Diva Down: Whitney Houston Succumbs to Addiction

BY HEATHER JOHNSON

L.L. Cool J said it best at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, “There’s no way around it. We’ve lost a member of our family, one of our own.” A trailblazer in the music industry, we said goodbye to the great diva, Whitney Houston, on February 11, 2012.

Whitney’s body was found in her hotel bathtub around 3:30 p.m. by a member of her staff, just hours away from her pre-Grammy performance. After being pulled from the water, she was pronounced dead 30 minutes later. Though prescription drug bottles were found at the scene, they have yet to release or confirm for that matter, that this was a overdose.

For those of us who loved Whitney, a good portion of the blame has been aimed at her infamous counterpart, Bobby Brown. Upon her marriage to him, she seemed to spiral down and out of control getting hooked on a variety of drugs, landing her in rehab, of course. Though no one but herself can be blamed for destroying her life, fans still clung to the memory of her and sadly sung “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” upon hearing the news.

A public funeral will be held in Newark later this week, where her fans can show the outpour of support for her family, and for the soul sister herself. What a terrible loss to be so young and so talented.

The Associated Press reminded readers that Houston’s death is a sad rewind of what happened with Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse. It took over three months to rule that Winehouse drank herself to death last July and that a powerful anesthetic was linked to Jackson’s death in 2009. Three months ago, Jackson’s doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

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