Kevin Costner appeared on the “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” podcast on Monday and reflected on the emotional experience of giving the eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral.
Houston, who passed away on February 11, 2012, was not only a legendary singer, but also co-starred with Costner in the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Costner opened up about the immense pressure he felt to give Houston the respect she deserved. He said he was initially hesitant to speak publicly about her death, preferring to mourn privately. However, as calls for him to make a statement grew, he was contacted privately by Dionne Warwick, who was organizing the memorial service, and he eventually agreed to speak at her funeral.
Kevin Costner was asked to shorten his 17-minute eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral, but refused.
“Some people said, ‘CNN is here, there will be commercial breaks, so they don’t care if your remarks are short.’ I said, ‘They don’t need to worry about that. pic.twitter.com/r38P9dd2HN
— Variety (@Variety) June 5, 2024
“I mourned her, but I didn’t want to,” Costner told Dax Shepard. Podcasts“When she died, I heard this constant ringing. You know, she was such a well-known person, everyone was talking about it on the airwaves. But that wasn’t my first instinct.” (RELATED: ‘My body stopped working’: Bobby Brown opens up about his past struggles with alcohol)
Costner said the atmosphere inside the Newark church on the day of the funeral was electric, filled with music and palpable energy. Despite the lively atmosphere and large crowd, Costner felt out of place and pressured, especially when someone approached him and asked him to shorten his 17-minute eulogy to coincide with a commercial break during CNN’s live coverage.
“Someone said, ‘CNN is here,'” he recalled. “They’re going to run commercials, so they won’t care if you’re brief.’ I said, ‘They don’t care. They can run commercials while I’m talking. I don’t care.'”
During the podcast, Costner also reminisced about his relationship with Houston, highlighting the special connection they shared both on and off screen.
“I don’t know what it was, but at some point I realized the world thought more of us, so I basically just embraced it,” he said. “I was her imaginary bodyguard.”
