Kevin Costner Says He Rejected Idea Of Shortening Eulogy At Whitney Houston’s Funeral So CNN Could Air Commercials

Zoulerah NORDDINE / AFP / Getty Images / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

Kevin Costner remembers his late The Bodyguard co-star Whitney Houston and recalled he refused to shorten his eulogy at her funeral.

The actor recalled someone suggesting he tighten up his words to the late Houston as CNN was broadcasting the funeral live.

“I had been working on this speech… and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech,” Costner said on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast. “Somebody said, ‘CNN’s here, they wouldn’t mind if your remarks were kept shorter because they’re going to have commercials.’ And I said, ‘They can get over that. They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care.’”

Costner initially hesitated to speak at Houston’s funeral, but Dionne Warwick encouraged him to do so.

“I could feel the weight on her, now it’s shifted to me,” Costner said. “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!”

Costner also talked about how the director of The Bodyguard, Mick Jackson, was “uncomfortable” casting Houston in the lead role, but the actor fought for her.

“I really knew who I wanted,” Costner said. “There was a moment where she trusted me. And as I looked at her and … I started to guide her, and I wasn’t trying to usurp my director, but I had made a promise to her — not to fucking him. And [to] the movie.”

He continued, “I had promised Whitney that she’d be good in it. And that was my promise to her. She’s always going to love me in the song, and I was always going to keep my promise to her.”