https://youtu.be/l10DRf4A2so
It’s been over five years since Whitney Houston’s death. Now, a new documentary seeks to give fans an unflinching look at the iconic singer’s rise to fame, as well as her tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown, struggle with addiction, and her tragic death.
Presented by Showtime, our first look at Whitney: Can I Be Me, opens with a haunting voice-over: “There will always only be one Whitney Houston and all you can say is ‘drug addict’? Come on. Please.”
“There was this emphasis on [Whitney] being the perfect girl,” the intro continues. “She never had this belief that she was this amazing person.”
“Success doesn’t change you, fame does,” Houston says in an additional clip.
In case you’re playing catch-up, the Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal-directed film initially premiered to stellar reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. In addition to never-before-seen footage and performance clips, there are a plethora of interview excerpts from those close to one of the greatest voices of all time — all of which suggests that the dark side of stardom became her downfall.
Comments include: “Her rise to fame just took the wind out of her,” “She never had this belief that she was this amazing person,” and “The longer she stayed in [show business], the harder it was to get out.”
According to the trailer, the documentary will also explore why Houston “couldn’t do what she wanted to do, either professionally or in her personal life” despite a thriving career, including 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards (the most for any female), 19 NAACP Image Awards, 7 Grammys, two Emmy Awards, the Soul Train Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Career Achievement, a BET Lifetime Achievement Award, and over 200 million singles and albums sold.
As previously reported, the “I Will Always Love You” singer died on Feb. 11, 2012. She was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Her cause of death was attributed to drowning and drug use.
The trailer concludes with the heartbreaking line, “Whitney Houston died from a broken heart. She died from a broken heart.”
Mark your calendars, “Can I Be Me?” will premiere on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
