A new dispute has emerged over Whitney Houston’s final appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” The singer’s estate is now pushing back against claims Oprah Winfrey recently made about what happened behind the scenes during that 2009 visit.
The controversy began after Oprah spoke at the Cannes LionHeart Award ceremony in France and recalled an incident involving the late music icon. Her comments quickly made headlines and prompted a response from Whitney Houston’s family.
The Whitney Houston estate responds to Oprah Winfrey’s claim about a stage fall during the singer’s 2009 television appearance
While accepting the Cannes LionHeart Award, Oprah reflected on her history with Whitney Houston and described what she said was the singer’s final appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” According to Oprah, Houston had relapsed at the time and fell off the stage before a performance.
“I had such trust from ‘The Oprah Show’ audience … I think it was [Houston’s] last show with us, and she had gone back on drugs,” Oprah said. “The first interview I did with her when we’d gone behind the stage, and I asked her about her intention. She was clean, but the day she came to my show then to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off of the stage.”
Oprah also claimed she asked audience members not to share photos from the incident because “it would ruin her life.”
However, Whitney Houston’s estate strongly disputed that version of events. In a statement provided to TMZ, Pat Houston, who oversees the estate, said the singer did fall, but not under the circumstances Oprah described.
“Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but it was during a sound check, and it was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. She was absolutely not high,” Pat said.
Pat acknowledged Whitney’s well-documented struggles with addiction but argued that it was unfair to connect those battles to every moment of her career.
“Like many people, she faced personal battles, but it is inaccurate and unfair to attach that struggle to every performance or every chapter of her life,” Pat continued. “What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent, and commitment — not the assumptions others project.”
She concluded with a defense of the late star’s legacy, saying, “We owe her the dignity of telling the truth, not repeating myths.”
Houston died in February 2012 at age 48 following an accidental drowning, but debate over her final years clearly remains a sensitive topic.
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