Whitney Houston and her legacy are pillars of glamour, strength and boldness. She was once recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most awarded female singer of all time.
The Rolling Stone named her among the top 200 vocalists of all time, with many believing her to be the best of the best for her incredible range, control and star power.
Her image was one of high luxury and indulgence. Behind the scenes, this was also true however it was coming at a cost that Houston could no longer keep up with.
By the time of her death in 2012, Houston’s fame was intact but her fortune was shattered.
Despite being one of the world’s most lucrative entertainers, Whitney Houston’s bank account plummeted to $29K with $4 million in debt. Let’s take a closer look at how her finances withered.
A shining start
Over the course of her career, Whitney Houston made an estimated $250 million from record sales and other earnings. This includes the $33 million she made from the “Bodyguard” soundtrack.
In 2001, she also renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million. Even post-mortem, she is still generating income from royalties and endorsements of her music.
Houston’s estate earned $13 million in 2024, placing her on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid celebrities who have passed away.
However while money was rolling in, lawsuits, family fueeuds, drugs and death also punctuated Houston’s career that both compromised and inflated her wealth.
Family disputes
John Houston , Whitney Houston’s father, was an entertainment manager, very fittingly. He was her manager and the CEO of her company, Nippy Incorporated, from 1986 until 1992.
John became her business manager after the success of her debut album released in 1985. After years of achieving amazing feats (and beats) together, their relationship sadly strained once he married a woman named Barbara, a cleaner he hired to care for his residence, in 1992.
In 2002, John Houston Entertainment LLC sued Whitney for US$100 million, claiming a breach of contract. John accused Whitney of owing money from a past business deal that he helped her negotiate.
However, the case was dismissed after John died unexpectedly a year later. In an incredible twist of events, Whitney was the sole beneficiary of her father’s US$1 million life insurance policy.
John’s widow Barbara was deeply unsettled by this and filed a lawsuit against Whitney in 2008.
She claimed Whitney promised to dedicate the insurance money to pay off a mortgage Whitney held over her father’s home. According to her, Whitney lent John money in 1990 and the loan was secured by the mortgage.
Pay back is rich?
Whitney counter-sued Barbara and proved the extent of the financial supported she gave her father over the years. Whitney paid John an annual salary between US$52,000 and US$90,000 from 1991 to 1997. She also lent him US$723,800 to remodel his condo and paid for his cars and trips.
She continued to fund his lifestyle even after their relationship started deteriorating. While Whitney did not attend his funeral, she claimed to forgive him for the lawsuit and dysfunction that followed.
Boiling to a head
In 2007, details of Whitney Houston’s financial situation started to surface during her divorce from fellow singer, Bobby Brown.
She filed an income and expense declaration that revealed she had US$40,000 in cash and US$225,000 in stocks.
Her real estate included a property in New Jersey worth US$6.5 million — but she still owed US$3.2 million on the estate. Houston also owned a town house in Atlanta worth US$1.2 million yet she owed US$1 million on it.
In a 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, Houston stated her business was “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll”. She was notorious for splurging on lavish parties for her friends and business partners.
During the same interview, she said: “My friends, we have a good time.” Houston claimed that her 20s were all about work. As an older adult, she entered party mode: “And I said, well, I’m just gonna party, you know. It was kind of a rebel in me.”
The party never stopped
After years of denying doing drugs, Houston opened up about it during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009. She admitted to spending large sums of cash to fuel cocaine and marijuana use.
“We were buying kilos and ounces and ounces. We would have our stash,” she said. In the interview, she described living in her pyjamas for months on end, choosing to get high instead of getting changed.
She resorted to calling friends and asking to borrow money. According to Billboard, her mentor Clive Davis provided her a US$1.5 million loan to fund a stay in rehab.
Sadly, in February, 2012, Houston was found dead in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills Hotel. Over a month later, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office reported her death was an accidental drowning caused by the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use”.
Whitney’s will
Nearly 20 years before she passed, Whitney Houston executed a will outlining how her assets would be distributed to any future children she may have.
That will created in 1993 provided for a trust that would eventually parcel out her estate to Bobbi Kristina Brown, her only child, when she turned 21.
Despite losing so much of her wealth, Whitney Houston left her daughter Bobbi Kristina, the sole inheritor listed on her will, approximately $6 million worth of assets.
This amount accounts for the debts Houston owed, such as with her real estate properties. Bobbi Kristina ended up moving into the town house in Atlanta when $1,046,603 was still owed on it.
Houston’s other assets included $1.8 million in jewellery, art and her record contract — which is listed as confidential, due to her prenuptial agreement with Bobby Brown (in which the singers kept their career earnings separate).
Tragedy strikes again
In a tragic and eerie turn of events, Bobbi Kristina was found unconscious in her bathtub on January 31st, 2015. She remained in a medically-induced coma until she too passed away nearly seven months later on July 26th, at only 22 years old.
In 2016, Bobbi Kristina’s ex-boyfriend, Nick Gordon was found legally liable in her death in a wrongful death lawsuit.
In the same lawsuit, the conservator of Bobbi Kristina’s estate claimed that Gordon intended to steal Bobbi Kristina’s inheritance by falsely maintaining that he was married to Bobbi Kristina. Although he never faced criminal charges, he died of a heroin overdose in 2020.
Brown’s medical exam concluded cannabis and alcohol were involved in her death, along with medication used for sedation or to treat anxiety, citing the “underlying cause” of death as “immersion associated with drug intoxication” (BBC).
Whitney Houston’s will established that if her daughter died unmarried and without children of her own (and without a will) the remainder of the estate would go to Houston’s two brothers and to her mother, Cissy Houston.
A higher love
Whitney Houston’s life is a complex characterization of what it means to be a famous artist. Her estate continues to grow with the enduring popularity of her music and her captivating vocals.
While Houston and her family experienced significant loss, one thing that never disappeared and never will is her powerful voice that inspires the world.
For more about Whitney Houston’s story, click here.
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