Aretha Franklin is not happy with speculation about the reason she was unable to attend the funeral of her god daughter. Several news outlets and gossip sites have speculated that Franklin’s interview with Al Roker where she said that “parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home” caused a rift between Franklin and Whitney’s mother Cissy, her longtime friend. Franklin released the following statement this morning.
“Extra TV, the New York Post and Newsday (New York) should stop the BS. Cissy Houston and I have been longtime friends for almost 50 years. I have four invitations and parking passes that were sent to me for the funeral. Extra TV, the New York Post and Newsday (New York) are more interested in sensationalism and negative speculations than the truth.
Cissy does not need ridiculous speculation and neither do I – particularly at this time … Knowing Cissy as well as I do, I know Whitney left home right and properly. I was generalizing and it was a well-intended statement for any young adult coming into the music industry. I was not speaking of anyone specifically.”
I still think she could have managed the drive and it still seems odd to me. Are y’all buying this?
It seems odd that if her health only permitted her one appearance that day, she chose radio city instead of her goddaughter's funeral. I'm guessing if there wasn't a rift, there is one now.Now can we talk about those two spotlight hogging morons in the back of the procession in the pic?
Ree Ree couldn't go to the funeral in Newark, but she made it to her show at Radio City Music Hall only a few miles away. I think Ree Ree may have been disinvited. Cissy has gone thru so much with Whitney that Ree Ree's remark may just have been her breaking point. NJB
If Aretha went to Whitney's funeral, she would have been expected perform. I do not think Aretha could mentally and emotionally perform at the level she wanted to, at Whitney's funeral. For her, it would be easier not to show up. I was really surprised that she did that interview will Al Roker.
I don't think there is any rift…people deal with grief in different ways. I agree with [email protected]:02am
Shame on the media. Personal decisions are just that – PERSONAL – What gives anyone the right to know everything about someone. Would you put up with no privacy – I wouldn't.What difference would it be to us if Aretha & Cissy had a knock down-drag out fight over this -OR- if they talked about it like the 50 year friends that they are. It's no ones business unless they want it to be.
I don't believe there's a rift and also we really don't know Ms. Franklin's true health issues. For example if she's having leg issues, cramping etc. She might have issues with blood clots…not a good thing. Traveling, etc. can exacerbate those issues and ppl. die everyday from these medical issues. Besides Whitney is dead, I really don't care if her and Mrs. Houston had a momentary "issue", I'm more concerned about the welfare of Bobbi Kris, besides I saw the interview and I thought it was a great interview. She was perhaps the most honest of all the ppl. who truly knew Whitney.
Did anyone here Al say this morning that the interview was done previous to Whitney's death and aired after she died? The event at Radio City Music Hall was a contractual agreement as she had missed an event last year due to her being ill so this was a make-up type deal.
Um Tam, are you saying she was imagining what she would do when Whitney died in the interview? Because here is part of what she said. In an exclusive interview with the 'Today' show's Al Roker this morning, Aretha Franklin revealed that she learned the news of Whitney Houston's death much the same way most of America did, on TV. "I had just finished watching George Clooney in 'The Descendants,' and I flipped back to the regular TV and maybe two minutes after I did it came across the screen," Houston's longtime friend told Roker on Friday. "I just jumped up off the side of the bed."
I have NEVER seen pallbearers carry a coffin on their shoulders before. It seems like an accident waiting to happen!
No Tamara it was what he said this morning. I was in a conference room with around ten people as it aired so I can definitely admit to being wrong maybe we all heard him incorrectly.
Tam, he must have said the interview was taped (rather than live) which would make sense. I dunno, I didn't see this morning. :)As for the coffin on the shoulder thing, I have seen it at "famous funerals" as it is sort of the textbook way to do it, but not much at regular funerals. I want someone to have a grip on me when I am planted. I don't want to be floppin out of the coffin and rolling around on the ground! Someone make a note of that!
i had never seen this either until we went to my grandmothers funeral in ironically, atlanta, a few years ago. and believe me, she was a regular person, but did have an over the top kind of funeral. my brother was a pall bearer, and was scared to death that he would drop her. we thought it was kind of a southern thing, cause no one else seemed to bat an eye. like you tamara, i aint havin it, tho.
She did what was best, for her. These two women have been friends, for 50 years. There's no rift. Some people handle grief differently. It could have been her grief that kept her from going. It's no one business, but her and Cissy. Get the hell over it and stop trying to make something out of nothing.