Who could forget Kevin Costner’s moving personal statement during Whitney Houston’s funeral this February? Houston’s co-star from The Bodyguard portrayed the late R&B icon as a shy, insecure young lady, with enormous talent.
Costner said, ‘Whitney was nervous, and scared that she wasn’t good enough for the role. But I told her I would be with her every step of the way.”
One of the most emotionally moving parts of the service was Costner’s final message to the Grammy Award winning songstress, “Off you go Whitney, off you go. Escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly father. When you sing before him, don’t you worry. You will be good enough.”
In an episode of Anderson set to air in May, the actor discussed how he protected Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, but also how he attempted to save her in real life. Costner revealed that he never stopped caring for the “I Will Always Love You” singer, and over the “last seven or eight years” wrote her a series of letters encouraging her to stay sober. Whether she actually read them or not still remains a mystery.
WATCH KEVIN COSTNER TALK ABOUT WHITNEY HOUSTON HERE
“There were some people that really loved Whitney and a couple times during the last seven/eight years, [they] asked me would I write her a letter,” he said.
“When someone said, ‘Would you write someone a letter who you know is having trouble?’ I did. There were two occasions. I elected to let Whitney have her life after The Bodyguard and she would always be close to me. She would always be someone I appreciated. I saw pretty much what everyone else saw. But when someone asked me to write a letter I did. I don’t know if those letters were ever read.”
While giving his speech at Whitney’s eulogy, Costner also addressed Bobby Kristina, telling her to guard her body and also recognize “the precious miracle of her own life.” During his interview on Anderson he spoke again about Whitney’s 19-year-old daughter, who recently revealed her own aspirations to sing and act.
“Life is a struggle for all of us — young women have it tougher than anyone. Can you imagine losing your mom? That’s what happened to her. It’s not an easy place. Money doesn’t buy your way out of problems, and it doesn’t buy you happiness,” Costner said.
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC
