The Liz Smith Column | 10/28/2009 5:00 am

Liz Smith: Whitney Houston's Recovery – and Re-Covering

Also from Our Gossip Girl, ‘Precious’ predictions for Lee Daniels and Valentino’s farewell.

Whitney Houston © Getty Images

"There’s nothing as exciting as a comeback – seeing someone with dreams, watching them fail and then getting a second chance," says actress Rachel Griffiths.

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Clive Davis continues to treat the rejuvenated Whitney Houston like a piece of fragile china.

Whitney is Clive’s greatest discovery and he has been her faithful supporter through thick and thicker. Now that Whitney is in serious comeback mode with her "I Look to You" CD, Clive is even more solicitous and careful not to allow anything to break the spell of her recovery.

Clive went with Whitney to the UK for an appearance on the popular "X Factor" show. (That’s where the strap of her gown snapped – a wardrobe malfunction but not a big reveal. Whitney acted fast to recover. Re-cover?)

Now we hear that Clive is planning for Whitney to guest on the "Dancing With the Stars" finale. No, she won’t dance. She’ll sing something from her new album and hope to "move" several thousand more discs out of the stores.

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I like to think I was the first person ever to write about the movie "Precious." This info appeared here before director Lee Daniels even started filming. And I’ve been writing about this phenomenon ever since – a "little" movie that will likely rock Academy Award voters back on their heels again this year.

Click here for pictures from the film "Precious."

Last weekend, there was "Precious" with its 16-year-old leading lady, Gabourey Sidibe, on the cover of The New York Times magazine, with an article by Lynn Hirschberg and excellent portraits by Robert Maxwell.

Image: NYTimes.com

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Several years ago, after Halle Berry won the Oscar for "Monster’s Ball," I was seated by that film’s producer, Lee Daniels, at a party given by Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley. During dinner, Lee told me all his hopes and dreams and we became friends.

What kind of guy is Lee Daniels? He has his association with the "Monsters Ball" Oscar under his belt, as well as another film called "Shadowboxer" made in 2005, starring the distinguished Helen Mirren. Now he is rolling with "Precious," which everybody seemed to love at the recent New York Film Festival.

Lee is gay and has taken on the raising of two children. He seems to understand women. So Lee set out this time to film the story of a 300-pound adolescent pregnant by her father and horribly abused by her mother.

His onetime manager told Lee no one would want to see such a downbeat, sordid story. It is a tale that many African Americans feel should be left untold. But Lee got up at both the Sundance and later the Toronto Film Festivals to accept the "audience award" for "Precious." In the bargain, he nabbed those two biggies, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, as his executive producers.

You are going to hear more and more about this movie based on the book Push by Sapphire. It has the comedienne Mo’Nique as the quite horrible abusive mother, a deglamorized Mariah Carey as a social caseworker, Paula Patton as a teacher who just happens to be a lesbian and Lenny Kravitz as a nurse.

Mariah Carey and Gabourey Sidibe/Courtesy Lionsgate

(Oh, Lenny, do you remember that kiss on the lips you gave me one night in Orso’s?)

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But enough about me. Once he started dancing on the precipice of so much success, Lee Daniels is in the crosshairs of racial conflict and business envy. Many people say "Precious" is exploitive and negative to the image of black people.

I can’t tell you how many insiders in showbiz say to me these days that my pal Lee tells fibs, is an inflater of his role in producing movies, or directing them, a show off, a fake, a fool. I just have to laugh.

37 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

The "comeback" of Whitney Houston is curious if nothing else with her "True Confessions" appearance on Oprah followed by "X Factor" and now "Dancing with the Stars." She should have just released the new album and let the chips, or CDS, fall where they may.

She’s going to find that every time she says the wrong thing or sings an off-note that she’s "back on the crack" the way Judy Garland was always "drunk again." I think the main problem for Judy Garland was she kept hearing how she was drunk when she wasn’t and just got drunk finally and stayed that way. Judy had some help in her self-destruction. I suspect Whitney will as well. As has Lindsay Lohan. And so many others. Whitney is just the latest offering at the sacrificial altar.

Schadenfreude. We love it when the gods and goddesses fall off the pedestals. And we really hate it when they manage to climb back up. And so we do everything we can to make sure they don’t.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 6:15 am

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Dear Baby…Yikes! And Mr. Wow thought he was a cynic. All "comebacks" are launched with the product—movie, album, whatever—along with interviews and PR stunts. It’s nothing new. The public needs to see the star in the flesh, behaving "normally" and usually expressing regret or embarassment for past mistakes.

