Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Whitney Houston's Private, Faith-Focused Funeral

    By SHEILA MARIKAR | Good Morning America – Tue, Feb 14, 2012

    For Whitney Houston and her family, God was always paramount. That's likely why her mother, Cissy Houston, eschewed a big, public memorial at New Jersey's Prudential Center for a private, invitation-only funeral on Saturday in the Newark church that launched her daughter's career.

    Newark Mayor Cory Booker confirmed Tuesday that the family has no "plans to set up a public viewing at the Prudential Center this Friday" despite reports to the contrary. He also said that the city won't be orchestrating a memorial either "in compliance with the family's wishes."

    A source close to the family told ABCNews.com that "things changed rapidly" after initial reports that the Houstons were considering putting together a memorial to rival the Staples Center tribute that followed Michael Jackson's death in 2009. The source said, "This is now a family situation." The same funeral home that handled the burial arrangements for her father, John Russell Houston, in 2003, has been chosen to lay her to rest.

    Cissy Houston, 78, is steering this ship. The Grammy-winning gospel singer has reportedly been inconsolable since her daughter's death. Whitney grew up singing alongside her mother at the New Hope Baptist Church. In her 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, she talked about how from a young age, her talent was rooted in God.

    "I knew in the days when I was a teenager singing for God," she said. "I was so sure."

    In her 2002 interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, Houston elaborated on how her spirituality had evolved, saying, "I pray every day. I'm not the strongest every day, but I'm not the weakest either. ... I know I'm a child of God, and I know he loves me. Jesus loves me, this I know."

    As a child, she said she also knew she'd be a star. In an interview more than two decades ago with journalist Steve North, now at the Daily Beast, Cissy Houston reminisced about Whitney's ambition. "Mommy, I'm going to be a star," she remembered her daughter saying. "I'm going to take care of you, and you're never going to have to work again!"

    "I'm actually amazed sometimes," Cissy told North. "She just goes, she soars. And hearing her sometimes just gives me chills."

    The two sang together on Whitney Houston's 1987 album, "Whitney." But in Whitney Houston's darkest times, it wasn't necessarily her mother that got her through. She said it was God.

    "[I'd] talk on the phone," she told Winfrey in 2009, talking about her drug abuse. "Watch TV. Listen to gospel. I would still read my Bible, amazingly enough. I would still read my Bible. I still had it in me. I knew God was there. I knew the light was there, and I was just trying to get back to it. I just kept trying to get back to that spirituality."

    Also Read
     

    2 comments

    • Chicagoland lady
      Chicagoland lady  •  3 mths ago
      Whitney, is no doubt in heaven. Her last breath on her earth was her first in heaven. The Lord knew you were after his own heart. Dear Lord, you have received Whitney and please stir up your spirit in Boby Brown and Bobby-Kristina. No, more desire for drugs, to sleep. to rest and mostlyto try and find peace within this perishing flesh. Now,, in heaven there is no darkness, no drugs, no evil..just day and night glory to God on his throne. Thank you Jesus, as Whitney sang. "Jesus. loves me so because the bible tells me so!" He is the word and the word sent forth his angels to guard and protect Whitney's family at this time. Sweet dreams as you have slipped into the hands of our creator!!!..Amen
      • drlov35
        drlov35 3 mths ago
        sorry but by what authority do you make this claim!!??
    • David
      David  •  Nairobi, Kenya  •  3 mths ago
      RIP.Whitney
     Post a comment
    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    News For You

    Loading...