A recently-premiered documentary on the life of Whitney Houston shed light on a dark secret, alleging that the icon was sexually abused as a child by her cousin Dee Dee Warwick.
Director Kevin MacDonald included plenty of interviews with Houston’s close friends and family in Whitney, two of whom discussed the abuse claims. The singer’s half-brother, former NBA point guard Gary Garland-Houston said that both he and Houston were molested by their cousin as children. Mary Jones, the singer’s assistant, supported the allegations by noting that Houston spoke of a woman molesting her when she was young. Warwick, who died in 2008 at age 63, was the niece of Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston and the sister of popular soul singer Dionne Warwick. Dee Dee was nominated for two Grammys and sang backup for Aretha Franklin.
The film premiered at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday (May 16) and will be released in theaters across the United States and the United Kingdom on July 6.