Elizabeth Taylor used to refer to it as the yo-yo theory of fame, up, down, up down, and as she noted there was an almost "animal glee" in watching the down cycle. But I think many in the public experience real pleasure when a celebrity recovers health, wealth and/or career. It’s the media that won’t let go of the past, always looking for the slip-up.

By Mr. Wow on 10/28/2009 9:26 am

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Elizabeth Taylor didn’t hit the talk show circuit and do the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" routine as Whitney has. She checked into Betty Ford, checked out, managed to get married again, and never said a word about her addictions. Elizabeth may have waxed eloquently in private about it all but never in public. Why she really is still the last star.

I think she said during one of the "Burton" that there was no deodorant like success. Or later, perhaps, like perfume.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 9:50 am

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Ooops. That should have read during one of the "Burton" circuses. I don’t think the Second Coming will draw the crowds the Burtons did.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 10:35 am

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Dear Baby…Sorry, wrong! Elizabeth talked extensively about her addictions. In fact one of the first things she did after checking out of Betty Ford in early 1984, was…"Good Morning America." (Years later, after her second stint at Betty Ford, she would tell Larry King about the "whole bottle of wine" she’d consume at lunch.) And when she was plugging her "diet" book—Oprah, Phil Donahue, the Today Show…and before her marriage to Fortensky (and the launch of another fragrance)—Oprah again, and much more. She IS the last star. But she has played along, just like the minor novas. That’s why it’s called show BUSINESS. The difference is, even talking about addictions, La Liz does it with style. And she has concealed more than she has revealed. But, she’s revealed enough to suit the maddening crowd.

By Mr. Wow on 10/28/2009 10:54 am

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But she never did the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" routine - you didn’t see her blaming Burton, or anyone else, or Burton, by the way, blaming her. And she never played the victim hoping to sell anything including herself. When she talked about it, she did so as a survivor. Not a victim. And when she slipped from time to time as we all do she shrugged and went on. Knowing that what she did yesterday didn’t matter today. Even if everyone else did think it mattered.

It’s hard to compare her to anyone, or anyone to her, because she has survived so much in her life as well as her career and one reason why perhaps is that she never played the victim. Even when she was.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 11:16 am

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And I honestly don’t remember her going on an "Elizabeth Taylor Sober" tour of the talk shows. But then I’m not real big on talk shows. So maybe she did. If she did, I apologize. I just cannot imagine her doing so. Maybe as an "afterthought" in an interview. But not a tour. Or a crusade of career salvation.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 3:04 pm

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Baby Snooks, after reviewing many of the histories of celebrities who have gone through addiction and rehab, Whitney Houston seems to be the exception to the rule. The term, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” more applies to the celebrities who have conquered their addictions and spoke truthfully about them, shying away from being the victim. Elizabeth Taylor included. Most accept their responsibility /accountability for their addictions and are not looking for someone else to blame. Most recently, Mackenzie Phillips. Putting the molestation issue aside (though she claimed to be an active participant), she has never blamed her addiction on anyone except the bad judgment that she continued to make. Discussing circumstances and assigning blame are two different things. Her relapse last year (with the airport incident) was simply stated as fact without endless explanations of cause and fault. She accepted it, rectified it and moved forward. As an Addictions Counselor, I see that this is ‘typical’ of the recovery process. Ms Houston was a bit glib and still wavering in her ability to accept her own responsibility in contributing to her own addiction. This is not necessarily a ‘negative’ thing. It just means that, perhaps, she has a bit more work to do with self-realization…and if she continues to remain on the path to recovery, it is my hope that she will eventually arrive. Recovery is a very private thing and diluting it with countless public explanations defeats the purpose. It is the reason why most celebrities do not do a ‘tell all’ for the press. Some do write books, but I think that it is more cathartic for them than done for publicity reasons. It is a onetime deal, which is encouraged in the process of recovery. Ms Houston is at the place in her recovery where she is. More will be revealed to her (internally) as time passes the farther away from active addiction that she is.

By Richard Bassett on 10/28/2009 3:46 pm

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What I meant by "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" has to do with Whitney Houston intimating that she just accidentally became an addict because of Bobby Brown being an addict. And of course now he is claiming he became an addict because she was an addict. "I was in Rome, they were all doing crack, so I figured why not just do what the Romans do?" Neither apparently is capable of seeing the co-dependancy or the co-enabling.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton could have played that game in the end but neither did. Perhaps at points within the marriage they did with each other. But both seemed to maintain they didn’t have a problem. Both did. And both seemed to drink even more as the years went by trying to prove a point to someone that they didn’t have a problem. When they sobered up, they looked at themselves rather than each other. Few really do that. Most really do want to blame someone else. Which is why so many fall back into the cycle of addiction. It was always something else. Someone else.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 4:50 pm

