Whitney Houston‘s longtime bodyguard remains her sworn defender even after her death.
Ray Watson recently protected the late singer from false claims, sharing his perspective on what happened during her 2009 appearance on Oprah Winfrey‘s show.
The incident began trending after Oprah Winfrey claimed Whitney Houston had fallen off the stage because she had relapsed. However, Ray Watson begged to differ.
Watson recently addressed Winfrey’s viral claims in a virtual interview shared on YouTube. He confirmed Houston took a tumble off the talk show stage in 2009, but it wasn’t because she was high, as the host claimed.
The bodyguard confessed that he couldn’t recall what Houston was doing at the time, whether it was a sound check or something else. But he remembered her walking towards the front of the stage and someone trying to warn her as she moved closer to the edge.
“When she got to the edge, I think somebody told her, ‘Watch, be careful, watch it.’ And then she went down,” Watson told TMZ’s Charlie Neff, adding that the area had been too dark for Houston to notice the end of the stage.
The Late Singer Laughed Off The Incident And Went Back To Business
Watson recalled everyone panicking and rushing to the “All the Man That I Need” hitmaker’s side, but she got back on her feet before they reached her. He noted Houston laughed off the incident, telling people that she didn’t see the edge before falling off.
While everyone, including her bodyguard, was worried she was hurt, the singer hopped back on the stage and finished what she was doing. When asked if Houston had been having trouble with addiction when the incident happened, Watson said:
“I will tell you the truth about it, and this is the honest truth. I never seen Wendy get high. Never seen. I speculated, but I never saw her. I never seen her do it.”
The Bodyguard Slammed Oprah Winfrey For Waiting Years To Drop Her Claims
Watson added that at the time of Houston’s fall, she never appeared to be high, nor did he notice any indication stating otherwise. When asked why Winfrey believed the cultural icon had relapsed, he stressed that he could not see through her eyes.
Despite noting that Winfrey was entitled to her own opinions, Watson couldn’t help but slam her for waiting until Houston’s passing to drop her claims. “Whitney’s not here to rebut. She’s not here…Now they say that she waited so many years before she said it. Well, why didn’t you say it then?” he wondered.
The bodyguard also called BS on the talk host’s claim of not sharing the story earlier to protect Houston’s career. He stressed that he did not believe Winfrey and reiterated that she waited 17 years to drop her allegations instead of facing Houston while she was alive.
The Talk Show Host Faces Backlash Following The New Narrative
Watson’s words sparked a wave of support for the late singer, with many fans echoing his words in the comment section. They slammed Winfrey for allegedly trying to stay relevant by spreading false information about Houston.
“Oprah is a menace,” someone declared, with another questioning the talk show host’s motive for sharing the 2009 incident. “F-K Oprah!!! You all haven’t learned that yet??? Oprah is shady as hell!!!” a third alleged, with more fans sharing the same view.
A YouTube user claimed Winfrey was infamous for never telling the truth, with another agreeing. A fellow critic believed the media personality was “jealous of any other famous Black person that outshines her, whether dead or alive.”
Watson wasn’t the only one defending Houston’s name, as her loved ones pushed back against Winfrey’s high claims. The late entertainer’s sister-in-law, Pat, addressed the incident through a lengthy statement on Instagram.
The Blast covered the story, reporting that she matched Watson’s narrative of the stage being too dark for the singer to see the edge. Pat admitted that the “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” hitmaker faced many personal battles, like everyone else.
However, she argued that it was unfair to attach these struggles to every little incident in Houston’s life. Pat urged people to remember the cultural icon for her achievements as an artist, stressing that she was owed “the dignity of telling the truth, not repeating myths.”
