Martha Jo Katz, a former hotel social director who worked with Whitney Houston and her ex-husband Bobby Brown recalled the late singer loved Atlanta, her home for many years.
“When she first started coming to the hotel, probably around 1992 or 1993, she was so beautiful,” said Martha Jo Katz, who served as director of social events for the Swissotel in Buckhead (now the Westin) from 1991 to 2004.
“I can remember her telling me how much she loved Atlanta. It was so green. People were nice and friendly here. She liked being in Atlanta. When I first met her she was fairly quiet and reserved. She was very cordial. You have to understand that a lot of high profile actors and singers are very high maintenance.”
Over time, Whitney Houston became something of a high-attention client, too.
“She always had very beautiful suites. There were things they had to have in their suite,” Martha Jo Katz said.
“They did some entertaining up there so there were certain foods and beverages that they requested.”
Whitney Houston often brought groups of friends to the hotel, and was frequently spotted with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
“She loved that child. That was the apple of her eye. That child was so important to her,” Martha Jo Katz said.
“One of the last times I saw her she was having dinner with her daughter and they were eating with Brandy. When I stopped to talk to her she said, do you know Brandy?”
Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston’s Atlanta home under construction in 1993
Even after Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown bought a home at Country Club of the South they – especially Whitney – remained clients. She always enjoyed her time there.
“She ordered room service, she went shopping at Lenox and Phipps,” Martha Jo Katz said.
“She was fairly visible. A lot of times celebrities want to come in the back way. They want to take the service elevator with bodyguards. But she would come down the (guest) elevator. She’d be in the bar, at The Palm. It wasn’t like she hid.”
Over time, though, Whitney Houston became thinner and thinner and sometimes seemed distressed.
“Sometimes she would come through the lobby without makeup,” Martha Jo Katz said. “Towards the end of the time I was there – 2004 – sometimes she would be in the lobby or at the bar with no makeup, no sunglasses or hat, which I thought was unusual.”
Martha Jo Katz said she’ll remember Whitney Houston in her early prime.
“I want to remember that other way,” she said.
“It was sad that her demons had just gotten a hold of her and she couldn’t control it.”
Al Bowman, Whitney Houston’s former chauffeur, has revealed the depths that the legendary singer sunk to as she was gripped by her drug addiction.
Al Bowman claims that Whitney Houston was by far the worst behaved star he had in the back of his limo.
He claims to have driven the singer to run down ghettos to pick up crack from dealers and that the star had smoked crack in front of her daughter.
Al Bowman told the Daily Mirror: “I couldn’t believe my eyes, here was Whitney Houston in the back of my limo smoking crack with her six or seven-year-old daughter sat next to her playing with a doll, it was heart-breaking, out of control.
“I’ve driven some big stars over the years – Michael and Janet Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue – but Whitney was by far the worst behaved.
“It was tragic to see. Here was this glamorous superstar adored around the world, but in the back of my car she was a rambling drug addict, a complete train wreck.
“It was so sad, I wanted to help her but she was just too out of control and wouldn’t listen to anyone.”
Al Bowman later added: “Their daughter Bobbi got into the limo with them. Then they would smoke crack right in front of her.
“Whitney would just say, <<Baby, Mommy and Daddy are doing adult things>>, it wasn’t anything major to her.”
Meanwhile it has been claimed that Whitney Houston binged on cocaine, alcohol and pills in her final months.
Insiders say that after months of sober living during 2011, Whitney Houston fell off the wagon.
A source told Star magazine: “The last three months of Whitney’s life were truly tragic.”
Whitney Houston was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy Awards.
Eyewitness told Star magazine about Whitney Houston partying at Hollywood club Playhouse on January 2.
“Whitney got buck-wild. She drank cognac and champagne and seemed completely out of it from the moment she arrived until the moment she left at 2:30 a.m.”
The reports go on to detail her partying at the luxury Beverly Hills hotel, the Beverly Wilshire.
“Whitney was in a lounge chair drinking pina coladas all afternoon,” another eyewitness told the Star magazine.
“Once in a while, she would get on her cell phone and start screaming at someone. She seemed almost manic at moments and practically unconscious the next.”
Whitney Houston’s wild behavior continued right until her death
It has been claimed that those close to Whitney Houston, including her daughter Bobbi Kristina wanted her to seek treatment in rehab in the weeks leading up to her death, it has been reported.
An insider told RadarOnline.com: “Bobbi Kristina, Clive Davis, and members of Whitney’s closest advisers were urging her to go back to rehab because people close to her saw her downward spiral into drugs and alcohol.
“It was extremely hard for Clive in particular to see Whitney under the influence again. He was absolutely powerless to stop her. Clive and Whitney had a very close relationship, but her addiction to drugs and alcohol did a lot of damage to that.”
RadarOnline.com also claims that Clive Davis was willing to pay for the treatment but Whitney Houston is said to have refused the help.
CNN anchor Don Lemon claimed he saw Whitney Houston doing somersaults in the pool just days before she died – saying she had been drinking alcohol from as early as 10:00 a.m.
Salvează
