Kevin Costner Talks Whitney Houston on 'Anderson'
Actor also opens up about Lady Diana and 'Bodyguard 2'
By TVDeeva Deanna Barnert Apr 10, 2012 3:57PM
Kevin Costner visited "Anderson" to promote his upcoming miniseries, "Hatfields & McCoys." And during his sit down with Anderson Cooper, he also covered hot topics like Whitney Houston, Lady Diana and getting dissed by the royal family.
After Costner spoke at Whitney Houston's funeral, it's no surprise Anderson brought up the topic of her battle with drugs. When asked about his former co-star in the clip above, Costner revealed that if she was battling drugs back when they shot "The Bodyguard," he didn't know about it. He did, however, reach out to Houston when her problems became public, later on.
"There were some people that really loved Whitney and a couple times during the last seven/eight years [they] asked me would I write her a letter," he said. "Again, it's so odd. I mean, listen, I come exactly from where you come from. I know I have this level of celebrity and fame – international, national, whatever you want to refer to it – but it's pretty surreal thing to think, sometimes, that you're in the middle of another famous person's life, and you think to yourself, 'How the hell did I get famous?' What is this, some weird club that we're in? So when someone said, 'Would you write someone a letter who you know is having trouble,' I did. There were two occasions. I elected to let Whitney have her life after 'The Bodyguard' and she would always be close to me. She would always be someone I appreciated. I saw pretty much what everyone else saw. But when someone asked me to write a letter I did. I don't know if those letters were ever read."
Costner again touched on the price of fame while discussing Bobbi Kristina. "Sometimes we want to envy people," Costner said. "I think that you should be happy with your anonymity. It doesn't lessen you as a person and it may seem like, 'Oh easy, for you to say.' I'm telling you, money doesn't buy your way out of problems and it doesn't buy you happiness. It has afforded me the opportunity to travel the world to be treated in a way that everyone should be treated."
During the visit, Costner also opened up about his talks with Princess Diana, who wanted in on "Bodyguard 2."
"Diana and I had been talking about doing 'Bodyguard 2.' I told her I would take care of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney," Costner recalled. "She let me know that her life might be changing at some point, so she was having her own internal struggles. When she died, she was obviously all over the news. I knew that that was an interesting story that I had, but I never brought that up and a very good reporter, about a year later, somehow heard something and finally came to me and I said, 'Yeah, that was true.' Not that she was going to do it: That we were talking about doing it.
"She wanted me to write it for her," he continued. "I said, 'I'll tailor it for you if you're interested.' She goes, 'I am interested.' And, then it came from The Royal Family, some people said, 'No that's not true, that's not true.' Kind of dissed me a little bit and I called them up and said, 'Don't do that, because it's true. I didn't talk about it when I could have a year earlier and I didn't try to make it a story. Somebody else found this out and I said it was true, so don't say it's not true.' And so they said, 'Okay.'"
For more from Costner and the Memorial Day Weekend premiere of his upcoming miniseries about America’s most infamous family feud, keep your eye out for the interview on "Anderson," airing in May.
"Anderson" airs weekdays in syndication.
Bing: More about Kevin Costner | "Hatfields & McCoys"
After Costner spoke at Whitney Houston's funeral, it's no surprise Anderson brought up the topic of her battle with drugs. When asked about his former co-star in the clip above, Costner revealed that if she was battling drugs back when they shot "The Bodyguard," he didn't know about it. He did, however, reach out to Houston when her problems became public, later on.
"There were some people that really loved Whitney and a couple times during the last seven/eight years [they] asked me would I write her a letter," he said. "Again, it's so odd. I mean, listen, I come exactly from where you come from. I know I have this level of celebrity and fame – international, national, whatever you want to refer to it – but it's pretty surreal thing to think, sometimes, that you're in the middle of another famous person's life, and you think to yourself, 'How the hell did I get famous?' What is this, some weird club that we're in? So when someone said, 'Would you write someone a letter who you know is having trouble,' I did. There were two occasions. I elected to let Whitney have her life after 'The Bodyguard' and she would always be close to me. She would always be someone I appreciated. I saw pretty much what everyone else saw. But when someone asked me to write a letter I did. I don't know if those letters were ever read."
Costner again touched on the price of fame while discussing Bobbi Kristina. "Sometimes we want to envy people," Costner said. "I think that you should be happy with your anonymity. It doesn't lessen you as a person and it may seem like, 'Oh easy, for you to say.' I'm telling you, money doesn't buy your way out of problems and it doesn't buy you happiness. It has afforded me the opportunity to travel the world to be treated in a way that everyone should be treated."
During the visit, Costner also opened up about his talks with Princess Diana, who wanted in on "Bodyguard 2."
"Diana and I had been talking about doing 'Bodyguard 2.' I told her I would take care of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney," Costner recalled. "She let me know that her life might be changing at some point, so she was having her own internal struggles. When she died, she was obviously all over the news. I knew that that was an interesting story that I had, but I never brought that up and a very good reporter, about a year later, somehow heard something and finally came to me and I said, 'Yeah, that was true.' Not that she was going to do it: That we were talking about doing it.
"She wanted me to write it for her," he continued. "I said, 'I'll tailor it for you if you're interested.' She goes, 'I am interested.' And, then it came from The Royal Family, some people said, 'No that's not true, that's not true.' Kind of dissed me a little bit and I called them up and said, 'Don't do that, because it's true. I didn't talk about it when I could have a year earlier and I didn't try to make it a story. Somebody else found this out and I said it was true, so don't say it's not true.' And so they said, 'Okay.'"
For more from Costner and the Memorial Day Weekend premiere of his upcoming miniseries about America’s most infamous family feud, keep your eye out for the interview on "Anderson," airing in May.
"Anderson" airs weekdays in syndication.
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Deanna Barnert | Los Angeles, Calif.
Entertainment journalist Deanna "TVDeeva" Barnert visits sets, interviews industry players and critiques the final product. Buzz's daytime TV queen covers it all for MSN TV, but loves her sitcoms, soaps and any juicy drama that doesn't call itself Reality TV.



