While talking to Lion Cannes Chairman Phil Thomas, Oprah Winfrey spoke about the loyalty of her talkshow audience and remembered an instance that perfecttly demonstrated that.
Singer Whitney Houston was on her show to perform in 2009, and took a tumble in front of the audience.
“I had such trust from the Oprah Show audience that Whitney did, I think it was her last show with us, and she had gone back on drugs. The first interview I did with her, when we’d gone behind stage, and I asked her about her intention, she was clean, but the day she came to my show, then to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off of the stage,” said Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey reveals Whitney Houston once fell off the stage while performing on her show, but she asked the audience not to tell the media about it.
“I begged them not to put those pictures out, because it would ruin her life. And they did not.” pic.twitter.com/ATri84hsLn
— Variety (@Variety) June 23, 2026
“I knew that if that story got out, that she’d fallen off of the stage, that she would be destroyed by that, and so even though the audience was there and the audience had cameras, I begged them not to put those pictures out, because it would ruin her life, and they did not. Would not happen today, I can tell you,’ she concluded on the topic.
Houston died at the age of 48 in February 2012 in Beverly Hills. Her cause of death was reportedly accidental drowning caused by heart disease and cocaine.
Whitney Houston’s Estate denies Oprah Winfrey’s claims
In a statement to TMZ, Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law and the woman in charge of her estate, has come out in defence of Houston.
“Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but it was during a sound check, and it was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. She was absolutely not high,” said Pat Houston.
“Like many people, she faced personal battles, but it is inaccurate and unfair to attach that struggle to every performance or every chapter of her life. What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent, and commitment – not the assumptions others project.”
“Whitney’s humanity included triumphs and struggles, but on that day, she showed up as the professional and gifted artist she always worked to be. We owe her the dignity of telling the truth, not repeating myths,” Pat Houston said.