NEWARK, N.J. (TRP) – It was the place where it all started for a young Whitney Houston, and on Saturday New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. served as the venue where friends and family paid her a final tribute
“What I knew about her, is that she loved the Lord,” filmmaker and friend Tyler Perry told the crowd of nearly 1,500 guests who gathered to honor the late singer. ” If there was a grace that carried her all the way through, it was the same grace that carried her home.”
Mourners from all walks of life were on hand to mourn the pop singing icon. From music’s biggest stars like Alicia Keys and R Kelly, to industry titans Oprah Winfrey and Clive Davis, the crowd read like a who’s who of Hollywood.
“She defined not only pure talent but true heart and soul as well,” Davis said of Houston, when he addressed the crowd of mourners.
Also on hand was Houston’s co-star in 1992’s “The Bodyguard” who received a standing ovation after he praised her for overcoming self-doubt in a role that would ultimately establish her as a superstar.
“A lot of leading men could have played my part,” Costner said. “But you Whitney I truly believe, you were the only one who could’ve played Rachel Marin at that time.”
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Despite her personal struggles, fans who gathered outside New Hope Baptist Church believe it was her gift to the world that will keep her legacy intact.
Christine Edwards, a fan who traveled from Hamden, Conn. said she thinks the media should leave Houston and her family alone.
“Remember Whitney for who she was and what she gave you. She gave you beautiful music,” Edwards told our cameras.
“No one is perfect,” fan Devana Lewis Brian of New Haven, Conn. said, speaking of the constant scrutiny Houston had to endure in the public eye when questions of her drug abuse arose.
“We all have a road that we have to travel and it just so happens whatever decision she made she had to travel that road, but she was still ‘the voice.'”
As many still mourn the death of the icon, investigators are still trying to determine what led to the singer’s death over a week after her body was discovered in a Beverly Hills hotel room. Houston’s doctors are reportedly being questioned to see if she illegally obtained the supply of prescription pills that may have led to her death.
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