Protecting Whitney; The memoir of her bodyguard by David Roberts

 

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

On Sale Date:  January 28, 2025

Pages: 256

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

David Roberts life changed when he was asked by the American Embassy in London to take care of the protection of a high profile American client. Not knowing beforehand who. Formerly, he worked for diplomats and other high profile clients. He never really heard about Whitney Houston, but he became her bodyguard from 1988 on,  for Houston's UK leg of Whitney Houston's The Moment of Truth world tour. He saw there soon enough that Whitney's own protection and safety team wasn't organized that well, it was merely a chaos, in which he had to work to ensure a safety. For example, the house where Whitney and her entourage where planned to stay in during their UK leg of the tour was anything but safe, and her protection and safety team during the concert was also lacking, and was consisting mostly of strong looking man with no professional experience in their work field like David had. Because of David, Whitney's security improved, but the chaos where David's had to work in during these years with Whitney stayed, especially when Bobby Brown makes his noisy entrance in Whitney's life.

David describes vividly and in detail what he experienced during the years he worked for Whitney. Together with Whitney and her entourage, he traveled all over the world by plane, and through the US by a tour bus for many years. The most bizarre things and events happen. From protecting Whitney from stalkers who mysteriously made it to her hotel room, from strange and creepy fans at the first rows during a concert, till the entourage of Whitney he also has to deal with which goed not without problems, especially tensions arise between David and Whitneys creative producer Robyn Crawford, and Nippy Inc, the company of Whitney's father, and that many of the people around Whitney just used her as a money machine. From Bobby Brown and his crazy bizarre antics, who was being late for his wedding to Whitney , to the birth of  Whitney and Bobby's Bobby Kristina, till the tragic period where Whitney and her entourage starting to do heavy hard drugs, which got serious after the premiere of the movie The Bodyguard (loosely based on David's work as her bodyguard) which lead Whitney to overdose during the recording of her next movie, Waiting to Exhale in 1995, and her addiction that never stopped which resulted in her death in 2012. In 1995, David tried to help Whitney by reporting her severe addiction to her team, but her entourage and management turned a deaf ear and a blind eye for Whitney's addiction problems and sometimes even took part in it, even when Whitney wasn't able to sing anymore and concerts where cancelled, and David was resigned from his bodyguard duties because of daring to say anything about Whitney's drug problems, which was truly sad to read.

We all knew that Whitney Houston had many issues and problems in her private life. It was eye opening though to read how her bodyguard experienced all this, and how it was from his point of view to be in Whitney's life daily. To be honest, I thought after reading this book that Whitney's problems where even bigger and more intense than I initially thought. It was sad to read that Whitney's inner circle of people (friends, family, management and people who wanted to tag along on her successes) conditioned her use of hard drugs, and even tried to smuggle it in countries where there is a jail or death penalty on smuggling drugs, like when they traveled for concerts to Singapore. Sometimes my mouth fell open and truly thought in what reality without normal morals the people around Whitney lived in. For them, Whitney's voice was a cash machine, without any normal care for her health of mental wellbeing. 

David writes very entertaining, but keeps it all very realistic and honest, and doesn't scare away to name the ugly things in Whitney's life, which is truly good to read, he doesn't make things more pretty than they are, and I think if Whitney had more trustworthy people like him in her entourage (altough there where a few, like Aunt Bae), then maybe things wouldn't have downhill in such a tragic way for her. I truly liked reading this eye-opening and honest memoir by David Roberts, and I recommend reading it!