Quotes

• “Being around people like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was thought to listen and observe.  It had a great impact on me as a singer, as a performer, as a musician.  Growing around it, you just can’t help it.  I identified with it immediately. It was something that was so natural to me that when I started singing, it was almost like speaking.”
  

• “Bianca didn’t really need any help out there; she was beating us by herself.”

• “Bobby’s got a good heart and a good soul. We work hard at our relationship. It’s easy to lose that romance, that passion you once had.”

• “Bobby wants to have a lot of kids. Five would be a definite mistake. I’m only kidding. I love kids. Kids have a way of bringing purity back to life.”

• “checked him out when he wasn’t even looking.”

• “Contrary to belief, I do the hitting, he doesn’t. He has never put his hands on me. He is not a woman-beater. We are crazy for one another. I mean crazy in love, love, love, love, love. When we’re fighting, it’s like that’s love for us. We’re fighting for our love.”

• “Cracking gum or sitting with your legs open were considered unacceptable, and I’d better not come back from the yard with scratched knees.”

• “Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack.”

• “Everybody wants to put me with somebody, you know?”

• “Fans still want to hear lyrics. I have a generation of people who know me from the 1980’s and a generation from now who know me from “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

• “From the beginning, the camera and I were great friends. It loves me, and I love it.”

• “God Bless the U.S.A.”

• “God gave me a voice to sing with, and I almost wish I could be more exciting, that I could match what is happening out there.”

• “God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?”

• “God knows I work hard and put my best into it.”

• “He’s like my dad in a lot of ways. I call him my industry father. He’s guided me through my career.”

• “He’s nothing like everybody says be is-that’s what tripped me out. He came to my party, and he was such a gentleman.”

• “I almost wish I could be more exciting, that I could match what is happening out there to me.”

• “I Am a Bird Now.”

• “I am gonna make some noise. I just think about me and the best that I can be. I can’t live up to everybody’s expectations but my own.”

• “I am not self destructive. I’m a person who has life, and wants to live.”

• “I am not sick. Let’ s get that straight. I’ve always been a thin girl. I am not going to be fat, ever.”

• “I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

• “I coulda been a rich man if I accepted all the bribes from the guys wanting to be in this room today.”

• “I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow; if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.”

• “I feel ready to move on, grow up and make great music again.”

• “I’d have all kinds of conversations with Aretha and Wilson Pickett. I just remember being in an atmosphere of total creativity.”

• “I don’t deal with that stepmom madness. I tell them, You’ve got a mother. There are no more steps to take. Step nothing. I’m their friend.”

• ” I don’t have the kind of time it takes to nurture a relationship the way I’d like to right now, and I’d never attempt to jump into one unless I had that time.”

• “I don’t like it when they (media critics) see me as this little person who doesn’t know what to do with herself — like I have no idea what I want, like I’m just a puppet . . . . That’s demeaning to me, because that ain’t how it is, and it never was.”

• “I don’t really have much to complain about.”

• “I don’t worry. I know my husband respects me. My husband doesn’t carry himself when he walks into a room like, Okay, let me see who I can mack tonight. He’s a married man.”

• “I feel old. For the most part, since I was 11 years old, I’ve been working, I did the nightclubs, I did the modeling, all that stuff… When I first started I was having a lot of fun. But it ain’t fun no more. I enjoy what I do… but it’s not fun.”

• “I finally faced the fact that it isn’t a crime not having friends. Being alone means you have fewer problems.”

• “If she was a friend of mine and she ever asked me for advice — which is hard to imagine — I’d say, ‘Dump the husband!”

• “I just think about me and the best that I can be. I can’t live up to everybody’s expectations but my own.”

• “I knew that whatever I wanted to do with my life, marriage wasn’t going to be a part of that for a long time.”

• “I know that I could really kill for my daughter. I know because I’m living for her, so I’m fierce when it comes down to it. And I feel the same about my husband and my family. I’m just fiercely protective. It’s like, that’s my lair and nobody messes with my lair.”

• “I like being a woman, even in a man’s world. After all, men can’t wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.”

• “I’m a very prayerful person, even in the midst of the trouble, of the battle.”
  

• “I’m eight years into this thing, man, this should be cool. You read about yourself and kinda go, Wow, that really happened to me.”

• “I’m more relaxed now. I’m an older girl now.”

• “I’m not a person who wants to die. I’m a person who has life and wants to live . . . I don’t like to think of myself addicted. I like to think . . . I had a bad habit . . . which can be broken.”

• “I’m not crazy about arenas just because I can sell them out. It doesn’t do anything for my ego at all. I want to play places where people don’t have to sit in the nosebleed seats and wonder what the hell is going on.”

• “I’m not gonna tell you I’m somebody’s junkie. “

• “I’m not the strongest everyday, but I’m not the weakest, either. And I won’t break.”
  

• “I’m older, a wife, a mother. I know what I’m doing. I’m so glad I’m past the I-don’t-know stage. I feel good. I feel secure.”

• “I’m on the right path… I’m a very prayerful person, even in the midst of the trouble, of the battle.”

• “I partied a lot. Trust me: I partied my tail off. You get to a point where you know the party’s over.”

