The Cruel Reality-TV Exploitation of Whitney Houston - Rolling Stone

In the new Whitney Houson biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Houston’s parent has constabulary escort her girl from her location (in beforehand of her young daughter, Bobbi Kristina) aft uncovering Houston successful a drug-fueled stupor pursuing her father’s death. We adjacent spot Houston successful tranquil betterment astatine a rehab center, and later, a recreation of her affectional comeback show connected The Oprah Winfrey Show successful 2009. The film excises astir of the 2000s from Houston’s story, including her starring relation successful 2005’s disturbing world bid Being Bobby Brown.

The eleven-episode saga followed Brown, Houston, their girl Bobbi Kristina, her half-siblings La’Princia and Bobby Jr., Brown’s member Tommy and his begetter Herbert. But the joined mates were the main gully of a amusement that chronicled Houston’s temper, Bobby’s brashness, and an wide consciousness that the brace — Houston particularly — were unwell. “Behind the scenes, Houston had been utilizing again,” Vanity Fair reported.

Yet, the amusement was mostly received with mockery and contempt alternatively than attraction and concern. An aboriginal deed for Bravo, present celebrated for its Real Housewives franchise, Being Bobby Brown was reportedly the network’s highest-rated amusement astatine the time. Its callousness is what makes I Wanna Dance with Somebody consciousness indispensable – it’s a loving clasp of Houston aft years of media exploitation fueled by condescension and sensationalism. 

The bid allowed its producers and titular prima to capitalize connected Houston’s distress and the dysfunction of her marriage. Before the show’s premiere, Brown admitted that it was each successful work of his image. “On a regular basis, I’m trying to beryllium my point, that I’m much bully than I americium bad,” helium told The New York Times. 

In doing so, helium thought the satellite would spot however challenging Houston could be. “Bob’s large happening was everyone blamed him for her downfall, but erstwhile helium met her she was already utilizing drugs,” Karrine Steffans told Vanity Fair. 

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Steffans is an writer and erstwhile euphony video exemplary who was Brown’s person successful the 2000s during his matrimony to Whitney. “He ever felt precise aggravated astir that. He told me, ‘What everybody saw wasn’t the existent Whitney.’ He ever said her backstage persona — which you saw connected Being Bobby Brown — was who she truly was.” But alternatively than valorize Brown, the amusement demeaned some of them. “Not lone does it uncover Brown to beryllium adjacent much vulgar than the tabloids suggest, but it manages astatine the aforesaid clip to rob Houston of immoderate past shreds of dignity,” wrote 1 professional successful The Hollywood Reporter.

One of the show’s enforcement producers, Tracey Baker-Simmons, claimed she wanted to archer the communicative of Brown and Houston beyond the headlines. “Outside of each the antagonistic blurbs, we wanted to cognize what other is determination to these people,” she said. 

Brown allowed 24/7 entree to himself and his family, but the effect fed the prevailing communicative alternatively than challenged it. Marc Hoeferlin, exertion of the documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me, which employed outtakes from Being Bobby Brown, hinted that it didn’t person to beryllium that way. “That amusement itself comes crossed arsenic that bid wreck of a show,” helium told Jezebel. “It wasn’t changeable similar that. It was changeable truly good and observationally and I don’t cognize if that was the volition to bash that benignant of world TV thing.”

For Bravo, though, the humbling-bordering-on-humiliation of the once-adored stars seemed to beryllium the point. Lauren Zalaznick, Bravo’s president astatine the time, reportedly greenlit the bid successful 15 minutes. “It was precise evident to maine that this was thing close for Bravo,” she said. “This is precise tactile. You consciousness thing erstwhile you ticker this show.”  Zalaznick had been connected a ngo to bolster “middlebrow” television, claiming that the “channel truly became the fullest look of high-low culture.” She described a amusement similar Top Chef arsenic aspirational, portion Real Housewives — where, among different things, affluent women bicker and betray each different — could beryllium watched by audiences with a consciousness of motivation superiority. Being Bobby Brown easy acceptable into that container arsenic well.

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In 2009, Houston told Oprah she agreed to beryllium connected the amusement to assuage Brown’s jealousy of her powerfulness and profile, and rebuke the world’s disdain for their marriage. So, she played down her occurrence and played up her wifehood.

“I was trying to marque a statement, like, ‘You guys aren’t gonna win,’” Houston said. “‘You’re not going to bash that. We got married. We were successful love. We were brainsick for each other. We wanted to person a family. I’m conscionable not going to fto you bash that to us. I’m conscionable not.’” However, she admitted the combat was futile: “Somehow it got truly benignant of messy and got mislaid up successful there. And past we started doing different things that entered into the matrimony that you conscionable can’t travel retired consecutive erstwhile you’ve got a batch of extracurricular worldly going on.”

Seven years aft Being Bobby Brown aired, Brown admitted that watching it revealed the mode drugs had impacted them arsenic a couple. “We was capable to spot that our cause usage had affected our relationship, had affected the emotion that we felt for each other,” helium said. 

Rather than parading Houston’s behavioral and addiction issues, I Wanna Dance with Somebody situates her cause usage successful her pain. We archetypal spot her fume a bong with her brothers to flight a vicious combat betwixt her parents. Later, we spot her propulsion retired paraphernalia aft jetting location to her hubby lone to find that he’s not determination — and, assumedly, with different woman. In this way, the movie’s portrayal of Houston is gentle  — she tin inactive beryllium bold oregon harsh, but the movie holds her with empathy and tenderness.

Some critics of the movie person condemned it arsenic too precious with Houston’s cause abuse. “I consciousness this benignant of request to respect the story, but past astatine the extremity of the day, [the biopic] felt to maine a small spot similar an overcorrection… successful that, like, it conscionable didn’t truly delve excessively profoundly into that,” said NPR’s Aisha Harris. The media’s careless attraction of Houston, epitomized by Being Bobby Brown, is precisely wherefore it didn’t. 

The amusement lone lasted 1 season. Houston refused to appear successful a second, truthful it didn’t get picked up again, though Brown reportedly hoped it would. A twelvemonth aft the amusement concluded, Houston served Brown with divorcement papers. The 2004 filming play became a turning point. During the taping of Being Bobby Brown, Brown was jailed for astir a period aft aggregate probation violations stemming from a 1996 DUI charge. One of the violations was allegedly striking Houston successful the look truthful hard her feature bruised and inner-lip was cut.

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While Brown was down bars, his sister Tina lived with Houston arsenic she was successful the throes of her cause use, and sold scary stories of her addiction to the National Enquirer, which they published successful March 2006 (along with the photograph Pusha T and Kanye West yet — and insensitively — utilized arsenic the medium screen for 2018’s Daytona). By 2007, Houston’s divorcement from Brown was finalized.

In much caller years, Brown has expressed regret for the amusement — specifically, for pulling his girl Bobbi Kristina, who died successful 2015 nether akin circumstances arsenic her mother, into it. Reflecting connected Houston’s infamous Diane Sawyer interrogation wherever she declared that “crack is whack,” helium besides admitted, “There was nary crushed for [Houston] to beryllium connected television, astatine that time.”