THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512220061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
``HONEY, DON'T MESS with me. I don't take no mess. Let's get that straight from the start,'' Whitney Houston said, snapping her fingers to order a quick-stepping aide to fetch a cup of coffee.
Miss Pop Diva has the credentials, and the bank account, to back up her no-nonsense stance. She is arguably the biggest recording star in the world (80 million albums sold worldwide and five Grammys). With a new movie, ``Waiting to Exhale'' opening this weekend and a new No. 1 record - ``Exhale (Shoop Shoop)'' - her career is very much alive.
``Waiting to Exhale,'' based on the novel by Terry McMillan, is about four up-scale black women in an often-futile search for decent men. Houston plays Savannah, a sexy and single woman who aims to find (1) a job as a TV producer and (2) a decent man. In the latter category, she gets a two-timer and a guy who's already married. ``God's got a lot of explaining to do,'' she says.
Houston's first movie, 1992's ``The Bodyguard,'' co-starring Kevin Costner, took in a whopping $400 million at the box office and spawned the best-selling movie soundtrack album of all time. She hasn't been in a rush to find a second movie.
``I've been touring for two years, the whole gig, and, incidentally, I had a baby,'' she said, explaining her absence from the screen.
``To tell you the truth, I'm not itching to be a movie star. I sing. That's what God gave me - really. I'm a singer. I act when I interpret a song, but that's a whole lot easier than acting a role, to me.''
The paper-thin Whitney Houston, 32, doesn't like to do interviews. ``The press won't let you be regular,'' she said. ``All I want to be is regular, and here they come, following you around. Writing stuff about my marriage. They've made me into this image person. That used to be hard to take.''
She explained, ``I go into a restaurant and folks are watching. I feel like saying, `Look, I'm not going to do anything spectacular, I swear. I'm not going to do a back-flip right here in the restaurant.' Our society today is really weird on the things it gets off on.''
She has a suit pending, according to her, against the New York Post for a story they printed claiming that she overdosed on diet pills and almost died. ``I have no weight problem, as you can see,'' she said. ``This frame ain't going nowhere. The story claimed Eddie Murphy, of all people, rushed to my side and that I had diet problems. My mother read it, and believed it. She thought, `Well, my daughter has really freaked. The business has finally got her.' ''
Her soaring voice, famed for its long-held notes, rocketed her to stardom at age 22 with ``Saving All My Love for You.'' In 1987, her album ``Whitney'' became the first album by a woman ever to debut on the charts at No. 1. The single ``Where Do Broken Hearts Go'' established her as the first person to have seven consecutive No. 1 hits, breaking the record held by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. Her 10th No. 1 single, ``I Will Always Love You,'' sold over 4 million copies in the United States alone.
Asked to name the best song she's recorded, she said, ``I have no idea. I haven't found that one, truly great song yet. When I find it, I'll stop.''
Growing up in New Jersey, she was just a shy choir girl.
``It was a very rough neighborhood,'' she said. ``When we moved to Orange, N.J., I was the new girl and I had to fight. That's where I learned to be tough. One day eight girls chased me home with sticks. My mother stepped out front of the house and she had a belt in her hand. She said, `All right, I want the baddest of you girls to step out. Now! Whitney is going to fight you today, and if any one of you step in it, I'm going to beat you with this belt.'
``They backed off. But I ultimately had to fight. I never got beat up. Most of the time I talked my way out of a situation.''
On her much-publicized marriage to singer R&B singer Bobby Brown, 26, she makes only one statement: ``I am Mrs. Bobby Brown. Does that answer your question? We are still very much married. He's a modern guy.''
``Modern'' is not the way the press described him lately. Currently, he faces a charge of aggravated battery and disorderly conduct concerning an incident at Walt Disney World's Mannequins nightclub. A Chicago tourist claims he was beaten by Brown and his two bodyguards. Orlando deputies claim Brown urinated in their squad car and carved obscenities into the seat covers.
Her tiff with the press is understandable: Stories have been widely published claiming that her longtime friendship with Robyn Crawford, her executive assistant, is a lesbian affair and that Whitney doesn't really care what her erring husband does.
Houston, though, is eager to talk about her 2-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina.
``There are two big events in my life. The first was giving birth. After 14 hours of labor, you think, `I want to change my mind.' But I wanted to do it because it's the one thing guys can't do, and that says something. After Bobbi Kristina was born, the entire world changed for me. You stop living for yourself and you start living for your child. It's a wonderful feeling.
``The second, and really the first, most important thing in my life was when I gave myself to the Lord, at age 14. He wants you to love him, and when you do, you get love back. Because of him, I can live with myself. I can sleep at night.''
In spite of the fact that she does not want ``movie stardom,'' she is now at work in ``The Preacher's Wife,'' a remake of the 1947 movie ``The Bishop's Wife,'' which starred Loretta Young and Cary Grant. She stars with Denzel Washington.
Asked about the rumored ``Bodyguard'' sequel, she exclaimed, ``Get out! No, nothing will come of that. I haven't even talked with Kevin Costner in awhile.''
With that, the Pop Diva of the moment was off and running, with bodyguards discreetly at a distance. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by 20th Century Fox
"I'm not itching to be a movie star," says Houston, left, with Lela
Rochon, who plays the adventurous Robin in "Waiting to Exhale."
Color photo
Whitney Houston...and Dennis Haysbert
by CNB