• “It’s Not Right But It’s OK.”

• “It was strange not to have my father there, but he lives just 10 minutes away. Besides, even if you’re not together physically, the love never dies.”

• “I’ve got a good man. He takes care of me. I don’t have to be scared of anything because I know he will kick every ass… disrespect him and you’ve got a problem.”

• “I’ve read about myself and my husband and my family, to the point where they’ve called my parents, they’ve called my brothers, offering money to tell stories. They call friends of mine. I’d just like for them to just … don’t badger us. Don’t scrutinize us. We have children and they have to live, too. It’s not fair.”

• “I’ve turned down a lot of arena dates because I’ve done the big-arena thing. Now, I want to do something where people can feel me and I can feel them.”

• “I was scared to death. I was aware of people staring at me. No one moved. They seemed almost in trance. I just stared at the clock in the center of the church. When I finished, everyone clapped and started crying.”

• “I was the primary mover of my career. I told my people to give me a plan and I’d follow And it worked. I traveled and smiled, and it worked.”

• “I would rather not talk about my personal life.”

• “Money doesn’t solve your problems. It creates problems. Fame doesn’t solve anything. It just makes people more dangerous. You’ve got people who love you so much they hate you.  Hate to love you.  What kind of s*** is that?  All I want to do is sing.”
  

• “My business is sex, drugs, rock and roll – but as you get older and wiser you stop a lot of the kid stuff.”

• “My Love Is Your Love.”

• “My message for women is to love and respect themselves, for if they love themselves then they can love others as well. I have learned to do this. Through love for myself and praying to our Lord I have been able to overcome my personal problem.”
  

• “My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don’t fight it.”

• “Nobody likes to be picked on. Nobody.”

• “No, I’m not a drug addict, and neither is my husband. If that were so, you’d get a lot less work out of me. It would show in the performances and in the work.”

• “One of us has to be home when the other’s away. When I’m away, Bobby’s home, and when he’s away, I’m home.”

• “The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy.”
  

• “The last time I toured was just before I’d had my baby. I’d just come off The Bodyguard. It rocketed, I got pregnant, had a baby. Everything happened so fast. It was too much to take at the moment.”

• “There was a lot of success at a very important time in my life. I think then I was more in wonder of what was going to happen.”

• “This ain’t about publicity. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with somebody I thought was just gonna give me publicity. I’ve got enough of that on my own.”

• “This album for me is about surviving, raising a family, being a wife or girlfriend and all the challenges that go along with those things. These songs are more about creating a mood than about anything in particular (on the release of her 7th album, “Just Whitney”).”

• “Today, it’s hip hop. Hip hop has taken over. With every race, creed and color, it’s taken over. It’s what it’s about.”

• “To me, I never went anywhere. I decided to take my time and live my life and raise my daughter. To my family, I have never gone anywhere; they hear me all the time.”

• “You don’t have a baby based on that publicity madness. People don’t live like that. Especially black people who were raised in families with morals and standards and integrity.”

• “You either love me or you hate me. But love me, ‘cuz I love you.”

• “You go according to what people dictate. They like it; they want to hear me. I put the tickets on sale and they bought them.”

• “You know what I feel? I feel old. For the most part, since I was 11 years old, I’ve been working, I did the nightclubs, I did the modeling, all that stuff… When I first started I was having a lot of fun. But it ain’t fun no more. I enjoy what I do… but it’s not fun.”
  

• “You see me onstage, you see me on the video. But you don’t see the people here in this house. You don’t see us sitting back watching TV, drinking a beer, just coolin’ out.”

• “You’ve got to realize that we’ve got to get up and brush our teeth. We’ve got to wash our behinds. There is relativity here.”

• “We don’t really know much about them. But if they try to slow it down, we’ll just keep on going.”

• “When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I’d be alone a lot. Basically we all are. Loneliness comes with life.”

• “When I did Saving All My Love, I was going through a terrible love affair. He was married, and that will never work out for anybody. Never, no way. Forget about it.”

• “When I gave birth to her and when they put her in my arms, I thought ‘This has got to be it. This is the ultimate.’ I haven’t experienced anything greater.”

• “When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That’s what I wanted to do.”

• “When you’re older, you learn what it’s about to relax and enjoy. You’re not so young, not so eager. Some of the mistakes you made are gone. They’re over!”

• “Whose business is it if you’re gay or like dogs? What others do shouldn’t matter. Let people talk. It doesn’t bother me because I know I’m not gay.”

• Why Whitney chose THE BODYGUARD for her acting debut (taken from the book “One Moment In Time”):

  “The thing about it was that I just didn’t want to do just any old film for the sake of it. I’d been sent scripts over the years but didn’t feel that any of them were at all suitable. The one for “The Bodyguard” came. I was determined that whatever I chose to do , it would have to be something that ‘added-up,’ not just be a case of “oh, look , she did a film , how nice , Whitney’s in the movies , etc…”. I mean it took me a while to find a script that I was happy with like “The Bodyguard.” I waited a long time for something like that to come along and I think that if I play my cards that way and am smart enough about what I choose to do, not just doing anything for the sake of it , then I can keep the momentum going. Besides, Hollywood’s happy!”