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Kevin Costner shares his memories of Whitney Houston while speaking at her funeral on February 19, 2012. In case you missed it, here's the video of...
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Kevin Costner shares his memories of Whitney Houston while speaking at her funeral on February 19, 2012. In case you missed it, here's the video of Kevin's entire speech. It's truly inspirational and motivating!
"Kevin Costner's words of Whitney were some of the most profound he or anyone has spoken. He may have saved a few young girls lives with that one. Well done Kevin. Well done." - Richard Bliss Brooke
Whitney Houston (August 9, 1963 - February 11, 2012) R.I.P.
Here's a transcript of the end of Kevin's speech:
The day the test came and I went into her trailer after the hair and makeup people were done, Whitney was scared. Arguably, the biggest pop star in the world wasn't sure if she was good enough. She didn't think she looked right. There were a thousand things to her that seemed wrong.
I held her hand and told her that she looked beautiful. I told her that I would be with her every step of the way, that everyone there wanted her to succeed, but I could still feel the doubt. I wanted to tell her that the game was rigged, that I didn't care how the test went, that she could fall down and start speaking in tongues, that somehow I would find a way to explain it as an extraordinary acting choice. [ applause ]
...and we could expect more to follow, and gee, weren't we lucky to have her. That wouldn't have been fair. It wouldn't have been fair to Lawrence who had written the screen play 15 years earlier. It wouldn't have been fair to my brothers at Warner Brothers and it wasn't the right signal to send to Whitney .
She took it all in and asked me if she could have a few minutes by herself and would meet me on the set. I was sure she was praying. After about 20 minutes later she came out. We hadn't said four lines when we had to stop. The lights were turned off, and I walked Whitney off the set and back to her room.
She wanted to know what was wrong, and I needed to know what she'd done during those 20 minutes. She said, "nothing." in only the way she could, nothing.
So I turned her around so that she could see herself in the mirror and she gasped. All of the makeup on Whitney's face was running. It was streaking down her face and she was devastated. She didn't feel like the makeup we put on her was enough so she'd wiped it off and put on the makeup that she was used to wearing in her music videos . It was much thicker and the hot lights had melted it. She asked if anyone had seen -- if anyone had saw, I said "I didn't think so."
It happened so quickly. She seemed so small and sad at that moment, and I asked her why she did it? She said, "I just wanted to look my best."
It's a tree we can all hang from. Unexplainable burden that comes with fame, call it doubt, call it fear. I've had mine, and I know the famous in the room have had theirs.
I asked her to trust me and she said she would. A half hour later she went back in to do her screen test and the studio fell in love with her. The Whitney i knew, despite her success and worldwide fame still wondered...
Am I good enough?
Am I pretty enough?
Will they like me?
It was the burden that made her great, and the part that caused her to stumble in the end.
Whitney, if you could hear me now I would tell you , "You weren't just good enough, you were great."
You sang the whole damn song without a band. You made the picture what it was. A lot of leading men could have played my part. a lot of guys -- a lot of guys could have filled that role, but you, Whitney , I truly believe were the only one that could have played Rachel Mirren at that time. [ applause ]
You weren't just pretty; you were as beautiful as a woman could be. People didn't just like you, Whitney, they loved you.
I was your pretend bodyguard once not so long ago, and now you're gone, too soon, leaving us with memories -- memories of a little girl that stepped bravely in front of this church, in front of the ones that loved you first. In front of the ones that loved you best and loved you the longest. The bolder you stepped into the white-hot light of the world stage, and what you did is the rarest of achievements.
You set the bar so high that professional singers, your own colleagues, they don't want to sing that little country song. What would be the point? Now the only one who sing your songs are young girls like you who with are dreaming of being you some day.
And so do you Bobbi Kristina and to all those young girls who are dreaming that dream, that maybe thinking are they good enough?
I think Whitney would tell you guard your bodies, guard the precious miracle of your own life, and then sing your hearts out knowing that there's a lady in heaven who is making god himself wonder how he created something so perfect.
So off you go, Whitney. Off you go. Escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly father, and when you sing before him don't you worry... YOU'LL BE GOOD ENOUGH.
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