Oprah Winfrey continues to face backlash over her claim that Whitney Houston had relapsed at the time of her last appearance on her legendary talk show.
The performance in 2009 was supposed to herald the singer’s comeback after a stint in rehab.
But Winfrey claimed that this week Houston was tall and fell off the stage during filming.
Winfrey was met with a swift rebuke from Houston’s estate, among others, who said she fell not because she was on drugs, but because the stage was too dark.
Now, the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s hairstylist, Tiffanie Dixon, says it’s straight.
“That’s not true. She fell because they didn’t come off the stage… I was standing right there,” Dixon said online.
Houston appeared in a two-part interview for Winfrey’s big season premiere that year.
The former talk show host told his version of events at Cannes Lions this week.
Oprah had added that she “begged” her studio audience not to blab about the fallout because “I knew if the story got out…she would be devastated by it.”
Dixon said Winfrey made people sign NDAs and also threatened “she’s going to fire her staff if it gets out.”
But she maintains that Houston “wasn’t high.”
Houston appeared on Winfrey’s show to promote her latest studio album “I Look to You”. She was also there to address her much-publicized battle with addiction and divorce from Bobby Brown.
Dixon spoke out because she said Winfrey’s words about Houston “disturbed me.” “It’s not true… There is no truth and no validity… It’s a lie… She has a lot of nerves,” she said.
A source familiar with the situation also told Page Six that Houston was “not on drugs” that day, describing her as “upbeat and happy.” The estate also shut down Winfrey’s claims this week, explaining, “Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but it was during a sound check and it was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage. She was definitely not tall.”
Veteran journalist Roger Friedman of entertainment site Showbiz 411 also called out Winfrey’s story, recalling a 2021 zoom with Clive Davis, where Winfrey herself said “it wasn’t drugs” that caused Houston to slide.
“Oprah knows her Cannes Lion statement is not true. I know where the video is and will produce it if necessary. But every person on that Zoom heard it too,” he wrote.
“She didn’t do herself any favors by exploiting Whitney Houston in Cannes just to get headlines. I’m very disappointed,” he added.
A representative for Winfrey did not respond to requests for comment.
