We lost another one to the almighty pipe. Tragic, really. But not surprising.
Poor Whitney.
Some wondered what took so long. Some wondered how her drug habit grew to the gargantuan proportions that it was, and some wondered why? She really seemed to "almost have it all"; so much for having it all. Whatever it was that she had, she tried very hard to surpress it and it eventually killed her.
I was curious about the woman, the legend that is Whitney because I remember her. I can mark the important events of my life with her music and she was a big part of my youth. Yesterday I scoured the Internet for answers.
I came across an interview with Oprah and read through to find some answers. What I found was a woman who was deeply conflicted and somewhat regretful that her star shone brighter than her husband's. It was an issue between them and quite possibly the root of her evil. On the outside she seemed to have everything. The money, the fame, the voice, the beauty and deep inside she had the demons. She was deeply religious and she believed in marriage and there is no denying, they abused drugs together. Insiders still blame him for her downfall, yet they split in the fall of 2006 and Whitney continued to use drugs.
One thing we can all agree on, there was no other voice like hers. Her story will always start with her voice, yet end with her drug habit. Her legacy tainted, now cautionary tale for us to tell our children. What we are left with is her music.
And we will always love her music.
I have no sympathy for someone who "Had it all", and pissed it away.
ReplyDeleteI believe she drown because she passed out on xanax in the tub. Anyhow, I had a conversation with Bax where he reported that "Whitney Houston, dead at 48." I told him that I had never been to 48, where was it and how did she end up dead at it and he replied that "for her, it's the corner of drug and overdose."
ReplyDeleteAnother one bites the dust...
ReplyDeleteGod love Heff for cutting to the chase but I have a different opinion on it - not surprisingly.
Steve Clark guitarist with Def Leppard - had it ALL! He had everything in life I'd not got, the hair, the thin very British guitar player stance, the black Les Paul (I did subsequently buy one of them!), in a huge band, millions of pounds, big house, any car he wanted ... blah blah blah. Drank himself to death basically. He was 2 years older than I and when he died I'd not turned 30 and I remember thinking... "If that was me I'd have done the same thing" it really scared me as I knew it to be true, then to ease that pain I took another drink and another - for 13 more years.
People who have never been in addiction will never understand "Why don't they just stop?" You think they don't think that every minute of every waking, conscious hour? But there is something bigger and greater that pulls them back to the drug of choice... and it is an insidious thing, it creeps up on you while you are "just having fun, like my peers", then they go and you are on your own and you can't stop and you just are so bewildered. But by then it has you and it won't let you go without a monumental fight
Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin... etc. etc. there are legions of them out there - I watch the unknowns fall the same way sadly around me as well.. and these days I wake up and think "Holy cow, I'm still sober, let's try that for another day" I'm incredibly lucky and in a way I'm glad for her - the fight and the pain can stop for her now. RIP
Furtheron, you're EXACTLY right. I DON'T understand it.
ReplyDeleteI have an "off switch" where I can just say, ok, I've had ENOUGH. I guess some people DON'T.
Heff - that is exactly it there is no off switch it is bizarre even as someone who has lived it I still often think "But why didn't you stop?" because I couldn't and couldn't figure out why I couldn't - it is a horrible place to be at the end
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone for your opinions and commetns.
ReplyDeleteThe issue here is such a hot one, becasue we can all relate, yet evidently we can not. Each of us are able to express the tragedy of her death in our own way. Whether a kindred soul or an outsider looking in, we see the tragedy.
Whitney was so much more than the drugs that eventually ended her.
I read that she was criticized in the media for being "a black woman that made us see no color" and that her performances were somehow "watered down to satisfy predominantly, white, adoring crowds."
The absurdity of that statement and that way of thinking is exactly what drives people to abuse drugs. What do those same people say now? That she died just as a crack addict should? No color barriers and not watered down, but in a hotel bathtub, washed up and tapped out. Just as it should be.
Sickening.
Sad but I can't believe how much coverage they're giving it
ReplyDeleteThe thing about being in the shit is that you don't know you're in the shit because you're in the shit.She didn't know she was in the shit.
ReplyDeleteI am sad she's gone. It could have been me or a friend.
Well said, Furtheron!