‘Whitney’ Documentary Reveals Dark Family Secret: Singer Was Abused As a Child
The upcoming Whitney Houston documentary will feature a significant bombshell that has never been revealed before.
Whitney, directed by Kevin McDonald, had its official premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (May 17) and everyone is talking about it. In particular, the revelation that both Houston and her half-brother, Gary, were allegedly molested as children by their cousin Dee Dee Warwick, the sister of Dionne Warwick and the niece of Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, who died in 2008.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Macdonald received an on-the-record confirmation that Houston was in fact abused as a child.
“I finally managed to persuade Mary Jones, who was Whitney’s longtime assistant and probably knew her in her last years more than anybody, to talk [on-camera],” he told the publication. “She talks about what Whitney felt and what effect it had on her. So we changed the whole cut at the very last minute. It was kind of a detective story to get that piece of information, which changed how I felt about Whitney and how I felt about the story.”
Houston's half-brother, Gary, also opened up about his abuse from this family member in the documentary as well.
McDonald hopes the revelation will make people reassess their thoughts about Houston differently. "I hope the impact of that story and the documentary as a whole will make people real understanding and sympathy for Whitney, which maybe was lost," he told the Associated Press. "Because it's hard sometimes to be sympathetic towards people who behave self-destructively as she has."
Whitney will arrive in theaters on July 6.
Watch the New Whitney Documentary Trailer
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