NEWSKevin Costner Ignored CNN's Request for Shorter Speech at Whitney Houston's Funeral: 'I Don't Care'
When it came to protecting Whitney Houston, Kevin Costner stood his ground — even after the late singer’s tragic death in 2012.
During a recent episode of Dax Shepard's “Armchair Expert” podcast, Costner reflected on his close friendship with Houston, whom he starred alongside in the 1992 film The Bodyguard, and made a confession regarding his emotional speech at her funeral.
Whitney Houston died in 2012 at age 48.
The Yellowstone actor, 69, revealed CNN had requested Costner shorten his speech so the network could have time to fit in commercials while broadcasting Houston’s funeral on live television after she devastatingly died from a drug-related accidental drowning at age 48.
"I had been working on this speech… and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech," he explained to Shepard. "Somebody said, 'CNN's here, they wouldn't mind if your remarks were kept shorter because they're going to have commercials.’”
Kevin Costner delivered a 17-minute-long speech at Whitney Houston's funeral.
"And I said, 'They can get over that. They can play the commercial while I'm talking, I don't care,'" Costner admitted, noting he wanted to make sure he expressed everything he "needed to say" before Houston was laid to rest.
"There were some people that really wanted to speak and [they were] kind of staring daggers at me," he added. "I started and about 17 minutes later I was done."
The duo starred in 'The Bodyguard' together.
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The Dances with Wolves actor was among eight individuals who spoke at the "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" singer’s funeral.
Costner and Houston developed an unbreakable bond while filming The Bodyguard, which saw the late award-winning artist star as a famous singer who falls in love with her bodyguard (Costner) as he protects her from a stalker.
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Kevin Costner was initially hesitant to speak at the singer's funeral.
In addition to landing the movie's starring role, Houston also helped co-executive-produce and record six new songs for the film's soundtrack — including her famed cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1994.
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Elsewhere in his podcast appearance, Costner admitted he was initially hesitant to agree to speak at Houston’s funeral, however, he came around to the idea because of Dionne Warwick.
"I could feel the weight on her, now it's shifted to me," he recalled. What am I going to say about this little girl? [I] went back to that church in Newark and it was filled. It was electric. There were two bands playing, the church was alive. It was like, boom!"
