Whitney Houston’s romance turned lifelong friendship with Robyn Crawford is explored in her first authorized biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Houston met Crawford at her first summer job in New Jersey. The then 16-year-olds struck up a close friendship, even becoming roommates when Houston moved out of her parents’ home into her own apartment. It was then, over the summer, that they explored something beyond a friendship, according to Crawford’s version of events in her memoir A Song For You. But Houston would cut it short, citing her religious background and her aspirations for her singing career. Instead, Houston asked Crawford to remain her friend and confidant. Crawford obliged. And eventually, she became Houston’s creative director before she quit in 2000. The director of the biopic, Kasi Lemmons, revealed in a recent interview that Houston’s family initially didn’t want the romance examined in the film.
“They have feelings, and those feelings have to be respected,” Lemmons told The L.A. Times, per Madame Noire. “To their immense credit they said, ‘OK, this was part of Whitney’s life. This can be part of the movie.’ I said, ‘Well, presumably they kissed. We really can surmise that there was a romance there,’” Kasi Lemmons added. “I think we all know that at one point, it was beyond just friendship.”
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Houston denied there was ever anything more than a friendship with Crawford. But her inner circle said otherwise. Crawford is also credited with keeping Houston stable amid her growing drug addiction. Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, revealed in her memoir that Crawford was the one who told her about Houston’s drug use, long before things spiraled out of control.ย
Crawford would later admit that she was bothered by Houston’s denial of things becoming romantic at one point. “I didn’t like some of the things she said. I didn’t feel like it was helping things. But she didn’t care at that point. She would say: ‘They’ll say what they want to say,’” Crawford explained in her book.
“And Whitney also always pushed back on labels,” Crawford added. “That went for her music, too. She didn’t sing Black music or white music; she just sang.”
