In the six years since Whitney Houston‘s tragic death at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 2012, there have been numerous documentaries and stories exploring the singer’s troubled life entangled in addiction. The latest documentary, Whitney, takes a step away from Houston’ s life in the limelight and puts the spotlight on her childhood. The biggest revelation in the film reportedly suggests Whitney was molested by her cousin Dee Dee Warwick as a young girl. While the new allegations may offer some light into Whitney’s dark past, her mother, Cissy Houston claims she and her family are horrified by the terrible rumor.
“We cannot overstate the shock and horror we feel and the difficulty we have believing that my niece Dee Dee Warwick . . . molested two of my three children,” Cissy told People in a statement on behalf of herself and Dee Dee’s sister, Dionne Warwick. While both advocate for children of abuse, they said that “neither Whitney nor Dee Dee are here to deny, refute or affirm. . . How can that be fair to my daughter, to Dee Dee, to our family?” Dee Dee reportedly died in Oct. 2008.
As previously noted, the allegations first came to light in the new documentary by way of Mary Jones, Whitney’s longtime assistant. Jones said that the singer once confided in her about the abuse she and her brother endured at the hands of Dee Dee.
Despite Cissy and the Houston family’s reaction to the new allegations, Jones stands by her decision to share the information. “I was close to Whitney, she confided in me and I struggled tremendously deciding whether to share this secret or keep to myself,” Jones told People. “I deeply love and respect Dionne, Cissy and their entire families, and my intention was never to embarrass anyone in the family, but rather to bring to light that Whitney was subjected to something painful and troubling as a child. And it’s something that happens to other innocent kids and goes unspoken too much.”
She added that she divulged this secret in order to give context to Whitney’s inner demons and issues. “I decided to share the story so that people might understand that throughout her entire life Whitney carried this with her, and the weight of it was immense,” she continued. “Whitney was a wonderful woman, an angel, and she did not drag herself down all alone—there was a cause.”
The Whitney documentary premiered in theaters on July 6. Check out the trailer below.
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