Whitney: Can I Be Me

At one point in my life, Whitney was the woman with the voice that made me long to be a singer. I absolutely idolized her. Her struggles with drug addiction was so disappointing to me, as was her death as a result of that struggle.

For me, this was an extremely honest, eye opening documentary that made me both sad and angry. We were always lead to believe Bobby was who got her into drugs. Finding out that she'd been doing drugs since she was a child - in my opinion - is a game changer. And the fact that her family took massive advantage of, and controlled, her, all the while enabling her addiction is just absolutely sickening. As for her relationship with Robyn, it's a damn shame the relationship couldn't have been what it should've been able to be.

For those who gave low scores on this documentary... Sometimes the truth isn't pretty. It can be ugly. It can be hard to hear. Sometimes it's just downright sad. It doesn't make it wrong to tell the story. In fact, sometimes it makes it more important for the story to be told.

Nick Broomfield tends to make controversial documentaries. He usually turns up with a camera and a boom mike and ensures chaos unfolds.

Whitney: Can I Be Me is a departure from Broomfield's usual documentary style. Using archive footage as well as interviewing some people who worked or were close to Whitney we see a person who came up from gospel singing and crossed over to pop and made it big in the USA and around the world.

In 1992 when she got an acting role in The Bodyguard, her profile went to the stratosphere. The film was a commercial hit, the songs became best sellers. Whitney's cover of I Will Always Love You has become an enduring hit.

Yet in 1992 she also married singer Bobby Brown despite some years of rumours about her sexuality. Brown was riding high as a pop star at the time, the general consensus was this was a union that would not last.

The trouble was it led to Houston going on a destructive path. Keen to hide her sexuality, wanting a child, her conflict with her and her family's deep religious convictions. Houston increasingly found solace in drugs as Brown and Houston engaged in wild living, he was also having affairs and she also had her own special friend in Robyn Crawford.

Undoubtedly this is a sad documentary. A life wasted and cut short. We see footage of another documentary that was shot in 1999 which followed Whitney in her last major world tour. After that her recording output declined, so did her voice but her erratic behaviour increased.

I think Broomfield himself liked her, hence a rather respectful approach. As her long term bodyguard commented, Whitney could had been saved but those around her were not interested in keeping her off drugs.

We all make our own choices in life, and I usually stand pretty firm that we are individually responsible for those (especially with adults several decades into their life). However, this documentary changed my perspective on this situation quite a bit. Due to a number of factors, (growing up with some family fame, early drug use with siblings, getting her own fame at a young age), she never really had a normal base foundation... So how was she ever supposed to recognize it in her later years? There's more to the story; It was quite compelling actually, and I encourage you to watch it. RIP Whitney.

My heart felt so heavy after watching this. As talented as she was people who were supposed to be closest to her did NOT love her unconditionally. I've always known that fame often marginalizes people's lives but never really came to a deeper understanding and a greater empathy for how isolated and alone someone famous can become. I grew up with Whitney playing on the radio, bought her albums and saw her live in the early 90s. She worked her voice like an olympic athlete and was all that on stage - unbeatable really. But to have such a diametrically opposite life off stage and to die so young is truly a tragedy. The fame was useless. I'm only left to say that this story teaches all of us very important things about love, life and success.

We got the perfection with the bumps. I found this to be very respectful and I appreciated it greatly. What a fantastic talent who was a woman-- human. Gone too soon, like far too many others.