Inside Whitney Houston’s Secret Torment For Being Gay
While Whitney being a lesbian isn’t exactly a “secret,” somebody else has a book to sell, so those gay rumors (which are probably true) are swirling again. Via NY Post:
Whitney Houston was the perfect face for the MTV-dominated 1980s, “a glamorous showgirl shaped by a Svengali” – the powerful Arista Records producer Clive Davis. But she also possessed a deep, dark secret: she was a closeted lesbian, writes author Gerrick Kennedy in his new book, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All: In Defense of Whitney Houston” (Abrams Press), out Tuesday.
Feeling pressure to conform to her strict religious upbringing and the norms of the time, Whitney hid her sexuality from the public till her tragic death, which happened 10 years ago this week.
Even as a little girl, Whitney felt different. She was a tomboy and bristled at wearing the frilly clothes and hair ribbons chosen by her mother. She preferred jeans, t-shirts and running track with her two older brothers, Gary and Michael.
In the summer of 1980, when she was 17, she introduced herself to a stunning, slender 19-year-old, Robyn Crawford, when they were both working as youth counselors at the East Orange Community Center in NJ.
It was a bond that formed almost immediately, and they were inseparable that summer. If you saw one, you saw the other,” writes Kennedy.
Crawford, Whitney’s first close friend, confidante and companion outside of her brothers, had Whitney’s back and was “unyieldingly loyal.”
With Crawford, Houston could be the tomboy who preferred smoking Newports, getting high and cursing.
In the Houston living room that same year, Whitney and Robyn came together. “Their lips met, bound by all that had been unspoken between the two. That first kiss was long, warm like honey,” Kennedy writes.
[NYPost: Inside Whitney Houston’s secret torment for being gay, falling for a woman]
