Very few musical icons have intrigued generations of listeners like Whitney Houston has. The late R&B and soul legend who would have turned 62 today led a vibrant life which certainly had its share of highs and low. However, there are many facets of her life which remain hidden away from public or even forgotten. One such episode is Whitney Houston's connection with Robert De Niro.
According to Protecting Whitney, a memoir by Houston’s former bodyguard David Roberts, Robert De Niro was 'smitten' with Whitney and was quite relentless in his pursuit of her.
"Mr. De Niro was smitten with Ms. Houston," Roberts recalled. "He kept sending her flowers. I don’t mean a bunch of flowers . . . it was a room full of flowers. And that was for a few months."
According to his book, Robert De Niro was "not an individual used to taking no for an answer." However, Whitney Houston was dating comedian and actor Eddie Murphy at that time, so De Niro's affection was quite one-sided.
Whitney Houston herself once talked De Niro’s feelings for her during a 1990 interview on The Byron Allen Show.
"He sent me flowers and everything, and he’d been on my case," she laughed. "He called me the night at Carnegie Hall... He didn’t want to come to the show because he shies away from the public eye, but he wanted to get to know me better."
Houston also revealed that De Niro wanted to "do a movie with her."
"It’s a really good script, and I’m looking at it," she said. "I think he’s a wonderful actor. One of the best."
De Niro was at the time involved with model Toukie Smith. And he halted his efforts of wooing Whitney after receiving a stern warning from Whitney's mother Cissy Houston.
"She called him up," Roberts claimed. "She told him to stop it – stop making a fool out of himself. And when Cissy Houston says stop it, you stop it. That was the end of that."
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