Kevin Costner refuses to cut Whitney Houston’s funeral speech: ‘They can play commercials while I’m talking, I don’t care’

In an interview for Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, Kevin Costner revealed that he turned down the eulogy for Whitney Houston at her funeral. Indeed, at that time he was asked to shorten his speech so that television channels such as CNN could broadcast live commercials.

Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston They became close friends after starring together in Mick Jackson’s 1992 romantic blockbuster Bodyguard. The actor was one of eight people who spoke at the singer’s funeral in 2012.

“I’ve been working on this speech… and I’ve been trying to gather everything I want to do and I’ve finally written this speech“, he said Kevin Costner. “Someone said, “CNN is here, they don’t care if your remarks are shorter because they’ll have commercials.” And I said, ‘They’ll get over it. They can play commercials while I’m talking, I don’t care.“

praise Kevin Costner It lasted 17 minutes, but the actor was hesitant to speak at first. This happened only thanks to the encouragement of the singer and his cousin Whitney HoustonDionne Warwick for finally agreeing to do it.

“I felt the weight on him, now he moved on me“, Kostner said regarding his speech. “What can I say about this little girl? I went back to the church in Newark and it was full. It was electric. Two bands were playing, the church was alive. That was it, boom!“

The Whitney Legacy

In guard, Kevin Costner played a former US Secret Service agent who is hired as a bodyguard for a famous star (Whitney Houston) when he became the target of an unknown stalker. The film grossed $411 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1992. Whitney Houston The tracks “I Will Always Love You” and “I Have Nothing” formed the official soundtrack, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. It remains the best-selling film soundtrack of all time.

“I don’t think we’ll ever forget the moment that little song came out, it blew up“, he recalls Kevin Costner In 2022, after “I Will Always Love You” and the film about the singer’s success. “He sang the first part a cappella, and musically, the world was never the same. We have a moment with him in this movie that we’ll never forget, and I think when movies work, that can happen.“

Whitney Houston He died in 2012 at the age of 48. His legacy has continued ever since.

You can watch The Bodyguard again and again on VOD.