Whitney Houston’s former bodyguard Ray Watson pushes back on Oprah Winfrey’s claim that Houston relapsed before the 2009 stage fall on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” saying the incident was tied to a dark drop-off on stage.
Whitney Houston’s former bodyguard, Ray Watson, is denying Oprah Winfrey’s account of what happened the last time the late singer appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Winfrey recently resurfaced the story from 2009. saying that when Houston came to the show to perform in front of the audience. she “was not” in the way she had been previously described. Winfrey said. “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.”.
Watson disputes the interpretation—and places the moment firmly on the stage itself. After TMZ spoke with him, Watson explained that the stage had a drop-off and a darker area near where Houston approached the front.
“She was coming toward the front of the stage and it’s a drop-off, and it’s sort of like a dark spot there,” he said. “So when she got to the edge, I think somebody told her, ‘Watch, be careful, watch it.’ And then she went down…we got to her, but she got up.”
Watson added that Houston didn’t appear distressed in the aftermath. “Matter of fact, she made fun about it. She was just laughing. She said. ‘I didn’t see that.’ She said. ‘I didn’t even see that.’ I said. ‘That’s obvious you didn’t see it.’ And so we was making sure she was all right. But she finished doing what she was doing,” he continued.
“Thank God she was okay,” Watson said.
When asked directly whether Houston was high, Watson rejected the premise. “I will tell you the truth about it, and this is the honest truth. I never seen Whitney get high. Never seen it. I speculated, but I never saw her. I never seen her do it.”
He said he believes the issue was unfamiliarity with the stage layout—especially where Houston stepped. “I think the case was she didn’t really know that stage. When she walked out there, she stepped off the end onto the next level. That was the case…. guess I would’ve did the same thing if I didn’t know. because it was sort of dark right there where she stepped off at…Maybe Miss Winfrey thought that way. I don’t know. I can’t see from her eyes. I can only see from mine. But I knew she was not high,” he went on to say.
Houston died in February 2012 at the age of 48.
Whitney Houston Oprah Winfrey Ray Watson The Oprah Winfrey Show bodyguard stage fall 2009 interview relapse claim celebrity news
Oprah always stirring the pot like it’s her job.
So he’s saying it was the stage?? I mean maybe but Oprah said relapse like she knows something. Makes you wonder.
I don’t buy it 100%. Like if it was “dark spot” then why was she even walking there in the first place. Also bodyguards always say stuff like “I never saw her get high” bc that’s their whole thing.
I’m confused like the article says she fell in 2009 and then they’re arguing about whether she was high but then she died in 2012 so everyone’s gonna assume drugs anyway. A stage drop-off in a TV studio sounds wild, like those places are usually super safe? But I guess not if it was dark. Oprah probably misremembered or worded it wrong, idk.