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Whitney is a woman in her forties so giving her the excuse ‘everyone else is doing it so why not me?’ does not cut it. She is an adult. We tend to allow this rational with adolescents and younger people, but rightly so. Peer pressure is a reality of their lives. And though peer pressure is an excuse, the younger ones lack the maturity of mind to differentiate that from ‘just having fun like everyone else’. They haven’t experienced enough of life to come to the appropriate conclusions. But this is not the case with Houston. As she was an adult when discussing this process, it sounds disingenuous because it does not make sense. She is (now) using this reason as part of her denial process and, as I have said, in time and with internal reflection…she may come to different conclusions down the line. Though she is still an exception…for not taking full responsibility for her actions. Most people do. Of course, there even comes a time when the addiction itself starts to make the decisions, she still has the ultimate power to change her situation…or no one would be successful in maintaining a quality life in recovery. But you tend to emanate that no one seems capable of achieving this. You say: “Few really do that. Most really do want to blame someone else. Which is why so many fall back into the cycle of addiction. It was always something else. Someone else.” This is a total insult to those living and struggling with recovery. This may be your experience with those in your life, but to generalize this is a bit ignorant. True, there may be a period of ‘blame’ with the addict…but that is just a form of denial and can processed into the acceptance of responsibility. In fact, in most cases it is. We do not what the Burtons knew or said or preached during their years of active addiction. This was not ‘out there’ for the entire world to see. We have no right to make such harsh judgments regarding their struggles, successes, failures. As I have said, recovery is very private…as addiction originates deeps within our psyche. You opinions, I believe, come from the philosophy of your own life in assigning blame to people, places and things. But, in all fairness, I do not know you well enough to stand behind that statement.

By Richard Bassett on 10/28/2009 5:38 pm

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The Burtons were pretty much "out there" for all to see - the media for some reason just didn’t report it. Shock perhaps. Or maybe they were just the normal couple of the times. In a way, honestly, they probably were.

I wish Whitney the best despite it possibly appearing I don’t. I suspect, to be honest, part of this is the result of a "public relations strategy" as Mr. Wow pointed out. If so it really was not the best strategy. Certainly not for her personally.

You’re right. You don’t know me. I’ve been around the block so to speak several times. Been run over by a couple of Mac trucks along the way. Here, there, and several other places. Absolutely it’s colored my views of the world and the people in it. The rich and famous and the not-so-rich and not so famous. And some just downright infamous.

I am a recovered alcoholic. Took years to get there. I enjoy a beer with Mexican food and sushi. A glass of wine occasionally socially. A nice "sipping drink" of Jack Daniels on a special occasion. I also know when to not to enjoy. Knowing it will fuel the rocket so to speak. Took years to get there as well. At no point did I blame anyone. Not even myself. Still don’t.

By Baby Snooks on 10/28/2009 6:01 pm

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Apparently you guys missed the conversation between Whitney and Oprah that discussed Whitney’s strong desire to make the marriage work. That was her weakness, she was willing to do anything to prove that she and Bobby were going to beat the odds. There are many woman out there that loose sight of who they are and become what they think they should be in order to make a relationship work. Drugs were not the root of her problem - her willingness to do whatever it takes in order to be a good wife was the issue. She took responsibility for that. The pain in not being able to attain perfection in her relationship became a factor. The drugs were a way to connect, they became a way to numb the pain… but the heart of her addiction wasn’t drugs. She’s not blaming Bobby for her drug use - she’s owning up to it and sharing the deep rooted reasons she used.

By Will Always on 10/28/2009 9:19 pm

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Whitney, happy to see you back. Beautiful person with a beautiful voice. I believe there is a reason for all things that happen. It doesn’t matter what other people say. What matters is being true to yourself. I look forward to enjoying your music over and over. As for the movie "Precious" I have met people who lived lives much like this. Don’t knock what you don’t know. Life is not a bed or roses every day for every person. There are lots of things that go on in the shadows.

By Bonnie Schuster on 10/28/2009 6:46 am

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Whitney Houstons demise wasn’t caused by drugs. It was caused by a Bobby Brown. Bobby Brown took control of her and ruined her.

Precious is about a fat black girl that I’m assuming gets made fun of, maybe lives in a bad neighborhood. If you don’t want to be fat, stop eating so much. Millions of youngsters live like this everyday. This is nothing new.

By Frank Somsel on 10/28/2009 9:23 pm

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PRECIOUS the most incredible, moving, effective and affective movie of the year! A MUST SEE And sale of all Valentino DVDs last evening benefited ROBIN HOOD!

By ellin saltzman on 10/28/2009 7:52 am