Whitney Houston’s former bodyguard is pushing back against Oprah Winfrey’s recent claim that the late singer was under the influence of drugs when she fell off the stage during a 2009 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Ray Watson, who worked as Houston’s personal bodyguard for more than a decade, told TMZ the fall happened because Houston could not see the edge of the stage, not because she had relapsed into drug use.
Watson told the outlet Houston was walking toward the front of the stage when she stepped into a dark area and lost her footing. He said someone attempted to warn her, but she did not hear the warning in time.
Houston was not embarrassed by the incident and instead laughed it off afterward, Watson told TMZ.
Watson’s account directly contradicts comments Winfrey made this week during an appearance at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France.
Winfrey said Houston was “back on drugs” during her 2009 appearance on the show and recalled an incident where the singer fell off the stage.
Winfrey said she asked audience members not to share photos of the fall because she believed public exposure of the incident would have been devastating for Houston.
The disagreement comes days after Houston’s estate publicly rejected Winfrey’s characterization of the incident.
In a statement released Wednesday, the estate said Houston “absolutely fell from the stage” but said the fall occurred during a sound check because of poor lighting and her unfamiliarity with the stage setup.
“She was absolutely not high,” the estate said in the statement.
The estate also criticized efforts to connect Houston’s past struggles with addiction to every public moment in her life.
“What the studio audience witnessed on stage was the result of discipline, talent, and commitment, not the assumptions others project,” the statement said.
Watson echoed that position, saying he does not believe Houston was under the influence at the time of the fall, according to TMZ.
Houston was one of the best-selling music artists in history, with more than 170 million records sold worldwide. She openly discussed her struggles with substance abuse in the years before her death.
Houston died in 2012 at age 48. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled her death an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors.
Winfrey has not publicly responded to the estate’s statement or Watson’s comments.
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