church kid, but alot of that was manufactured. Bobby is a mess, but he isn’t responsible for whitney’s tragic passing.

  • http://twitter.com/whiskey401 Whiskey

    I guess you had to be there to know. New Yorkers are pretty blase about what celebs do and could care less about running to the media to rat out some celebrity. Especially back in the 80′s where ratting out someone who could than lead to finding out who their dealers are would get you killed. I guess some celebs didn’t hide it enough to not get in the media but it wasn’t like Whitney was lining up cocaine on the table out in the open and the media wasn’t hanging outside waiting for celebs to come out and take pictures like today. Some were very discrete about it but you knew. Today it is much different time and someone will rat you out to the media for $$$$. NY is a very different safe climate now.

  • shell29

    ITA.  Bobby’s no saint but neither was Whitney.  He’s not to blame for her passing.

  • Anonymous

    I certainly don’t think that anyone here is sanctifying Bobby or villifying Whitney? I have always adored Whitney Houston, and neither her tragic drug addiction, nor the exact circumstances surrounding their origin, change that. Ultimately Whitney was the master of her own fate, just as Bobby is of his own.

  • Anonymous

    I agree.  Remember the 1980s was long before cell phones, digital cameras, the internet and of course youtube.   People needed to be discrete, but not that discrete.   I was a teen/early 20s in the 1980s and I used to go to clubs in Los Angeles and it was not uncommon to see a star hanging out.  

  • http://twitter.com/AdamsArmyGirl Linda Vastardis

    I was so glued to CNN last night that I couldn’t do anything else but watch and listen to the tragic news.  I’ve read about half of the posts here, and for whatever it’s worth, I have a rather ‘outside the box’ opinion of Whitney’s passing, Clive Davis, the party, etc.

    Everyone knows that Whitney loved to party … and she loved Grammy Weekend … and she loved Clive Davis … and she loved the celebration of music.  So, what more fitting way to leave this earthly planet than to do it right on Grammy Weekend and, in fact, right on the day of Clive’s big party?

    I believe, in a strange twist of serendipitous fate, that this was the ‘perfect’ departure for Whitney, and I have no doubt that she wanted Clive’s party to go on as scheduled with her as the ‘guest of honor’.  And that’s exactly how it all went down … as she ‘planned’ it, unwittingly surrounded by all her musical peers, the party atmosphere that she loved and her ‘mentor’ Clive Davis to set it all up in grand style as he has always done in the past.

    Well played, Whitney … well played.

    Rest in peace and sing with the angels … “Your Soul Will Be OK …”

  • fuzzywuzzy

    “Boy, she must have had one great PR manager who knew everyone that was
    anyone in the media to keep those abuses out of the press.”

    A great publicist is somehow able to maintain a certain public image and keep information damaging/contrary to that image out of the media and public eye.  A great example is Tom Cruise and his deep involvement with Scientology was kept out of the public eye by his publicist, Pat Kingsley, until he fired her, hired his sister as his publicist (who is also a Scientologist) and suddenly all of this stuff started coming out.  BIG mistake to have fired Pat Kingsley.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4416936.stm

  • Reflections On Life

    “She has sold 200 albums world wide.”

    Typo – I think she sold a few more than that.

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